1st Lt Brown's letter to America Commemorating 9/11
"Dear America" by Lt. Kevin Brown, USMC
Dad, you asked me what I would say to America from Iraq on 9/11
if I had a podium and a microphone. I have thought about it, and here is my
response.
Your Son,
Kevin
September 11, 2004
Dear America,
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand
ready to do violence on their behalf." -George Orwell
The Marine Corps is tired. I guess I should not say that, as I have no authority
or responsibility to speak for the Marine Corps as a whole, and my opinions are
mine alone. I will rephrase: this Marine is tired. I write this piece from the
sands of Iraq, west of Baghdad, at three a.m., but I am not tired of the sand. I
am neither tired of long days, nor of flying and fighting. I am not tired of the
food, though it does not taste quite right. I am not tired of the heat; I am not
tried of the mortars that occasionally fall on my base. I am not tired of
Marines dying, though all Marines, past and present, mourn the loss of every
brother and sister that is killed; death is a part of combat and every warrior
knows that going into battle. One dead Marine is too many, but we give more than
we take, and unlike our enemies, we fight with honor. I am not tired of the
missions or the people; I have only been here a month, after all. I am, however,
tired of the hypocrisy and short-sightedness that seems to have gripped so many
of my countrymen and the media. I am tired of political rhetoric that misses the
point, and mostly I am tired of people "not getting it."
Three years ago I was sitting in a classroom at Quantico, Virginia, while
attending the Marine Corps Basic Officer Course, learning about the finer points
of land navigation. Our Commanding Officer interrupted the class to inform us
that some planes had crashed in New York and Washington D.C., and that he would
return when he knew more. Tears welled in the eyes of the Lieutenant on my right
while class continued, albeit with an audience that was not very focused; his
sister lived in New York and worked at the World Trade Center. We broke for
lunch, though instead of going to the chow hall proceeded to a small pizza and
sub joint which had a television. Slices of pizza sat cold in front of us as we
watched the same vivid images that you watched on September 11, 2001. I look
back on that moment now and realize even then I grasped, at some level, that the
events of that day would alter both my military career and my country forever.
Though I did not know that three years later, to the day, I would be flying
combat missions in Iraq as an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot, I did understand that a
war had just begun, on television for the world to see, and that my classmates
and I would fight that war. After lunch we were told to go to our rooms, clean
our weapons and pack our gear for possible deployment to the Pentagon to augment
perimeter security. The parting words of the order were to make sure we packed
gloves, in case we had to handle bodies.
The first Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom was in my company at The
Basic School, and was sitting in that land navigation class on September 11. He
fought bravely, led from the front, and was killed seizing an oil refinery on
the opening day of the war. His heroism made my emergency procedure memorization
for the T-34 primary flight school trainer seem quite insignificant. This
feeling of frustration was shared by all of the student pilots, but we continued
to press on. As one instructor pointed out to us, "You will fight this war, not
me. Make sure that you are prepared when you get there." He was right; my
classmates from Pensacola are here beside me, flying every day in support of the
Marines on the ground. That instructor has since retired, but I believe he has
retired knowing that he made a contribution to the greatest country in the
history of the world, the United States of America.
Many of you will read that statement and balk at its apparently presumptuous and
arrogant nature, and perhaps be tempted to stop reading right here. I would ask
that you keep going, for I did not say that Americans are better than anyone
else, for I do not believe that to be the case. I did not say that our country,
its leaders, military or intelligence services are perfect or have never made
mistakes, because throughout history they have, and will continue to do so,
despite their best efforts. The Nation is more than the sum of its citizens and
leaders, more than its history, present, or future; a nation has contemporary
values which change as its leaders change, but it also has timeless character,
ideals forged with the blood and courage of patriots. To quote the Pledge of
Allegiance, our nation was founded "under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all." As Americans, we have more freedom than we can handle
sometimes.
If you are an atheist you might have a problem with that whole "under God" part;
if you are against liberating the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Asia, all of
Europe (twice), and the former Soviet bloc, then perhaps the "liberty and
justice for all" section might leave you fuming. Our Nation, throughout its
history, has watered the seeds of democracy on many continents, with blood, even
when the country was in disagreement about those decisions. Disagreement is a
wonderful thing. To disagree with your neighbors and your government is at the
very heart of freedom. Citizens have disagreed about every important and
controversial decision made by their leaders throughout history. Truman had the
courage to drop two nuclear weapons in order to end the largest war in history,
and then, by his actions, prevented the Soviets from extinguishing the light of
democracy in Eastern Europe, Berlin. Lincoln preserved our country through civil
war; Reagan knew in his heart that freedom is a more powerful weapon than
oppression. Leaders are paid to make difficult, sometimes controversial
decisions. History will judge the success of their actions and the purity of
their intent in a way that is impossible at the present moment. In your
disagreement and debate about the current conflict, however, be very careful
that you do not jeopardize your nation or those who serve. The best time to use
your freedom of speech to debate difficult decisions is before they are made,
not when the lives of your countrymen are on the line.
Cherish your civil rights; I know that after having been in Iraq for only one
month I have a new appreciation for mine. You have the right to say that you
"support the troops" but oppose the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have the
right to vote for Senator John Kerry because you believe that he has an exit
strategy for Iraq, or because you just cannot stand President Bush. You have the
right to vote for President George W. Bush if you believe that he has done a
good job over the last four years. You might even decide that you do not want to
vote at all and would rather avoid the issues as much as possible. That is
certainly your option, and doing nothing is the only option for many people in
this world.
It is not my place, nor am I allowed by the Uniformed Code of Military Justice,
to tell you how to vote. But I can explain to you the truth about what is going
on around you. We know, and have known from the beginning, that the ultimate
success or failure of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the future of
those countries, rests solely on the shoulders of the Iraqi and Afghani people.
If someone complains that we should not have gone to war with Saddam Hussein,
that our intelligence was bad, that President Bush's motives were impure, then
take the appropriate action. Exercise your right to vote for Senator Kerry, but
please stop complaining about something that happened over a year ago. The
decision to deploy our military in Iraq and Afghanistan is in the past, and
while I believe that it is important to the democratic process for our nation to
analyze the decisions of our leadership in order to avoid repeating mistakes, it
is far more important to focus on the future. The question of which candidate
will "get us out of Iraq sooner" should not be a consideration in your mind. YOU
SHOULD NOT WANT US OUT OF IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN SOONER. There is only one coherent
exit strategy that will make our time here worthwhile and validate the sacrifice
of so many of our countrymen. There is only one strategy that has a chance of
promoting peace and stabilizing the Middle East. It is the exit strategy of both
candidates, though voiced with varying volumes and differing degrees of clarity.
I will speak of Iraq because that is where I am, though I feel the underlying
principle applies to both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The American military must continue to help train and support the Iraqi Police,
National Guard, and Armed Forces. We must continue to give them both
responsibility and the authority with which to carry out those responsibilities,
so that they eventually can kill or capture the former regime elements and
foreign terrorists that are trying to create a radical, oppressive state. We
must continue to repair the infrastructure that we damaged during the conflict,
and improve the infrastructure that was insufficient when Saddam was in power.
We should welcome and encourage partners in the coalition but recognize that
many will choose the path of least resistance and opt out; many of our
traditional allies have been doing this for years and it should not surprise us.
We must respect the citizens of Iraq and help them to understand the meaning of
basic human rights, for those are something the average Iraqi has never
experienced. We must be respectful of our cultural and religious differences. We
must help the Iraqis develop national pride, and most importantly, we must leave
this country better than we found it, at the right time, with a chance of
success so that its people will have an opportunity to forge their own destiny.
We must do all of these things as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we
are not seen as occupiers, but rather liberators and helpers. We must
communicate this to the world as clearly and frequently as possible, both with
words and actions.
If we leave before these things are done, then Iraq will fall into anarchy and
possibly plunge the Middle East into another war. The ability of the United
States to conduct foreign policy will be severely, and perhaps permanently,
degraded. Terrorism will increase, both in America and around the world, as
America will have demonstrated that it is not interested in building and
helping, only destroying. If we run or exit early, we prove to our enemies that
terror is more powerful and potent than freedom. Many nations, like Spain, have
already affirmed this in the minds of the terrorists. Our failure, and its
consequences, will be squarely on our shoulders as a nation. It will be our
fault. If we stay the course and Iraq or Afghanistan falls into civil war on its
own, then our hands are clean. As a citizen of the United States and a U.S.
Marine, I will be able to sleep at night with nothing on my conscience, for I
know that I, and my country, have done as much as we could for these people. If
we leave early, I will not be able to live with myself, and neither should you.
The blood will be on our hands, the failure on our watch.
The bottom line is this: Republican or Democrat, approve or disapprove of the
decision to go to war, you need to support our efforts here. You cannot both
support the troops and protest their mission. Every time the parent of a fallen
Marine gets on CNN with a photo, accusing President Bush of murdering his son,
the enemy wins a strategic victory. I cannot begin to comprehend the grief he
feels at the death of his son, but he dishonors the memory of my brave brother
who paid the ultimate price. That Marine volunteered to serve, just like the
rest of us. No one here was drafted. I am proud of my service and that of my
peers. I am ashamed of that parent's actions, and I pray to God that if I am
killed my parents will stand with pride before the cameras and reaffirm their
belief that my life and sacrifice mattered; they loved me dearly and they firmly
support the military and its mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. With that
statement, they communicate very clearly to our enemies around the world that
America is united, that we cannot be intimidated by kidnappings, decapitations
and torture, and that we care enough about the Afghani and Iraqi people to give
them a chance at democracy and basic human rights. Do not support those that
seek failure for us, or seek to trivialize the sacrifices made here. Do not make
the deaths of your countrymen be in vain. Communicate to your media and elected
officials that you are behind us and our mission. Send letters and encouragement
to those who are deployed. When you meet a person that serves you, whether in
the armed forces, police, or fire department, show them respect. Thank the
spouses around you every day, raising children alone, whose loved ones are
deployed. Remember not only those that have paid the ultimate price, but the
veterans that bear the physical and emotional scars of defending your freedom.
At the very least, follow your mother's advice. "If you can't say something
nice, don't say anything at all." Do not give the enemy a foothold in our
Nation's public opinion. He rejoices at Fahrenheit 9/11 and applauds every time
an American slams our efforts. The military can succeed here so long as American
citizens support us wholeheartedly.
Sleep well on this third anniversary of 9/11, America. Rough men are standing
ready to do violence on your behalf. Many of your sons and daughters volunteered
to stand watch for you. Not just rough men- the infantry, the Marine grunts, the
Special Operations Forces- but lots of eighteen and nineteen year old kids,
teenagers, who are far away from home, serving as drivers, supply clerks,
analysts, and mechanics. They all have stories, families, and dreams. They miss
you, love you, and are putting their lives on the line for you. Do not make
their time here, their sacrifice, a waste. Support them, and their mission.
America, we must be diligent in preserving our Freedoms here
and abroad - Support the people of Democratic countries and condemn those who
rule by murder, fear and lies. Shine the light of truth on the countries
that support terrorism either by deed, word, money or shelter. It is
our duty, as free people, to speak out against all violations against human
rights. If we don't, who will ?
"A number of years ago a president of this country declared that
we have a rendezvous with destiny. In a world where terrorism spreads and the
innocent die we must fulfill our destiny. If not us who? If not now when?"
—Ronald Reagan
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles, Chapter 7, verse 14
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