Sarah White”s letter of March 13 (Record-Bee, “Soldiers should be supported…”) expresses the right sentiment, but for all the wrong reasons. She says the public should not criticize the war in Iraq since our soldiers are there making the sacrifice for freedom. Sarah, no one in his or her right mind would criticize the soldiers who are serving their country. And to my knowledge, no one has.
The problem is that they should not have been sent into Iraq in the first place, which is the responsibility of the government, not the soldiers. They, as good soldiers should, do as they are told by the civilian leaders. Those leaders, however, have lied, manipulated intelligence, falsified reports, and pretty much gone as far out of their way as possible to silence anyone who is critical of their choices.
Questioning your government is the right and duty of every freedom-loving individual. It”s just too bad that many of the questions being asked now were not asked more than four years ago. Ms. White then shows that while her intentions are good, her rationale is not. She asks if we have been attacked on our own soil since we “waged war on the Middle East.” First, I didn”t know we were waging a war on the Middle East. I thought the focus was to get the guys who attacked us. You remember? Al Queda? Lead by some guy named Bin Laden?
The smoke and mirrors from the administration probably made you forget, and diverted your attention to Saddam (he”s gone) and his evil government (it”s gone) and those WMD”s (they”re gone, and probably weren”t there at all). So yes, support the troops. The best way to do that is to keep them from harm, by bringing them home.
Doug Rhoades
Kelseyville
