Response to Mr. Karl Rove's Newsweek editorial

Dear Mr. Rove,

Supporters of your new Newsweek column have levied a serious charge against readers who stand in the way of truth by "attacking the messenger as opposed to the message." Let me say this: I'm fine with that. The Bush administration has made a habit of attacking individuals who represent positions contrary to their own, to the great detriment of the United States. One Valerie Wilson comes to mind rather quickly. Jaques Chirac and the entire nation of France surface out of the mire of this seven-year blame game too. I bet many representatives and voters on both sides of the aisle wish they'd listened to the French "message" in 2003: avoid war at all costs. Instead, most of the nation swallowed your lies, Mr. Rove, and chose to malign France and the French president while chomping happily on "freedom fries." Now look at us.

I served in your war, Mr. Rove, as a Combat Engineer with the United States Army. I went to Iraq believing that we had made a grave mistake, that we had not planned our mission thoroughly enough, and that our post-9-11 decision to spurn our global allies and "go it alone" cost our international credibility dearly. I care about things like international credibility, Mr. Rove, because I understand that our allies are as much a part of our security as the location and activities of Osama bin Laden (who, I might add, was certainly not in Iraq). You know all of these things as well as I do, so I will not refresh your memory.

I will, however, tell you that I went to Iraq with my head held high, because I believed that though we had erred in invading Iraq, we could still manage to bring a better future to the Iraqi people. I very quickly realized the extent of my naïveté. How many airstrips loaded with brand new American SUVs did I have to see (SUVs and pick-up trucks destined for absurdly well-paid Kellogg, Brown & Root contractors, men who collect salaries four-times as large as mine to manage Kurdish and Turkish workers doing jobs soldiers used to do) from the turret of my beat-up old Humvee, or from the bed of the Vietnam-era dump-trucks with which you sent us into combat, before I realized, Mr. Rove, that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with "Terror" or "freedom" or "democracy," and everything to do with profit and political gain?

Oh how you have screwed us, Mr. Rove. But I will not single you out. I know that (almost) the entire nation was behind you, even if only because your management of Mr. Bush's propaganda machine flowed so smoothly. I also know that you were doing a job, and that a man like you could not possibly care about the United States or its future. Sometimes combat soldiers say that war is just a job. Usually it's an attempt to distance themselves from the psychologically and physically brutal consequences of their task. But sometimes it's an honest statement; there are more than a few soldiers in Iraq for whom victory hold no grip over the imagination, and for whom loss is a foregone conclusion. Many among those "professional soldiers of the volunteer army" do not really care one way or the other. Most, however, care quite deeply, unlike you.

Let me ask you a few questions. I know you won't answer them, but I would like to pose them to you anyway (I've been dying for the opportunity since the election campaign in 2004, when you brilliantly organized the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against the combat veteran candidate. I've been trying to forgive the American people ever since for claiming to "support the troops" while simultaneously supporting a presidential candidate and cabinet among whom there are no combat veterans whatsoever, all the while bashing the one man who actually volunteered for combat service. I was the lone Kerry-supporting college-boy in my unit, and I watched the election coverage on Armed Forces TV. You can imagine how much fun that was for me. You can also imagine how impressed I was with your ability to make Bush into a war hero ex nihilo. I have to hand it to you.)

Okay, here goes:

1. Why didn't you and your President listen to General Shinseki when he told you that you would need at least 300,000 troops and at least five years?

2. Why did Paul Wolfowitz and Paul Bremer disband the Iraqi military and bureaucracy, a decision which sent hundreds of thousands of men with military training out into the streets with no money, food, or work, ready fodder for the jihadists who weren't here to receive them immediately, but were there teaching them to build IEDs by the time I arrived in March 2004?

3. Why did your President abandon Afghanistan?

4. Why did you and your President so callously disregard our international allies?

5. Why did you and your President make this war? I want the real answer here. But I know that you and all in your chain of command are too cowardly to tell me. Men are dying for your former boss's strategic failures.

6. When will you own up to it?

We cannot win in Iraq. Even if we "stabilize the region," which is incredibly unlikely, we have killed so many scores of civilians that any claims we make to providing a "better future" for the Iraqis are simply absurd: for over eighty-thousand Iraqis, the future no longer exists. Oh, and eighty-thousand is over one-half the number of Kurds murdered by Saddam. Have we succeeded in bringing justice?

Let's look at some more numbers:

9/11 was the worst "unprovoked" terrorist attack in world history. It is very difficult to imagine another terror attack causing more loss of human life or more destruction of American property. It is also hard to imagine a terror attack striking at more symbolic targets: the Pentagon, the WTC. So far over 4,000 soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. If we have somehow avenged the deaths of the roughly 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, our vengeance has been worse than Pyrrhic. And how long will it take us to recover the vast sums of money we have thrown into the flames to finance this poorly managed, poorly devised debacle?

This war has destroyed several of my friends. Some have died. Some are recovering from wounds. Still others bear scars that will forever remain unseen, but are no less traumatic. These sacrifices are the job of soldiers to bear. For these sacrifices I seek no retribution and no justice. I do seek answers, because what this war has cost us most of all is an unrecoverable amount of international credibility and a precious share of our national moral fortitude.

Those who truly love this country will remember you, Mr. Rove. But they will not remember you as a patriot. They will remember you as the man who laughed while his country burned, and they will remember you as a man who lied. Just a man who lied, nothing more.

America is a land of opportunity, potential, and forgiveness, Mr. Rove. And I believe that even you, Mr. Rove, have potential to become a real patriot. You can start by using the wonderful opportunity Newsweek has given you to seek the forgiveness of our nation, something you can do by telling the truth.

Now that's not asking too much, is it? Certainly no more than your President has asked of me and every other soldier.

Serve us proudly.

Sappers Lead,
Elliott