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Letters from readers
June 1, 2005
Finally, some truth
Thank you for your courageous May 30 editorial "Memorial Day / Praise bravery, seek forgiveness."
Patriotism in a democracy means that criticism of an administration's misguided policy must be made by responsible citizens -- even in time of war and especially if the reasons the administration gave for that war are found to be false.
Beyond this, the administration has placed the majority of our military in an untenable situation -- to stay the course, the cost in lives and in fortune has been, and will be, staggering; to withdraw would cause chaos.
John E. Christensen, St. Paul.
Thank you for your Memorial Day editorial. It is difficult to express the courage and sacrifice of those serving in this war and balance that with the tragedy of a war that the Bush administration has so wrongly and ineptly perpetrated. I value your strong and clear voice.
Joan Kahle-Berger, St. Paul.
Thank you, from the bottom of my broken, yet still red-blooded, American heart for finally saying what other newspapers can't seem to muster the courage to say: President Bush lied, thousands (so far) have died, and it can be proven beyond a shadow of doubt.
In soberly and resolutely setting out this hard Memorial Day truth, the editorial staff at the Star Tribune show their true sense of American duty and patriotism.
Dave Kapell, Minneapolis.
Thank you for the Memorial Day editorial. I have friends in the military and I do feel that they should only have to risk their lives when truly necessary.
Brian Huser, Minneapolis.
Thank you for the gutsy, but truthful, Memorial Day editorial.
Our very brave and dedicated forces in Iraq have sacrificed valuable years of their young lives and, in some cases, their very lives themselves. Although the purpose and reason for the war may be disputed, the individuals in Iraq who carry out this war are real heroes.
I wish I could say the same for those who led us into this mess.
Tom Mullon, Eagan.
More Bush bashing
I am done reading your editorial page. On a Memorial Day, when one could focus an editorial on all of the good things being done by our forces in the Middle East, the Star Tribune chose to beat the drum for the Bush bashers. It doesn't matter whether any of the sources or facts supporting your editorial are true or not.
The editorial reads as if it were written by a liberal wacko completely out of touch with America.
Mike Borowicz, Champlin.
A fortuitous decision
That the Star Tribune would use Memorial Day to push its antiwar agenda made me so happy ... that I cancelled my subscription last month.
Dave Thul, Chaska.
He must be psychic
Thank you for the stimulating Memorial Day editorial. It made a strong point, was clearly written and contained documentation. I suspect a number of readers may now respond with insults ("traitors") or labels ("left-wing").
I would say to them that insults and labels only prove the writer is not able to provide solid evidence to refute the editorial's point.
Don Sikkink,
Cambridge, Minn.
Arrogant worldview
A Memorial Day letter from an Army lieutenant colonel stated, "We could lose this war and thereafter see the world sink into another Dark Ages."
The arrogance of some Americans' worldview would be comical if it weren't the cause of so much death and destruction.
Those who support this war seem to exist in some kind of parallel universe where reality and truth are irrelevant.
In her book "A Hundred and One Days," Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian war correspondent who interviewed soldiers in Baghdad during the first days of the assault, writes, "September 11th. Always uttered as a matter of course, as if it explained everything. Every time I speak to a soldier, without fail he mentions that date. In spite of their doubts about the war, their argument in the end comes down to: You know, September 11th."
OK, people, one more time, Iraq was not behind the 9/11 attacks. There's an effort to make anyone who does not "support our troops" look unpatriotic and thereby stifle any rational discussion about this war. This should not mean that we don't correct those who are misinformed.
It frightens me to see how easily people can be manipulated.
Mary Hamel, St. Paul
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