After reading the Tuesday letter, “Iraq: Progress a matter of perspective,” I was moved to respond over the writer’s comments on our leadership and soldiers’ deaths.
Certainly, the writer has the freedom to express her political opinion, couched in sorrow over the deaths of our soldiers. It is a right that many fought for, and paid for with their lives.
While I do not like war either, I know my cousin and friends are in Iraq today helping innocent Iraqis have the same freedom of expression that Wednesday’s writer has, without the consequence of harm.
My cousin and my friends are not terrorists, killing people indiscriminately; they are fighting for people who can’t fight completely for themselves – a major tenet of American compassion. I encourage the writer to remember who the enemy is, and thank our military for putting their lives on the line, fighting for that grand cause that we call freedom.
No leader with an ounce of integrity would put lives at stake if freedom wasn’t in question. I remember seeing 3,000 innocent people die in one day – on our own soil – in 2001. Terrorists took it to us that day. They followed us to Iraq after we fought back in Afghanistan, and they are looking to follow us wherever we go. It will be a long struggle.
Do we have the stomach to see it through? I thank the president for making hard decisions to fight back at an enemy that has no home.
Someday, I have to tell my 6- and 3-year-old children that monsters do exist. I’m afraid our country doesn’t have the resolve of my cousin and friends to finish the job.
Andy Petersen
Everett
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