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Where is Captain Speicher and Why Have You Abandoned Him?
A
BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by
Robert E. Reynolds
A letter to the Editors of the Florida Times Union, and copied to the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, and Gainseville Sun.
* * *
I hate to start the day, particularly so early, yelling at someone, but WHERE IS CAPTAIN SPEICHER AND WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED HIM?
Now that the war is "over" you seem to have lost all interest in his recovery. Even if there is no news to report there are still editorials you could write, but now that Captain Speicher has served his purpose as a cause for war, as an occasion for flag waving and jingoism, you are abandoning him, again.
This seems to be the pattern with the Republican Party and with many conservatives, the abandoning of our troops. As anyone who has followed the MIA/POW issue, and the Senate Kerry/Smith hearings, it was Republican presidents who abandoned our troops.
The Eisenhower administration knew that the North Koreans had not returned all the known POWs, but they did nothing about it.
The Nixon/Kissinger administration knew that the North Vietnamese had not returned all our known POWs from Laos and Cambodia, men who fought in their "secret wars". They abandoned them.
The Bush I, Cheney, Powell, administration found it a useful to have Captain Speicher declared dead. The Bush II, Cheney, Powell administration found it useful to have him resurrected.
There are other aspects to the Republican/Conservative willingness to abandon the troops and the troops of our allies.
The Kurds were incited to rebellion then abandoned by Kissinger/Nixon.
The Shias were incited to rebellion then abandoned by Bush I, Cheney, and Powell.
And worst of all was the deal by the Reagan/Bush campaign to make a deal with the Iranians to hold the embassy hostages until Reagan was sworn into office. Something that is attested to by the former head of French Intelligence, a man who was a personal friend of Reagan, and by the former President of Iran, Bani Sadr.
So it would appear that it is in the nature of the Republican Party and most of the Republicans and their supporters, such as the Florida Times Union, to use others to further their ambitions and then to abandon them when it becomes convenient to do so.
You have reported that evidence has been presented to the lawyer for the Speicher family and to Senator Nelson and to Senator Roberts and others. Is it the same kind of evidence that Blair and Bush presented to their respective nations? Evidence that has been shown to have been made up of lies and plagiarized material. Is it the same kind of evidence that Powell presented to the UN? Evidence that has been shown to have been made up of lies, half truths, and forgeries?
You are not even asking. Like Eisenhower, like Nixon, like Kissinger, like Reagan, like Bush I, like Cheney, like Powell, you are prepared to abandon your allies and your troops once they have served their purpose.
Have you no shame? Was your interest in Captain Speicher only to drum up support for the war? It sure seems that way. Otherwise you would be raising hell on your editorial pages. But all I hear is the "sound of silence".
Robert E. Reynolds, Orange Park, Fl
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
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