Letter: Troops should come home now

Monday, Sept. 8, 2003 | 8:21 a.m.

Listening to someone talking to a Bush supporter reminds me of my dad talking to his friend, Herman, in the last years of their lives. They sat opposite each other in the parlor and Herman would say something like, "Looks like a good crop of milo this year, Paul." And my dad would smile, nod his head, and answer something unrelated like, "Yep. We used to round up our steers about now." Neither of them could hear a thing the other said.

It's the same with Bush supporters. Tell one it might have been better if Bush had kept after Osama bin Laden instead of going off on a war in Iraq and you get a reply like, "Saddam was a horrible man who killed his own people." What does Saddam's character have to do with the discussion?

No one says Saddam is a fine, upstanding human being. We merely suggest the terrorists are the problem. Saddam had no connection with them, although he is probably getting help from them now, along with the radical elements from every Arab nation.

In the case of Vietnam, we finally had to swallow our pride and bring our troops home. Do we have to go through more years of slaughter and billions of dollars of expense before we do so again? The world body for solving international problems is the United Nations. This body should be respected and used.

PAUL GWIN