In his letter of Nov. 8, Bob Henry asks two rhetorical questions. The implication of his letter and these questions is the U.S. should cut and run in Iraq, withdrawing from the field of battle and abandoning the Iraqi people. It is obvious that neither he nor others who have broached the same idea have any understanding of the cultural war being waged against Western Civilization nor knowledge of what will occur if the new political group in Washington, D.C., does surrender and retreat.
The Democratic proponents of abandoning Iraq are fond of using the Vietnamese War as an example of a quagmire from which we should free ourselves. I would suggest they are using the wrong set of Vietnamese events as a red herring. When the U.S. left Vietnam we had endorsed the Paris Accords guaranteeing U.S. assistance in the event of an attack by North Vietnamese forces. Almost immediately John Tunney, a long time supporter of communist causes and a leader of the Californian Democratic Party introduced a bill cutting off ammunition and fuel supplies to South Vietnamese forces. The North Vietnamese army then attacked with 22 divisions well supplied by the Chinese and Soviets. Three million South Vietnamese, four million Cambodians and a half million people in Laos were murdered. Even as this is being written a Democratic congressman has introduced a similar bill in Congress calling for an end of funding Iraqi and U.S. forces. How many millions will then die? The Islamic terrorists are even more viscous and cruel than the Soviet and other communist barbarians. Cutting and running from war has never ended the killing, only let it continue unrestrained.
The Islamo-terrorist war is also being fought in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Cambodia, India, Jordan, Spain, the Former Yugoslavian states, Egypt, the Sudan, Kenya, and the UK. The French police are engaged in a civil war against Islamic elements. There have been 2,500 police casualties along with several hundred civilian casualties. In Sweden and The Netherlands terrorists have attacked and injured or killed civilians and police. The U.S. abandoning Iraq and Afghanistan will not stop these, but will in fact increase the casualties as the terrorists are emboldened in their insane drive to create a world wide Islamic nation.
Mr. Henry should also consider other U.S. casualties, in Lebanon over 130 U.S. Marines, Army and Navy personnel died when a young woman drove a suicide truck bomb into the encampment. The bombing of the US Air Forces Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 19 and wounded several dozen more. A U.S. Navy ship refueling in Aden was bombed by suicide terrorists, leaving 17 dead and three-dozen injured. In addition to the murder of 3,500 U.S. civilians on 9/11/01 there have been several small single person attacks including one in Seattle where unarmed employees of a Jewish Charity were wounded or killed.
War is a nasty, violent business but it is way ahead of a peace created by a tyrant, by cowards, a great leader or a mullah. Abandoning the field of battle has never stopped the killing. If you dont believe this, ask the Russian people, 100 million killed during a Communist peace, or ask China with 65 million dead.
Glen Reid
Arlington