Velma Berger – 10/28/09

This page was last updated on November 4, 2009.

More U.S. troops aren’t the answer; Velma Berger; Beaver County Times; October 28, 2009.

From February 2005 through October 2007, Ms. Berger had a series of at least 26 Bush and Iraqi-bashing letters. In one letter, Ms. Berger told us she was proud of John Murtha. In another letter, Ms. Berger actually claimed she had “a clock ticking down to Bush’s last day in office” and that she “carr[ies] it on [her] purse everywhere [she] go[es].”

Far more often than not, the letters were war-related and ended with something like “Bring our troops home now.” For some reason we could speculate about, there were no war-related letters from November 2007 until early 2009. Ms. Berger’s four letters in 2008 were about the election campaign, with one letter supporting Hillary Clinton and another expressing her displeasure with Barack Obama. In one of the 2008 letters, Ms. Berger claimed she was upset with the Democrat party and claimed she would “now be a proud independent.” In my critique of that letter I wrote, “Though Ms. Berger asserts she ‘will now be a proud independent,’ her body of work indicates she will continue to support the leftist candidate, whoever that is. Come November after her short-term anger has subsided, I believe it’s safe to say Ms. Berger will cast her vote for Mr. Obama.” While I can’t say for sure Ms. Berger voted for Mr. Obama, a post-election letter shows Ms. Berger supports him now.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“I totally agree with the Oct. 14 letter ‘Time to bring our troops home.’ Let them fight their own wars as they have been doing for hundreds of years. Instead, the U.S. military is asking the president to send more troops to Afghanistan.”

[RWC] You’ll note that at no point in her letter does Ms. Berger mention President Obama. As for “the U.S. military is asking the president to send more troops to Afghanistan,” that is to support the strategy Mr. Obama himself approved and outlined earlier this year.

“We are wasting lives, both military and civilian. The suicide rate among the troops is high, and they are worn out both physically and mentally. Our country is going further and further into debt to pay for this war.”

[RWC] Note Ms. Berger doesn’t cite a source for her assertion “The suicide rate among the troops is high, and they are worn out both physically and mentally.” This is standard procedure for Ms. Berger’s letters.

As for “Our country is going further and further into debt to pay for this war,” Ms. Berger seems to have forgotten about extra-constitutional programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Socialist Security, welfare, et cetera.

“Enlistments are up, but only because unemployment is up. Young people cannot find jobs, and the military is offering bonuses, health care, etc. However, there are complaints concerning the care they are receiving — or, should I say, not receiving — when they return. It’s the same pattern as Vietnam.”

[RWC] This is the same BS we always hear from folks like Ms. Berger. If this were true, how did the military meet their enlistment goals when unemployment was low earlier in the decade?

“Sending more troops is not the answer. As I write this letter, the death count is 4,351 in Iraq and 796 in Afghanistan.

“Just because I have always been against this war does not mean I am not patriotic. I support our troops and pray for their safe return soon.”

[RWC] Ms. Berger claims she has “always been against this war” but her letters don’t confirm that claim. Based on my research, Ms. Berger mentioned Afghanistan only once in her previous 37 letters dating back to February 2005, and in that letter she didn’t express opposition to the war in Afghanistan.

Did you notice Ms. Berger didn’t once mention Iraq despite the fact Mr. Obama is pretty much following the Bush administration’s plan? As noted above, Iraq was a staple of Ms. Berger’s letters during the Bush administration and more often than not ended with something like “Bring our troops home now.” Back in 2007 I wrote, “If a Democrat were in office under the same circumstances, I don’t believe we’d see these letters from Ms. Berger.” So far I’m right.

Finally, you’ll note Ms. Berger didn’t expressly say, “Bring the troops home now” as she routinely did when George Bush was in office. Heck, as noted above, Ms. Berger never even mentioned Mr. Obama as if he’s not involved.