A New York City school teacher has apologized for letters sent by his sixth-grade students to an US soldier, accusing the US military of killing civilians and destroying Iraqi mosques in a futile war on terror.
Alex Kunhardt sent the letters to Private Rob Jacobs for a social studies assignment. Jacobs, who is serving near the North Korean border, said his excitement at getting the letters from the Brooklyn schoolchildren turned to shock as he read them.
One of the letters from the 11- to 12-year-old pupils, stamped with a smiley face, said the soldier might have been risking his life for his country, but then asked: "Have you seen how many civilians you or some other soldier killed?"
Another read: "I feel that you are being forced to kill innocent people. Iraq never attacked us, if Bush cared so much about this country then we would be out there trying to find Osama bin Laden."
"Bush calls this war the war on terrorism. What terrorism? Name one terrorist from Iraq ... I know I can't." the letter continued.
Most letters did include support for the troops, but few were completely uncritical.
A Muslim boy wrote: "I know your [sic] trying to save our country and kill the terrorists but you are also destroying holy places like mosques."
Jacobs, 20, told the New York Post: "It's hard enough for soldiers to deal with being away from their families, they don't need to be getting letters like this. If they don't have anything nice to say, they might as well not say anything at all." He said the letters were demoralizing.
Kunhardt apologized this week: "It was never my intention to demean or insult anyone. I never meant for the words of my students to hurt any of our troops."
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