Gilda Carbonaro
Subject: Truth
To: Carol.cartwright@kent.edu, Gjarvie@kent.edu, wross@kent.edu
Dear Sir/Madame,
For some, these are confusing times that we are living, for others there is no confusion. For the deluded, the deceitful war in Iraq becomes a war to bring ‘freedom and democracy’ . For the deluded, criticism of the war is unpatriotic, supporting the troops does not equate to being informed about their welfare in and out of Iraq; it means simply repeating the jingoistic slogans of the Bush propaganda machine. Never has the American public seemed to be in such a state of denial or apathy regarding a fiasco of this magnitude.
I am a member of Military Families Speak Out. As a parent of a Marine who was in Fallujah and who will return to Iraq in April, I feel more than deserving of my freedom of speech. Your student, Dave Airhart, at Kent State who was charged for disorderly conduct in the recruitment incident has more than earned the right to protest this unjust war. Under what circumstances does a young American who has served in this inferno of our own creation get to be treated as he was by your university? Have you not learned anything from your mistakes in the past or have they been forgotten in the fog and confusion of the times we are living?
As a mother, an educator, and an American, I appeal to your sense of common decency and I urge you join those in search of the truth (the true work of a university), to be truly supportive of our sons and daughters, rather than aiding and abetting the apparatus that sends them off as cannon fodder in this no-win, failed Bush misadventure. You know this war is a lie!!! Finally, I urge you to drop your charges against this student, Dave Airhart, who was exercising his well-earned freedom of speech.
Gilda Carbonaro
Military Families Speak Out
Bethesda, MD