CHICAGO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. retailer has been deluged with angry messages since an employee sent an e-mail to an American soldier in Iraq saying "if you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq."

Bargain Suppliers of West Allis, Wisconsin, took down its Discount Mats Web site after voice messages and e-mails poured in following the Jan. 16 message to Army Sgt. Jason Hess by the unnamed, and now former, employee.

Hess, serving at an Army base in Taji, had sent the company an e-mail asking if it could ship its foam-rubber floor matting to an Army Post Office in Iraq.

The response sent later that day said: "We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq."

The Veterans of Foreign Wars said it applauded the company for firing the worker.

"It was totally out of line for any employee to interject personal feelings into what was a normal business transaction," VFW Commander-in-Chief Gary Kurpius said in a statement. "Supporting our troops is not an acknowledgment that you support the politics of the war."

Bargain Suppliers' vice president, Sajid Nasir, apologized in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and said some of the messages had left him fearful.

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