Letter to the Editor

Editor,

The recent fall of Afghanistan and American troops pulled out from that country has left thousands of Afghans who were supporting American ground forces there vulnerable to torture, rape, enslavement and death. I was in Vietnam in An Loc Province in 1971, and we were patrolling inside into Cambodia when President Nixon was telling Americans back home that Americans were not in Cambodia searching for the enemy there nor their supplies. I came home in October 1971 because my one year tour was over. But I was glad because we knew the N.V.A. were gathering forces there along the border. An Loc was sieged in 1972. It eventually fell just like Saigon and South Vietnam did. In 1975 I watched the news on TV from my First Cavalry Infantry Div. barrack. The sad scrambling of Vietnamese friendlies trying to load on planes that were taking off with other friendlies and wondered, “Why did we kill so many Vietnamese people to begin with?” Now American Afghanistan Soldiers will have the same mental anguish as the Vietnam Soldiers did. Although theirs was the longest war, and then to have American politicians and diplomats who start the wars, sell out and retreat once they get what they want from the deals they brokered long before the wars get started. It's business as usual for them because they don't work for us, but for the rich and powerful greedy who never fight but hide behind curtains nursing secret agendas and getting richer from profitable war business ventures.

Respectfully,

Ruben N. Gutierrez