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Bring soldiers home
I was very impressed with David Duncombe’s intelligent letter (Nov.
25) about religion becoming tangled up with politics. Some of the
worst wars in history have been conducted in the name of religious
fervor.
This does not make religious faith bad in itself. But when
self-seeking leaders of ANY religion use it, it becomes a tool in the
hands of Satan.
I read in The Oregonian that approximately 120 Iraqis are now dying
every day. I did a quick calculation, and my penciled numbers told me
that, based on that figure, 43,800 people are dying every year in
Iraq. “That couldn’t be right,” I thought. So I double-checked on the
calculator and my estimates were correct.
Even Saddam Hussein’s statistics weren’t as horrific as that. He was a
murderous dictator, true, but at least he kept order in his own
country. Maybe he had an inkling of what could happen if chaos
reigned.
Who started that chaos? We did. Our soldiers are dying to continue
that chaos. We claim we are “saving Iraq” Well, we’re not doing a very
good job!
We pride ourselves on bringing down Saddam, but how many times has the
United States actually supported murderous dictators like the Shah of
Iran, or Batista in Cuba? We stood by and did nothing while 500,00
Ruandans were murdered. This hypocrisy is outrageous and embarrassing.
I say bring our soldiers home. Get our contractors out. Wait until
order is restored by whatever means (it’s really not our business),
and then step forward to help Iraq re-build and become a useful member
of world society again. Accept the order that they create for
themselves. Isn’t that the theory we’re supposed to be representing?
Wendy Best
Parkdale
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