My name is Christopher Burke and I am a 19-year master sergeant in the United States Air Force, currently serving on a deployment tour at Manas AB in Kyrgyzstan. I have written you in the past from my other post in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Two weeks ago, we caught a murderous tyrant, to say the least, in Saddam Hussein. His capture did not stop the attacks in Iraq, nor help in the rebuilding process, nor keep insurgents from conducting sabotage against their own people. It did show we will not stop in our pursuit of evil men who orchestrate attacks against the United States, or anyone else for that matter.
What it also did was bring out the critics again, notably Bob Graham, former Democratic senator from Florida. He stated on CNN that we had given up our war on terror in favor of chasing Saddam. Well, hell, I wish somebody would have told me and the other thousands of U.S. and coalition troops (62 countries now) who are stationed in Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, etc. Maybe we should just load up these C-130s, KC-135s and other jets and come home. Then again, maybe not.
We are here doing a job, every day, flying sorties 'round the clock against ground targets. We are finding those members of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations and eliminating them. It's not a glorious job, nor is it enjoyable to be away from our loved ones. However, it is a necessary job.
What makes it hard to deal with is that the only time the media or opposition members involved in our government's politics want to focus on this war -- and it is a war -- is when something goes wrong.
We don't like it when innocent people die, American or otherwise. It hurts more when children die. However, we are dealing with people who believe that children can die for their cause, so bringing them to a target area and giving them a ball to play with, knowing they will be killed, is just what they are about.
Day in, day out, we, the members of America's armed forces, alongside our coalition brothers and sisters, wage a war of freedom against those who wish nothing more than to kill every one of us and eliminate those freedoms.
I take pleasure in that the editors of the Niagara Falls Reporter can continue to report in the manner they see fit, because of these very freedoms we have. Continue to voice your opinions to them, and support your sons and daughters in the military, we can use it.
One more thing, you can't support the fighter in the battle when you don't want them to win the fight.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 23 2003 |