email chain letter asks prayers for soldiers carrying Iraqi ballot boxes

[arendt]

I need some research from DU.

Can anyone verify the smarmy letter reproduced below?
Is this a real letter, or just a well-crafted piece of agitprop?

This letter came to me from a dear family member, a true
Christian. I will be responding as indicated, but it would
really help to tell that member this letter is a fabrication.

Thanks
arendt

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the email from a soldier


>Subject: Prayer Request
>  As a transportation battalion, my unit will be delivering the voting machines and the ballots to villages and cities throughout Iraq during the upcoming elections. (January 30/31) Our convoys are prime targets for the insurgents because they do not want the equipment to arrive at the polling stations nor do they want the local Iraqi citizens to have the chance to vote; timely delivery must occur so that the elections occur. Encourage your friends and family members and those within our churches to pray specifically for the electoral process. Historically, the previous totalitarian regime would not allow individual citizens to vote. Democracy will not be realized in Iraq if intelligent and competent officials are not elected to those strategic leadership positions within the emerging government; freedom will not have an opportunity to ring throughout this country if the voting process fails. Announce this prayer request to your contacts throughout your churches, neighborhoods, and places of business. Those with leadership roles within the local church post this message in as many newsletters and bulletins as possible. There is unlimited potential for God's presence in this process but if we do not pray then our enemy will prevail (See Ephesians 6:10-17) A prayer vigil prior to the end of the month may be an innovative opportunity for those within your sphere of influence to pray. This is a political battle that needs spiritual intervention. A powerful story about God's intervention in the lives of David's mighty men is recorded in 2 Samuel 23:8-33. David and his warriors were victorious because of God's intervention. We want to overcome those who would stand in the way of freedom. David's mighty men triumphed over incredible odds and stood their ground and were victorious over the enemies of Israel. (Iraqi insurgents' vs God's praying people). They don't stand a chance.
>
>I will pray with my soldiers before they leave on their convoys and move outside our installation gates here at Tallil. My soldiers are at the nerve center of the logistic operation to deliver the voting machines and election ballots. They will be driving to and entering the arena of the enemy. This is not a game for them it is a historical mission that is extremely dangerous. No voting machines or ballots. No elections. Your prayer support and God's intervention are needed to give democracy a chance in this war torn country. Thank you for reading this e-mail. Please give this e-mail a wide dissemination.
>
>Thank you for your prayer support for me and my family. Stand firm in your battles.
>
>Blessings,
>Lyle
>CH (CPT) Lyle Shackelford
>Battalion Chaplain
>HHD, 57th Transportation Battalion
>
>"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
>
>Joshua 1:9
>
>Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online.

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my response:

Dear (family member),

As experienced Internet users, we are all too aware of the emotionally manipulative propaganda
that mixes God and patriotism, and equates genuine Christian compassion with being soft,
as if Jesus were some kind of brutal, Old Testament warrior. We love you and know personally
your kindness and acts of charity. So, we pray that your generous heart is not confused by political
operatives wrapping the Bible in the Flag.

We pray that God will bring our troops home safe. We are sorry that our kids are getting killed
because George Bush set some arbitrary deadline. We are sorry that our troops are involved
in moral horrors like the torture at Abu Ghraib, and taking the fall for Generals who gave the
orders. We are sorry that idealistic kids are taken in by the propaganda mirage that Iraq is
about to become a democracy, as reported by journalists who are afraid to leave their fortified hotels.

The request for prayer skips from warlike utterances from the Old Testament, taken out of context,
to the militant words of Paul. Where are the compassionate words of Jesus? We pray that America
wakes up to having its blood and treasure spent abroad on a war started with lies about WMDs.
We find nothing Christian in the Iraq War, especially in our government's treatment of our own wounded
soldiers, who languish untreated in run-down Veterans Hospitals, while George Bush has a $40 Million
dollar party for his inauguration.

Did he make one genuinely Christian gesture during his inauguration?
Did he feed the poor some of the excess lavished at his feet?
Did he visit a wounded soldier in his evening finery?
Did he turn the other cheek to any one of his principled and loyal opposition at this moment of triumph?

The silence speaks for itself.

We always pray that God's will be done, we will not pray that George Bush's will be done. We believe
there is a difference.