"I got a letter," says Karen. "And he had called me before that. He said, 'Send lots of tuna.' "What to say to this? I realize that the care and feeding of Halliburton executives and shareholders is a higher priority, but this is unacceptable. It's a betrayal of the soldiers that once again shows where the Bush administration really stands.
Nick told his mother that he and the men in his unit were all about 10 pounds lighter in their first few weeks in Iraq. They were pulling 22-hour patrol shifts. They were getting two meals a day and they were not meals to remember.
"He told me the two meals just weren't cutting it. He said the Iraqi food was usually better. They were going to the Iraqis and basically saying, 'feed me.' "
Karen started packing in that wartime tradition as old as mothers and sons. She packed a lot of the packaged tuna, not the canned.
She happened to mention her hungry son to people she works with at Greenwood Credit Union, where she is a teller and has worked for 30 years.
Pounds and pounds of food started showing up amid the daily business of loans and deposits and withdrawals. Marianne Barao, the branch manager, said it could be done, the credit union could become the place where people help feed hungry Marines who are risking their lives on a skimpy diet.
"We sent out 51 pounds this week," says Karen. "There are customers coming in saying, 'What do you need?' "
The credit union is paying the cost of packing and shipping.
(Blaming Bush? Yep. Shit flows uphill.)
Hat tip: Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey, who included it in an excellent post about the difference between supporting the troops and the "bastards in suits", and Crooks 'n Liars.
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