Stephany Kern - mother of dead soldier

This is important enough to print the whole piece. I'm a contributor to TruthOut, so I feel entitled to print it in full.

Please Don't Make My Grandchildren Pay for the War That Killed Their Father
By Stephany Kern t r u t h o u t Guest Contributor
Thursday 22 February 2007

The Bush administration wants us to give more of our precious human resources and more of our money to the war in Iraq. Coming from a military family, I do not want any soldiers to be without what they need, but in order to fully understand the problem, I realized I had to look beneath the simplistic cover the administration uses for its reasoning in asking for more.

In order to look objectively at this request for more money, I decided to review for myself how the administration has dealt with one basic safety need that troops on the ground have had: armor for vehicles sent to Iraq. Guess what? It's still a problem.

Why are the vehicles we send to Iraq still unarmored? After reading much about this issue, I had to conclude that the administration and the Pentagon have never looked at this issue as a mistake. My common sense tells me you don't send soldiers into a war like this without basic protection for their vehicles. The Pentagon callously did not see this as a significant issue. As a matter of fact, the idea that this was a mistake was dismissed with an offhanded remark by [former defense secretary Donald] Rumsfeld that I'm sure we all remember too well. Thankfully, the story was picked up by a few members of Congress and the media, and there was an effort to correct the problem.

The Pentagon and the administration have had four long years to fix this outrageous negligence, but have they made this a priority? No. They seem to have the attitude that the lives of our greatest military resource - our soldiers, our sons and daughters - are not valuable enough, not worthy enough, to invest and provide proper protection. I can only deduce from this attitude and the lack of action by the administration and the Pentagon that providing ground troops with proper equipment is not a priority.

The effort to address this issue began in late 2003, and it's still not corrected! Yes, this is true. Oh, there have been many "up-armored kits" sent into Iraq, and this is good - except that these kits do not include metal plates for the floors of these vehicles. Most of the "armored vehicles" in Iraq today are considered armored because these kits have been installed. This is not enough protection, considering that our solders are being killed daily by IEDs hidden underground, alongside, and in roads.

Today, unarmored vehicles continue to ship to Iraq. Imagine that. We allocated more money, yet the administration and those in charge of the money for Iraq can't tell us where the money went, and the soldiers are still driving along those dangerous roads in unarmored vehicles or in vehicles that are partially armored but lack protection for floors.

It seems unbelievable that we, the greatest industrial power in the world, could not solve the simple and entirely fixable problem of unarmored vehicles.

Let me review. We gave plenty of money and we have had plenty of time to make sure the problem was corrected. You'd think we would have straightened this out immediately, or at least by the end of 2004. Or at least 2005? How about 2006? Nope, the presumed great superpower, America, still cannot provide its military soldiers with the necessity of basic armored vehicles.

Now the administration wants more money, and is arguing that this is necessary to provide what troops on the ground need. Do you believe this additional money will be spent on the troops? Do you think the troops will get what they need?

Well, television's Dr. Phil tells us all that past behavior is the best predictor of the future. I'm not Dr. Phil, but even I can tell you that the safety of the troops is not the priority of this administration, and that the money will not go into protecting our greatest military resource, the soldiers themselves.

As you drive to work listening to the radio, I want you to take a moment to think about the three or four young soldiers who will be killed today, and the 25 young soldiers who will give an arm, a leg, or a part of their brain to this war. Some of these deaths and injuries are directly due to the negligent - if not cavalier - attitude of the Pentagon and the administration regarding the BASIC safety of our soldiers. Fully armored vehicles would cut down the number of soldiers giving their limbs and parts of their brains to this war. Fully armored vehicles would decrease the number of young men and women being killed by IEDs.

These soldiers are our military families' sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and they are your soldiers, your countrymen and women, and your neighbors. Is it acceptable to you that their safety is not a priority and that they are expendable? Is it acceptable to you that the administration representing you across the world has such a casual attitude about the number of Iraqi citizens who are being killed daily? Is it acceptable to you that the administration is using the argument of providing your soldiers with what they need, when they have a very clear policy of not doing that? Remember, this is YOUR military, your national defense organization. Is Iraq even where you want your military to be? Is this war where you want our national resources to be spent?

The administration is asking for more money when they cannot tell you where billions upon billions went. Their explanation is that there was chaos. Is this acceptable to you?

Every time I hear George Bush talk about his determination to make those tax cuts of his permanent, it makes me so upset. In reality, he is setting up for us this scenario: military families' grandchildren will be part of the population paying for this war.

If these tax cuts are made permanent, it won't be George Bush's or Dick Cheney's grandchildren who will pay for it. It will be your grandchildren and my grandchildren who pay. Yes, my grandchildren, who lost their father in this war, will pay for the war that killed their Dad.

Your brave military is being used and depleted. Your national defense is being squandered. Your countrymen and women are considered expendable, and again it's not a priority to get them what they reasonably need. Your great country is unable to solve this small element of the war situation, even given plenty of money and four grueling years!

Please understand that this administration is unable, for whatever reason, to use money appropriated in a way that will benefit your country, your military, and your democracy.

Please do not allow the administration one additional chance to waste money that we don't even have.

Please do not allow the financial burden for your children and grandchildren to get any bigger.

Please let's not be the kind of society that is unable to learn from past mistakes, and let's not be a complacent society when we have every right to actively participate in building a better future.

Let's be the country that has the courage to stop spending what we don't even have any more. Let's learn from our mistakes and humbly implement corrections of our mistakes. Let us not ask our grandchildren to pay any more for our mishandling of funds and intelligence. And let us not ask children who have already given so much to become financially handicapped by our inability to speak out and stop the insanity.

Why do we ask so much of some and very little from others? Will it always be this way here in America? Are we the land of equality or of non-equality? What are you willing to do?

Please call your representatives in Congress. Let your voice be heard. Please ask them to stop funding this war.
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Stephany Kern's son Lance Cpl. Nickolas Schiavoni was killed by an IED on November 15, 2005, in Karmah, Iraq. He remains forever 26 years old. Stephany is a member of Military Families Speak Out.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022207P.shtml
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