Politically contrasting opinions are OK

Editor:

How could this publication publish a letter with such accusations against our president (a reader asked June 17 in We need to stand behind Bush)?

The answer is simple.

This is a newspaper that has an obligation to publish contrasting opinions. Otherwise, we become like the Soviets.

To go on, the beginnings of the NAFTA, GATT, and the relaxing of the government regulations that led to such as the Enron scandal, had their beginnings well in advance of the Clinton administration.

Likewise, do not forget which party controlled Congress from 1994 on.

Granted, Bush cannot really be blamed for the high fuel prices.

The process leading to the current situation began in the 1980s, and is related to the facts that even if additional drilling was allowed in the Arctic, domestic production could never begin to cover current demands, and that we must import most of what we need.

This has made the U. S. vulnerable to the consequences of events overseas.

Let us now consider the most prominent part of Bush’s administration.

There is a ploy utilized by a certain type of leader. In an effort to gain cheap glory for himself, he promotes a war on a flimsy pretext against a weak and convenient enemy.

A war that can be hard to lose, stirs up patriotic fervor, and requires sacrifices for the good and security of the country. That fits George W. Bush, whose sole military experience consisted of being ready to defend Texas from invasion by Oklahoma in October 2002.

What he said sounded convincing on the surface, but there was no valid documentation.

Today, the documentation and the weapons of mass destruction alleged by those mysterious documents have not surfaced.

As I remember, in 2003, George Bush was standing on a carrier deck, dressed in a flight suit, loudly proclaiming that the mission was accomplished. He was joined in this cry of triumph by many in the media.

That “victory” has turned into an expensive running sore. That sore is much more similar to the Philippine insurgency at the beginning of the 20th century than it is to Vietnam.

Unfortunately, there is no one of the caliber of William Howard Taft around to bail us out.

Now President Bush and those editors and columnists are exercising a very strong 20/20 hindsight.

The efforts to find those weapons, and to seek out ties to the terrorist organizations, have led to the disgusting spectacle of poorly trained troops engaging in secret cruelties against these “enemies of the state”.

Then, when they are found out, the leaders deny knowledge of them, even though others apprised those leaders of what was happening.

Then, those who think the current administration can do no wrong come rallying with pathetically lame excuses for that treatment.

All I can think of is this quotation: “As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil they set out to destroy” (Christopher Dawson, The Judgment of Nations).

Jerome Stephens

Warren, Ohio