Help Wes get a million signatures on this petition
Submitted by Mike Pridmore on January 11, 2006 - 8:08pm.
Call to Action
Below is the text of my diary at dailykos asking for help getting a million signatures on Wes's petition calling for a congressional inquiry. Here is a link. Please go over and help get that diary on the recommended list like the one we had last night on Wes's response to W.
Yesterday retired Generals Wes Clark and Claudia Kennedy responded to President Bush calling his critics irresponsible by saying that Bush himself is irresponsible for not taking care of our soldiers and providing the proper body armor. (link) Today Clark is turning up the heat to call for a congressional inquiry by gathering signatures. Here is a snippet from his e-mail:
The Bush Administration has not provided our troops with the body armor they need to protect themselves. It's been three years, and now hundreds of thousands of brave American service men and women have risked their lives in Iraq -- with many paying the ultimate price.
This is unconscionable. This is incompetent. This is neglecting our soldiers' needs in war. It is time for Congress to act.
I want to help General Clark get at least a million signatures on this letter. Please help me by recommending this diary, signing the letter yourself, and passing the letter to all your friends.
Previously General Clark helped get Ed Schultz on the Armed Forces Radio Network with far less than a million signatures. (link)
But if we can get a million signatures, and with your help this is possible, we will force the attention our troops deserve. General Clark is planning to give the petition to Senators Warner and Levin next Wednesday, January 18. So we have a week to gather these signatures.
Here is the rest of Clark's letter:
An internal government report recently obtained by the New York Times and published in an article this past weekend confirms that "80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor."
The Times report continued, noting that "such armor has been available since 2003," but the Pentagon declined to supply it to the troops despite "calls from the field for additional protection."
More than 1700 American troops have died during combat. And according to the Times analysis, as many as 300 deaths could have been prevented if our soldiers were equipped with the right kind of body armor -- armor that costs as little as $260 per set.
We must demand that this Administration pay the costs to ensure our troops get what they need to be effective and secure in their conduct of the mission. This is not about dollars and cents, but about our values as a nation.
President Bush continues to attack critics of the war effort as "unpatriotic" -- but I refuse to stay silent. The war in Iraq was a strategic blunder from the very beginning. And the Administration's handling of the war has only gone downhill from there.
This study is just the latest example of the Bush Administration's appalling disregard for the welfare and safety of our troops. President Bush's rhetoric doesn't match the actions of his Administration, and unnecessary combat fatalities are the result.
Clearly, Congressional investigation is warranted. When were the needs for additional protection first expressed? Who knew what and when, and why weren't necessary steps taken?
The American people deserve no less than full accountability and assurances that going forward our troops will not face unnecessary risks or danger caused by lack of resources, oversight, or commitment from Washington.
Join me in calling on Congress to investigate this critical matter. Our brave men and women in uniform deserve so much better from this Administration, and that's why we must speak out.
Sincerely,
Wes Clark
If we can get a million signatures it will send a clear message to the Republican leadership that their irresponsible and corrupt governance is unacceptable. We can make them answer to the people.
We should also spread the word around the rest of the blogosphere and our local papers, I've already written an editorial on the subject, it's up to us to spread the word.
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
.....this was sent to are now questioning the need since they heard on the news that new and improved armor is now being sent. WTH!
I'm telling them to firstly.....don't believe everything you hear on the Corp Controlled News....and secondly.....don't they wonder about the timing?
NYT prints the story......retired military commanders make a stink....then all of a sudden......Oh we had the armor all along and are sending it off now.....move right along....nothing to see here. Sheesh!!
George Bush has had his day and he's bollixed it up.
n-account bush must be held accountable
headlines in my local paper about J. Warner getting the body armor--any connection?
The General gets it right. Competence--What a concept!
there was a a Senate Armed Services Committee Meeting the day the petition came out and that there is now armor being sent. (link) So it may be a coincidence and not related to the petition. Looking at the details of the new armor being sent, I'm not sure that it is really what is needed. But I am not an expert on this.
I did - I sent the petition page to a west point grad - and his brother-in-law - west point grad branch my family I don't know if they will join Wes but they do support the troops - not Bush fans as far as I know. Next I am sending to leftey's who don't like Wes as political leader because they don't trust military and they think its too late to save our too corrupt country but will sign the petition because they support the troops -some on the email list will freak and want off email list when they get the petition. Prejudice left or right is ignorance.. going to prune email list real soon indirectly.