Memorial Day

Monday morning, I woke up sad and feeling frustrated and disillusioned. Although we had other plans, we decided to attend a Memorial Day parade to honor our military, past and present. In previous years most parades included far more Reserves and National Guard, but seeing so few reinforced the reality that many of South Jersey's Military are still in Iraq or Afghanistan.I'm frustrated because I don't see an exit plan to bring them home to their families. Many of whom are living under difficult conditions, with bills to be paid in spite of less income, and some self employed soldiers losing their businesses. Not all of our people have received proper armor for themselves or their vehicles and when they come back injured it's to overcrowded hospitals. In addition, about a third of all returnees have post traumatic stress disorders because most young people can't go through wars like this without being damaged. That is not a criticism of them, but an affirmation of their humanity.I'm disillusioned because I expect so much more from our government and our people, at the very least honesty and tolerance. When you point out that Iraq did not attack us, had nothing to do with 9-11, and was being contained, you are called unpatriotic and a Bush basher. Now we know, from official government papers in Britain, that our leaders had early plans to invade Iraq and only needed to rationalize it, with WMDs serving that purpose. Most of our troops were then pulled from Afghanistan where they were fighting our real enemy.Representative Frank LoBiondo voted to support the President on the invasion and for all additional appropriations to fund the Iraq war. On May 25 he helped defeat an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill, merely a request for the President to consider a timetable to bring the troops home. In addition he has supported deep tax cuts for the wealthiest of us, which has contributed to a record national debt, making it even more difficult to support our troops and leading to cuts in funding for veterans.The more I learn about LoBiondo, the more I wonder if he is our Representative or Bush's?

Submitted by BETTIE J. REINA

Milmay