A Marine's dad speaks in the Times
Reader Robert Andrews points us to today's Washington Times "Inside the Ring" column by Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough with this concluding note:
With Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld being criticized for letting a machine sign his name to letters of condolence, we decided to reprint parts of a letter from a Marine's father first posted on the popular Powerlineblog. The letter was written by Mike Becker of Arizona, whose son, Joshua, is a lance corporal."If our son had been killed, we would have been first informed by a visit — in dress blues — from a condolence team typically consisting of two Marines and one Navy chaplain. We know many families who've received that knock on the door. No letter is required. No words are required. A simple peek through the view hole in the door and the sight of dress blue blouses, white covers and white gloves tells you all you ever need to know. A letter of condolence from the SecDef is, honestly, not even worth opening. Families are much more interested in hearing from the men who served with their son and from their families.
"We know families of fallen Marines who've been flown to sites where President Bush was speaking. He met with them privately after his event, never any press coverage, and the families have said that, after being given an agenda for their time with the president and being told that he's on a very tight schedule — Mr. Bush talked to every family member as long as they wanted to talk. ... Bottom line: We support Secretary Rumsfeld. The people who are making a big deal about this ... need to have a serious priority check on what people in positions of responsibility should be doing with their time."
HINDROCKET adds: For those who may have missed it, we originally published the full version of Mr. Becker's email to us here. Rowan Scarborough of the Times contacted us and asked to be put in touch with the person who wrote it. Mr. Becker graciously permitted the text of his email to be reprinted in the Times.
