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A Veteran’s Letter to the President: “I Return Enclosed the Symbols of My Years of Service”

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 9 March 2006
4 comments

Movement Wars and conflicts Governments USA

Joseph DuRocher was for 20 years the elected Public Defender of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, covering Orange and Osceola counties. Since retirement, he’s been writing and teaching law at the University of Central Florida and the Barry University School of Law. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s, serving as a Naval Aviator in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. On Monday, Mr. DuRocher returned his Lieutenant’s shoulder bars and Navy wings to President Bush, and enclosed the following letter.

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As a young man I was honored to serve our nation as a commissioned officer and helicopter pilot in the U. S. Navy. Before me in WWII, my father defended the country spending two years in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-14). We were patriots sworn "to protect and defend". Today I conclude that you have dishonored our service and the Constitution and principles of our oath. My dad was buried with full military honors so I cannot act for him. But for myself, I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator’s wings.

Until your administration, I believed it was inconceivable that the United States would ever initiate an aggressive and preemptive war against a country that posed no threat to us. Until your administration, I thought it was impossible for our nation to take hundreds of persons into custody without provable charges of any kind, and to "disappear" them into holes like Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram. Until your administration, in my wildest legal fantasy I could not imagine a U.S. Attorney General seeking to justify torture or a President first stating his intent to veto an anti-torture law, and then adding a "signing statement" that he intends to ignore such law as he sees fit. I do not want these things done in my name.

As a citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law teacher I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think of myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see the face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for life without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition. But my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district drawn by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my concerns because his time is filled with lobbyists’ largess. Protests are limited to your "free speech zones", out of sight of the parade. Even speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist or anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is out of the question.

Nevertheless, to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support your actions. I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars. They were hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I earned them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you have caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me cry for my beloved country.

Joseph W. DuRocher

Mr. DuRocher can be reached at PDJWD@aol.com See a fuller biographical sketch here.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m21362&a...

Forum posts

  • Will GWB and his Cronies ever care ??? Do they give a damn about what evil they are doing ???
    I dont think so as they want to do to Iran what they have done to Iraq.
    The cazy thing is that all the depleted uranium munitions being used in Iraq is speading radio-active dust around parts of the northern hemisphere... and from that dust we wil see a sharp rise in infant birth deformities. Even in Britain as atmospheric tests have proven a sharp increase in radoi=active dust particles since the begining of that American illegal war against Iraq.
    Well lets see what happens over the next 2 years and we will hear all sorts of accusations and denials when the health costs of most northern hemisphere populations rise to unprecedented levels. Osama must be celebrating the stupidity of the western civilization.

    • Is this a civilîzation? Georges Clemenceau once said: "America may be unique, in that it has passed directly from barbarism to decadence without apparently having touched civilization on the way through." The West was one with guns, murder and conspiracy; now America appears to be attempting the same thing with the rest of the world.

    • I forgot another quote! When asked about Western Civilization, Ghandi was reported to have said: "I think it’s a very idea. Why don’t they try it?"

    • Mr. DuRocher, it is a shame that you would give up the symbols of your military service to make a point. If there is any justice in this country left, it is my hope that the president is impeached and your wings and shoulder stripes returned. You earned them. This administration has earned only the disrespect of the American people and the peoples of the world.