Personal Attack on Sheehan was Disgraceful

In the letter "Sheehan should be ashamed of her actions" (DJ-8/26), the writer takes a Gold Star mother to task for having the nerve to question our president's motives for pre-emptively invading Iraq. I am sure the writer believes most of the half-truths and outright lies that the administration has been feeding us. Statements such as: "We know where the weapons are," "mushroom cloud," "Saddam has ties to al-Qaida," "we are fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here," were part of a brilliant $200 million advertising campaign to convince Americans and the international community of the need to go to war. Americans were taken in by the campaign, but not the international community. So the president formed a "coalition of the willing," 90 percent of which is made up of U.S. troops and money and suffers a like amount of casualties. Had we had a true coalition and a number of troops closer to the 500,000 deployed in Gulf War I, we might have avoided the looting of Iraqi national treasures, the theft of Saddam's ammunition dumps by insurgents, and the daily killing and maiming of American troops riding patrol in improperly protected vehicles after it was declared "Mission Accomplished." While Mr. Bush continues to mouth platitudes such as "stay the course, the sacrifice is worth it" and "keep fighting to honor those already killed," reports in the media and the Internet are revealing the true reasons we are in Iraq. Companies with close personal ties to the president and vice president are making billions of dollars on this war and they are positioning themselves to continue profiting after the war. I support the writer's right to voice an opposing opinion, but I object the personal attack on Sheehan calling her a "disgrace to America and an insult to the memory of her son's life." It looks like the First Amendment was written only for those who agree with his opinion. Too bad he missed the point.

NICK REINA

Milmay

Letter printed in the Daily Journal, August 29, 2005.

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050829/OPINION03/508290325/1014/OPINION