European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 21, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Back Home desert shield soldiers making americans proud Mark pat1nkin Providence journal bulletin an open letter to the soldiers in saudi Arabia in Man unlikely person to be writing you. Like Many my age late 30s, i used to think that sending troops to faraway places was a Symbol of that was wrong with America. It did no to work Well in Vietnam. That War taught me and others like me to be wary of it. And yet in a writing now because its important for you to know How the work you re doing in saudi Arabia has made me feel. Its made me feel Good about America. Its made me feel Good because at a time when people Are burning our Flag in the Philippines and calling us a great satan in Iran at a time when America is often branded As arrogant or uncaring you be put out an important message about what we really stand for. Its a simple message and it says this when people Are in pain when people Are persecuted by an invading tyrant America will come. I know there Are Many reasons you Are in saudi Arabia. Oil is one and some Here have asked whether its a Good enough reason. Others question whether we re getting ourselves caught in a foreign mess Well regret. But that Sall right that a healthy. You done to see citizens in Baghdad daring to question what Saddam Hussein is doing. The Point though is that beneath the questioning beneath the concerns about Oil you re in saudi Arabia for another More inspiring reason. You re there because we re one of few countries willing to stand up for a faraway Friend a not just with words or weapons but with our sons and daughters. You Are there because an Independent people has been crushed their country looted by conquering soldiers and it is not our nature to look the other Way. Yes others Are on the front lines too a the British the egyptians the French. But though they be been Noble followers those nations weren to leaders. America was the first to say we should go the Only country to commit soldiers in hundreds of thousands. What Are we committing them to not just a fight for new soil. Just principle. That is the difference Between what brings America into wars and what often brings in others. When the nazis marched into Paris in 1940, it was to conquer. When the americans marched into Paris in 1944, it was to liberate. So it is today. The iraqis went to Kuwait to contents Timothy Busfield As Elliot and Patricia Wettig As Nancy begin to Cope with the knowledge she has cancer on a thirty so me  its a storyline that stirred a great Deal of interest in the states Page 10.observations .3 done to face the rain without a bag what exciting thing did you do this summer to briefs .4 just can t get enough of those Bradys fast track.6 the Only Man on Quot designing women Quot on videos .7 Joe Bob Briggs stays Home for to this weeks films.8-9 Chuck Vinch reviews Quot or. Destiny Quot Complete cafes circuit listings on television .10 a Light week on an to television listings 11-14 local Cable and satellite listings Home front.15 videodiscs Good sights and sounds radars for cars May be on the Way books.16-17 William Styron Sheds Light on madness James j. Kilpatrick hands Down sentence science and the world 18 is Earth sending quake signals at a glance Turkey Odds amp ends. 19 wives Sharpen survival skills miss manners and Horoscope last laugh .24 Dave Barry cartoons from around the world crush a people. You have gone there to liberate. You be reminded me that this is who we Are liberators not conquerors. Even in our controversial wars our Vietnam that was our Mission. Has any other nation fought so Many wars for causes not its own has any other nation fought so often not to seize real estate but simply to win Back another people s Independence in most countries soldiers can Only be motivated to fight and die if its to defend their own Homes or to Rise to dreams of Conquest. Americans soldiers Are among the few who Are ready to fight and die for just the idea of Freedom. That is what you symbolize to us. You symbolize what we hold Dearest our love of Liberty. As a nation we ate not As All powerful As we once were. It is said that Japan and Germany have begun to loom As our economic equals or betters. But you be shown me Why America still prevails As the worlds most important nation. Its because we stand for something. Its because we Are ready to sacrifice a As you Are sacrificing a for principle for the idea behind that Torch held aloft by the statue of Liberty. We at Home will continue to worry about you Many will worry also about what we re getting ourselves into. But beneath that the daily pictures of you at your desert posts have Given most of us a Subtle new Pride. Somewhere in Kuwait people Are whispering what they whispered in France in the Early 1940s, and in Poland and Czechoslovakia and Belgium there is Hope. The americans have not forgotten us. Former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer goes on the defense As he discusses the sooner so Legal  plus is a weekly supplement of the stars and stripes editors John Taylor Sarah Bottorff Art director Sharon Kilday production Lisa Williams Denise Adams editorial assistance Louis Pierce Marian Hamilton Page 2 c to plus sunday october 21,1990