Letter: Talking peace, thinking war

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2002 | 8:42 a.m.

If recent polls suggesting three-fourths of the American people support military action in Iraq and Iran are correct, they must be bloodthirsty war-mongering hypocrites who are always talking about peace while wishing for war.

There is absolutely no reason to attack Iraq or Iran at the present time. The fact we do not like them very much is no reason, and they have not attacked us, nor is there any evidence they intend to. So the only reason I can discern for these poll results is Americans are perfectly willing to eschew peace as long as the enemy is a Third World country without a modern air force that can't fight back against attacks from 10,000 feet in the air, and just as long as there are no body bags coming back.

Of course, the present administration is drumming up excuses to attack these countries as long as they can get high approval ratings from a bloodthirsty public who would change its tune if these countries had the ability to fight back effectively.

Isn't this the same kind of thinking that brought down the Roman Empire, or helped to?

Republicans are eagerly trying to politicize the so-called war on terrorism because they realize it probably will work for them. To use the deaths of 3,000 people for political advantage is a disgrace, in my opinion!

DANIEL OLIVIER

archive