This is an open letter to Senator Daschle and members of his political party who appear to be trying to harvesy political advantage out of the liberation of Iraq as well as members of the national media.

When your party successfully got James E. Carter elected, he betrayed us further by granting a blanket amnesty to those who wished to partake of the largesse of our nation and its freedom without being willing to pay the price of thsoe freedoms and benefits. Carter heaped disrespect upon those who served in order to reward those too cowardly to meet their obligations as citizens. With a single stroke of a pen, that incompetent boob diminished and made almost meaningless the sacrifices of 58,630+ young men and women who died in the Hellhole of Viet Nam as well as the thousands upon thousands more who returned, all scarred for life by what they had experienced. Some of those scars were plainly visible... lost limbs, missing eyes, disfiguring scars readily seen. More came back with scars that could not be so readily seen and all of us came back with nightmares that won't ever end.

The 1990 Gulf War saw our citizens gather on roadsides, on overpasses and on hill sides to wave American flags and wish our military men and women well and God Speed. The recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq were marked by posting of yellow ribbons on trees, light poles, store fronts and mailboxes all across thsi nation. Now, you and your media handmaidens are beginning to prove that Al Qaeda, Hussein and those who wish us ill were right. You send a message to the world that America is no longer the "land of the free and the brave." Our peopel are still strong, proud and free, sirs, but you are cowardly traitors to those people who pay your inflated, unearned salaries. Stop referring to an armed conflict as a "quaqmire" if the conflict is not antiseptic, casualty free and takes longer than a few days.

Anyone can find a fool with little expertise but many words to find fault with our troop strength in Iraq or Afghanistan. Let's face it, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw don't know diddly sh*t about prosecuting a war. Frankly, it is obvious thatyou and Teddy Kennedy don't either. Hillary is a self-proclaimed despiser of the military who knows nothing of military tactics. The best her slithering snake of a spouse could do was drop bombs on people from 30,000 feet in Bosnia and Kosovo when he wasn't blowing up baby formula factories or blasting a goat herder's tent to smithereens. The only reason he did that then was to try to distract attention from a fact that cannot ever be undone. He was impeached and only maintained office because of cowards just like him from both parties in the Senate. You and your party members brought shame and disdain upon the United States Senate. At least most Republicans had the decency to rid themselves of those Senate Republicans who voted to protect their own conniving backsides for political gain.

Don't do it to our young people again! They deserve better.

Lafcadio T. Lion

(1st Lt USMC - one of those betrayed)