Letter: Dean was right: War did not improve security

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.

Saddam Hussein was hiding out alone in a tiny underground room. There was a huge price on his head, so he had to keep his location secret from nearly everyone. Saddam's confinement was voluntary, but otherwise it was no different from a prisoner in solitary confinement being held incommunicado. I can't see how changing his confinement from voluntary to involuntary could have much affect on anything.

It didn't make our troops in Iraq more secure. The casualty rate didn't decline after Saddam was captured. It increased. Saddam was never a threat to our homeland security, so how could his capture make us more secure? Tom Ridge didn't think so. The Homeland Security Department didn't lower the terrorist alert after Saddam was captured. They raised it.

It should be obvious to any thinking person that Saddam's capture didn't make us more secure. When Howard Dean remarked that it didn't, the cheerleader media and Dean's rivals for the nomination made it out to be such a huge gaffe that it showed he was unfit to be president.

If someone has a supportive media, flaunts his religion and frames political issues in religious terms, he can tell enough lies to fill five books and half of the people will think he is as honest as George Washington. If a person states a simple truth that conflicts with wishful thinking, it can be used to destroy his candidacy.

VERNON BOSTICK