Letter: Bush sticks to his convictions

Dear editor,

Facts reported in an AP article in Monday’s Statesman concern me. According to the article, John Kerry has vacillated in his stance toward Iraq – more a dance than a stance, so to speak – recently backing Bush’s Iraq invasion because public sentiment supported the war on terror, voting for and then against aid funding for Iraq, and criticizing Bush’s actions because rival Howard Dean was already gaining strength from Democratic anti-war opinion.

I am concerned because career seems more important to Kerry than conviction. It’s true that leaders should represent the desires of the public, but good leaders have integrity – the will to hold on to what is right, sometimes despite general opinion. Bush, “strong and honest” to many Americans, has done so at possible peril to re-election. To me, that’s worthy of respect.

I also deeply respect our troops. A friend’s father was sent to Iraq and returned safely. I sympathize with loved ones of the soldiers who have been killed. In my mind, referring to their fight as “the quagmire in Iraq” is anti-war rhetoric aimed at associating it in America’s collective mind with the tragic Vietnam War.

Brief comparison: the Vietnam War lasted over 10 years, cost America over 55,000 lives, and brought no change in the target government; the Iraq War has lasted two years, cost under 1,000 American soldiers, and replaced Hussein’s regime with an infant democracy.

We belittle the memory of our slain soldiers and the efforts of the living when we criticize Bush for trying to give 24 million Iraqis a chance at a better life. People afraid of change have resisted and done desperate things, killing some of our troops. I quote Jesus: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (St. John 15:13, KJV). Our troops remain in Iraq to keep their brothers and sisters free and autonomous.

I support our troops and what they’re working for. I support a president who, though he makes mistakes, sticks to principle and conviction instead of behaving like the pendulum in a grandfather clock for the sake of furthering his career.

Bush, let’s go one more.

Ben Minson