Sticks and stones...

A few weeks ago, there was an anti-war rally in my town to mark the 3rd anniversary of the launching of the aggression against Iraq. Our local daily ran a story on and photo of the rally. I was at the rally, but not in the photo. A few days later, a woman wrote a letter blasting the protesters for protesting and the paper for supposedly glorifying them. According to her, protesters were undermining troop morale. She said that we would’ve lost World War II if people had acted like this and added, bizarrely, that ‘loose lips sink ships’ as though that had anything to do with the price of tea in China. This woman was hardly the first person to propagate the insidious lie that critics of the president or of the war were giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Normally I would’ve brushed it off since I rarely write letters to the local paper about national or international issues, but something in me decided that enough was enough and I felt that someone needed to counter this nonsense.

We’re told our soldiers are tough men and women of such strength and courage that they will vanquish the Evildoers. Yet we’re supposed to believe that these same valliant warriors with the internal fortitude crush the enemies of Civilization will be seized by uncontrolled anguish just because Joe Six Pack in East Podunk says that Mr. Bush is not a very good president. Is this the absolute height of absurdity?

And frankly, if you're over in Iraq facing the constant threat of homicide bombs or dodging sniper fire, Joe Six Pack's opinion is probably pretty low on your list of worries.

I actually received a phone call from a reader about my letter. This man told me of how he was injured during World War II and how seven other men in his group were killed and how he was hospitalized for years afterward. He talked about how we shouldn’t go to war for any old reason, only when it's just. He said he agreed with my letter ‘not one-hundred percent but one-thousand percent.’ I’m flattered he took the time to call me. I hope he writes a letter too.



Editor:
(Woman’s) letter of March 24 reminds us that threats to our freedom are not only found abroad.

If nobody protested during World War II, it's because most Americans thought the war was just. Support for the Iraq aggression is collapsing because many Americans are finally realizing that it is an unjust war.

It’s disgraceful for (woman) to suggest that anti-war rallies give aid and comfort to the terrorists. That we can protest is what distinguishes us from Belarus, North Korea or Saddam's Iraq. Those regimes demonize dissent as unpatriotic, just like (woman).

Terrorists don’t understand that protests are part of what makes democracy strong. That ideas are subjected to public scrunity. It's sickening for her to suggest that in spreading freedom elsewhere we should suspend it at home.

Perhaps, she is merely confused. She speaks of military obedience. But, the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, NOT commander-in-chief of the entire country. If ordinary citizens think the president is pursuing misguided, reckless policies that make us less safe, they have a duty to speak out.

(Woman), our soldiers are not fragile flowers who will dissolve into tears should anyone criticize their commander-in-chief. They are men and women of integrity and internal fortitude who take seriously the oath they swore to uphold our Constitution.

A (newspaper) article earlier this month contended that morale in the Iraq theater was holding steady. This demonstrates that our troops are more mature than (woman) gives them credit for. Most soldiers seem to understand that the protesters are merely exercising the freedoms that we are told make this country so great, even if some disagree with them.

I'm glad this country's Founding Fathers rejected her contention that dissent is unpatriotic or else we'd still be singing God Save the Queen.