Leon R. Albushies

To the editor,

Are we a nation that has lost our moral bearings? Can we now, or ever, justify the killing of Iraqi people when we know they are innocent of any conspiracy or threat against us? Is this Vietnam revisited?

We cannot explain this one away. It is a brutal and savage act! It differs only in years from Germany's invasion of Poland — a country much like Iraq — devoid of military might, a patsy for false charges, unable to refute hostile propaganda and unable to forestall bombing and invasion.

The death toll, according to several civilian agencies (the military refuses to do body counts), is as high as a million violent fatalities since the war started. With due respect to the brave and dedicated soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice: Was this war promoted by war-mongers and profiteers who owned a president and his lackey's? A president who lied to his people repeatedly, abetted by a vice president who was willing to use every device to abridge domestic and international law, turning the administration into a nest of criminals who imprisoned men without trial and used torture without constraint in countless prisons around the world? Did the public have a right to order the arrest of both of these men on charges of crimes against humanity? Yet, they walked off free because this nation is too corrupt to uphold our historic principles of justice and adherence to the law, and the nation of Iraq continues to suffer the losses of so many innocent men, women, fathers and mothers, whose children may still be buried in the rubble of destruction or left orphans in foreign countries.

The military casts a long and dark shadow across the face of this great nation. It is our protector, it opposes all our enemies and will not fail in its mission. It is a champion, yet also a voracious beast. If ordered, it can destroy nations and civilizations. We live with that knowledge. We cannot rely on military might in unending wars to bring about equality and human rights. We can never again repeat the cruelty of the past. We are a God-fearing people not the Huns of old! Pray to this God that we will no longer be seduced by lies and deception, but be alert, responsible and morally obligated to bring peace to a troubled world.

Leon R. Albushies

Gilford