OPEN LETTER TO HARRY REID

Senator Harry Reid 528 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 Senator Reid You are truly a shallow and petty human being. You have accused two honorable men of incompetence in order to pander to your voting constituents. I am not aware of any information available that would substantiate your claim to your supporters that Gen. Pace and Gen. Petraeus are “incompetent”. Instead, their records demonstrate that they are well qualified to lead our military. Unfortunately, military regulations prohibit them from publicly criticizing you. However, I am not going to stand by while you slander these honorable men. These two men have dedicated their lives to service to their country. They have spent their adult lives in uniform defending this great nation. They are not pay-for-play politicians like yourself. Nor are they armchair generals like yourself. They have actually served on the front lines, and Gen. Petraeus is there now. They have had to make the one call that is hardest for any commander, to commit troops to war to dutifully execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief to the best of their abilities. They have dealt with losses over many years, both in combat and training, war and peace, and they know the cost of those decisions for the troops and their families. They also know the price of indecision and bloviating for which your Senate (you are the majority leader, so it falls on your head for their performance) is famous. They do not have the luxury of sitting back and throwing stones, but never offering an alternative (like you and your anti-soldier crowd do every day). You sit in the luxury of your taxpayer-provided office and throw criticisms out about honorable men, just to pander to your supporters. You declared that the war is lost which provided a great morale boost for our head-cutting enemies. I have yet to hear from you or any of the Democrats how we might do things differently to win this campaign in Iraq in the on-going War on Terror. The only thing I see daily is your attempts to politicize every action taken in support of victory. I contend that you have failed in your Constitutional duty as a legislator. Did you at any point during their confirmation hearings express any concern over their competence? Can you show me where you stood and opposed the appointment of these two honorable men? If they are incompetent, why did the Senate overwhelmingly confirm them to the positions they currently hold? Did General Petraeus suddenly become incompetent since you voted to confirm him in January of this year? Or did you just say what your political supporters wanted to hear? Your moment of silence for our troops yesterday was great political theater, but your comments about the capabilities of the Commanders demonstrate your true feelings toward our warriors. I noticed you didn’t take responsibility for any of the losses that have been caused by your defeatist remarks. You have disparaged two honorable men who have served their country honorably with devotion and passion and by association all those who serve beside them. You owe both General Pace and General Petraeus a public apology. You owe a public apology to every man and woman who is serving and who has served in this current conflict. And you owe an apology to the American people for allowing your political ambitions and disagreement with the President to cloud your judgment and denigrate the reputations of true patriots. And yes, I do question your patriotism. Joseph S. Downs, Lt Col (Ret) USAF Herndon VA Steve Downs(703) 793-3311 stevedowns@cox.net Interstingly the word "Reid" as pronounced in the Senator's name when spoken in Farsi/Persian means the past tense of "shit". How appropriately is this man named.