Note from Team Cho: Margaret’s working 16 hour days in NY on a project for a friend plus doing tour press up until her shows at The Apollo on the 28th. She has no internet access. Her entries this week will be intermittent at best.
Here’s a letter from a fan whose brother is in Iraq.
—– Original Message —–
From: “Chris”
To:
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 8:19 AM
Subject: my brother
dear margaret,
i have been reading your blog for quite sometime now and am a huge fan of your standup… the way you stand up for those who don’t have voices and for those who are terrified to speak. oh, and you are really funny :-). i find it awesome, amazing, and i sometimes only wish i could speak my mind like you.
anyway, i was just writing to say that i am terrified for my brother. he is a naval medic assigned to a marine unit in fallujah and i spoke to him this morning, hoping it is not my last. i have spoken with him on and off through im and over the past couple of weeks, he has informed me that things are just not what they seem to be. he says it’s hell, the news doesn’t report half of what really goes on and that most of the iraq citizens don’t even want us there. most often, i can tell how is mood is and how he is feeling by the way he types, but this morning was different.
as he spoke with me, he told me that he is terrified about having to be with the first marine unit to have to go back into fallujah for the first time since our troops pulled out months ago. over that past couple of weeks, mainly within the last three or four days, a large amount of his barracks have been blown up. he hasn’t taken a shower in weeks, he has been going on senseless missions with marine units with only his pistol, and for the past days, he has had to be dressed in a flack jacket and helmet because of the intense bombing. he said that mortars come down as if it’s raining and they can do nothing to prevent them. a large area of ammunition storage was blown up, and that the vehicles he uses to go and help save lives are also gone.
how is it that the leaders of our country still think that it’s right for us to be in iraq? how is it that it’s okay for our soldiers, who don’t want to e there themselves, to die for a cause that is unknown? why do our military leaders find it alright to go back into a city that we have already said was difficult to control and want to blow up their stuff? because they did it to us? what kind of logic is that? that’s like telling a child it’s alright to punch someone when they kick you. what happened to the human ability to think and reason? has our country come to a point where we have decided that we will do what we want whenever we want because we can and logic has gone out the window?
as my brother heads into battle tonight (or this morning here in the states) with a small pistol and a backpack full of medical supplies, i can only pray that he will be okay. and for that matter, all of the other soldiers he will be with.
thanks for listening. i hope your day is better than my brothers. please keep him in your prayers.
chris