Letter to the Editor: 

September 18, 2008 - It seems that the politicization of veterans for John McCain is acceptable. After all, he did serve his country and endure pain and agony and still overcame it in a personal narrative few can compete with.

It makes sense, then, for everyone to give him a free pass at using the flag, images of our soldiers and 9/11 at his convention and at campaign events as political messages of his strengths.

I, however, am not prepared to give him such a free pass.

McCain has earned our praise and respect. He has not earned the right to use the military as a political pawn for election. His support of the Iraq war, his voting records on important matters like the G.I. Bill and veterans hospitals funding, even his selection of Sarah Palin, trouble me. They especially trouble me as I am a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I feel increasingly uncomfortable being used by his campaign to help attach the connotation of patriotism to his name. He supported a war from the beginning that was unnecessary and has failed to make anyone's lives here any better. Americans will never have their lives improved by what we did in Iraq.

McCain also was apart of the machine to mislead Americans as to the intent and severity of this war, saying it would be a "cakewalk" and that we would win "very, very quickly." Funny how he said last year he always knew it would be a "long and tough battle."

He also voted against increasing the GI Bill to give veterans a debt and worry free opportunity at higher learning. Veterans 18 to 24 are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as their civilian counterparts, so for McCain to vote against increasing these opportunities is disappointing.

McCain criticized Bush for the Walter Reed Hospital fiasco while voting against increasing spending on veterans hospitals, including mental health facilities. Of Iraqi Freedom vets, 4,200 have died, tens of thousands permanently maimed and more than a third will suffer from some sort of metal trouble. Iraq vets commit suicide twice as much as the rest of America.

McCain thinks it's better to keep taxes low on the richest Americans than provide adequate support to our veterans when they come home.

Then there's Sarah Palin, who openly violated operational security when she declared to the world the specific date her son would be deployed to Iraq in her convention speech. Now the AP has followed her lead and disclosed who he is with and where he will be, even the specific job he'll be doing. Track Palin, and his fellow soldiers will be less safe because his mother has followed McCain's politicization of veterans.

When his entire campaign hedges on his military credentials, his actual record is disappointing.

I love John McCain for his service and is perseverance, but as a politician, he's failed to lead for veterans' issues.

Chris Arndt, Hudson, North Carolina