Letter to Iowa Senators Joni Ernst, and Charles Grassley and Congressman Steve King

Alexander Vindman

Opinion echo letter published in the Souix City Journal, in Iowa:On October 28, 2019, Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman's opening statement to a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and House Oversight Committee was released, ahead of his testimony the following day. Vindman testified that: "In Spring of 2019, I became aware of outside influencers promoting a false and alternative narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency," which was "harmful to U.S. national security" and also "undermined U.S. Government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine."
Letter echo: I let a few days pass to see what Sen. Joni Ernst, Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Steve King had to say about the attack on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and, unfortunately, the answer is precious little. When Fox News and some of our less-honorable Republican politicians questioned his loyalty to our country, I thought that at least Sen. Ernst, a military veteran, would vociferously condemn these scurrilous lies, but I was sadly mistaken. One article even suggested court marshaling the soldier.
Alexander Vindman was promoted to the rank of Major in 2008, and to lieutenant colonel in September 2015. During his Army career, Vindman earned the Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge and Parachutist Badge, as well as four Army Commendation Medals and two Defense Meritorious Service Medals.

LTC Vindman gave an honest and forthright account of what went on in that now-infamous conversation and why he was troubled by it and he was promptly vilified by the increasingly rancorous far right as someone who just may have compromised his sworn loyalty to America. This man is a dedicated and unswerving defender of democracy and our way of life as demonstrated by the way he has served his country. His testimony is above reproach. Remember, in order to get the top-secret clearance to listen in on this call he had to be thoroughly vetted, including lie detector tests. Too bad we can't hook up Donald Trump (who claims to be potus) to one, but perhaps it's just as well - the lie detector would never survive the ordeal.

But enough of that. What I would like to see, as a veteran, is apologies from my representatives for not coming to LTC Vindman's defense. It's not too late to show we the people that you actually do put the Constitution (your oaths of office!) and our country ahead of petty partisan politics.

From John Shuck, Sioux City, Iowa