On Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal published the views of veteran Shawn Bryan as a counterpoint to those expressed by veteran Anthony Thomas Garcia last week. I suggest you read both (links below) and draw your own conclusions about the mental health of our veterans.

My general reaction to Shawn Bryan’s views is shock and sadness. This man is full of anger. Having survived a hellish experience I would not want to be able to imagine, he’s still in combat mode — and half the country is his new enemy. I feel sorry for those nearest him until the adrenaline and testosterone drop below toxic levels.

While Bryan says he has no interest whatsoever in what people like me think, I am quite interested in his deeply disturbing thoughts. At first, I thought his views belong on a blog or talk radio, not in a real newspaper, but I might never see them if not shoved in my face. We all need to know these dark thoughts.

Bryan can’t stand “the ungrateful war protesters who continually plague the free streets of America.” They are “people who will never fight for freedom but are the first to use their right to protest and stir up trouble.” Further, whether you stand in the streets or not, “if you are not wearing a uniform and serving there, your opinion does not matter. Sorry, but it just doesnt matter.” That’s right — your opinion does not matter. Doesn’t this actually mean that the opinions of the entire Bush administration and the leaders of the Radical Right don’t matter — few of them have ever been in uniform and fewer are in Iraq.

“New Mexico Democrats: Wake up. You guys should realize not only does New Mexico not care what you have to say, but I think that the president has a lot more to do than worry if the New Mexico Democrats are happy with him— he is a Republican.”

In a state where the Governor is a Democrat and more than half the state legislature is Democrat, where 2 out of 5 federal representatives are Democrats, Bryan believes “New Mexico [does] not care what [Democrats] have to say.”

I wonder if one should conclude that the toxically divisive tactics of the Radical Right, the dividers-not-uniters, has turned America’s armed forces into the Republican Guard. All Hail Augustus Bush! It is not hard to imagine someone saying, “We can’t allow those trecherous Democrats to seize power — we must stop them to save America.” And thus begins the military coup. I’ve always heard the military is devoted to America, but Bryan’s America is divided between decent people and Democrats. Would he stand against or for a Republican tyrant?

This is the fruit of Karl Rove’s evil genius. Bush doesn’t have to care what Democrats think — he’s a Republican, stupid! I thought the President of the United States had some duty to all Americans (oh, but Democrats are only nominally Americans); I thought he had a duty, as this soldier does, to the Constitution, which Bush has called “just a god-damned piece of paper.” All Hail Augustus Bush! mjh

As an aside, notice the interesting alternative headlines from the Journal. In print, this column is entitled: “Marine Just Wants Respect for the Nation” (a respect he does not have for half the nation). On the Web, it is: “The Few, The Proud, The Republicans.” Clearly not the same hand at work.

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ABQjournal: The Few, The Proud, The Republicans By Shawn Bryan, United States Marine [Sunday, March 26, 2006]

I am a United States Marine who in recent months has returned from Iraq….

ABQjournal: Iraq Vet: This War Is Wrong By Anthony Thomas Garcia, Iraq War Veteran [Sunday, March 19, 2006]

I have served my country in three wars.