Letter: Foreign policy requires patience

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.

The death of U.S. servicemen and women saddens me. I served my country in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era and I had friends die in that conflict, as so many have done before and after. Their most precious gift was not given in vain. Rather, these brave young men and women put their lives on the line every day to protect your right and my right to voice our displeasure with government policy. War of any form is hell, but war has prevented this nation and those of our allies from living an eternal hell on more than one occasion.

The current administration's foreign policy is not a knee-jerk phenomena. Rather it is the result of the ill-conceived foreign policy of prior administrations. Should President Bush have maintained a do-nothing response to events past and present? Can we honestly rely on our oceans and borders to keep evil from infiltrating our society?

Demonstrations by an ill-informed public broke the morale of our troops in in Vietnam. And political partisanship and a misled public delayed the peace while more of our young service people continued to pay the ultimate price.

Since when was it mandated that foreign policy show immediate success? Until people know all of the unbiased facts, they should give this administration a chance.

DR. JACK L. KANE