Crabtree Defends the Troops From Larry Joe's Smear

James Crabtree, former countywide candidate and Iraq war veteran, got outraged by Larry Joe Doherty, the Democratic candidate for Representative in CD-10, saying that we have 'killed children for oil' in Iraq: "I enjoy politics and win or lose I don't take most things personally. ... I was supporting Rep. McCaul's race before I read this story, but now I've taken this contest into the realm of the personal." So he fired off this letter:

Dear Mr. Doherty,

As an Iraq War veteran I was disheartened and angered to read this evening your quote in the current Austin Chronicle (“The Man in the White Hat. Larry Joe Doherty rides into battle for CD 10” by Lee Nichols http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A681360) in which you state, “We have to face the fact …we’re in that war (Iraq) for oil. We’ve killed children for oil.”

Most people that have met me know that I’m basically an easy going person that is slow to anger, but your quote, if accurate, has personally offended me. I write this as someone that knows that innocent people have been killed in conflicts since the dawn of man, but also as one that personally volunteered to spend seven and half months in Al-Anbar Province, Iraq to help the children, families, and good people of a land that needs our help. We can disagree about the cause of the war, the tactics, and the future (In fact, my roommate and best friend in my battalion in Iraq disagrees with me and even spoke at the Democratic National Convention this year), however, I truly cannot believe that you would accuse us of “killing children for oil.” This disgusting statement angers me to my core. I have heard more reasonable and well-though out lies from Cindy Sheehan and Saddam Hussein’s disposed spokesman, “Baghdad Bob.”

I hope that you misspoke and do not truly think my fellow Marines and I are baby killers. In fact, I would welcome the chance to visit with you in person on this matter. In the meantime, here is a series of non-partisan blogs I wrote during my deployment in Al-Asad and Haditha, Iraq from August 2004 to March 2005. In them you will find happiness, hope, death, and despair – something every person in war has encountered to one degree or another. Nowhere in them however will you find anything about us “killing children for oil.”

http://www.politics1.com/usmc.htm

Semper Fidelis,

James Crabtree

Iraq War Veteran , Central Texas Vice Captain of Vets for Freedom, and a resident of CD 10.