Disingenuous words as weapons

By letter to the editor

"I support the troops, but not the war."

This statement is easy to make. Some who make it may mean it, but many who use it have no interest in the troops at all... they're just using a feigned interest in them as a way to attack our present administration.

The former administration believed that there were WMD, numerous other countries believed it. In addition to ignoring the UN resolutions, Saddam was firing at US planes doing the monitoring. He was also funding suicide bombers. Terrorism experts say that Saddam was seeking WMD and would have used them once he got them.

Muslim extremists believe that they must convert others or kill them. We are labeled infidels for living modern lives and having different faiths. We are the target.

Terrorists are on record stating that the US is a paper tiger... one that will not strike back when struck. Seeing no consequence for attacking us caused them to escalate attacks. They have said this. They've been plotting against us for years, but technology is helping them now. We win when we prevent the Middle East from becoming a huge staging ground for plotting against and attacking us.

Many of us take our own American lives for granted and definitely take for granted the Americans who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. The media is partially responsible for this mindset.

My husband recently returned from Iraq. He gets angry when he sees the way journalists are selectively reporting, omitting the news of the progress our troops are making. He says that it's widely known that Richard Engel (a self-proclaimed pacifist) uses his reporting to express his personal anti-war views. Engel twists the words of our troops and they resent it.

Fighting to protect our lives and our way of life is not a simple matter of fortressing our borders and attacking those who attack that fortress. We are beyond the days of the Alamo.

Our troops know that they're involved in defense maneuvers that are part of a big picture plan. When we truly support them, we add strength to our forces. When we denounce what they're doing, we weaken our own defense. It's disturbing to think that some Americans don't recognize this fact, as our enemies do.

Kate Foster