WAR OF THE WORDS

Looks like somebody pissed off the warmongers...whoops...

We shouldn't be at war (7-24-06)


B.J. Mathias recently extolled the virtues of war and warriors in these pages ("No payment great enough for those who serve in war," July 17.) Her piece seemed innocent, patriotic and heartwarming enough, recounting her conversation with a homebound Iraq veteran. She chose to focus on the "good side" of the story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, of hospitals and schools built for the newly "freed" Iraqis.

She conveniently left out the stories of our boys killing pregnant Iraqi women on the way to the hospital to give birth. She forgot to mention the torture and detainment of innocent civilians in Abu Ghraib. She failed to recognize the tens of thousands of civilian deaths brought about by our military might. She gave no consideration to the billions of dollars being drained out of our own hospitals and schools and communities to finance these horrors.

Mathias expresses dismay that Americans don't "see beyond political views and bias right to the heart of it all." I agree with her on that point, and the "heart of it all" is that we are killing people for no good reason. Our own sons and daughters are being killed for no good reason.

All this killing, however, is being done for a very bad reason - in order to give the neocons and the theocons here at home an excuse to take away our freedoms because after all, they tell us, "we are at war."

But what they won't say (and don't want us to think about) is that we don't have to be at war and we shouldn't be at war.

Clinton Kirby

Hattiesburg

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Kirby insulted troops in letter (7-26-06)


I would like to thank Mr. Kirby for getting me off of my can with his letter of July 24th ("We shouldn't be at war). In his analysis of B.J. Mathias' tribute, he conveniently did not comprehend what he read.

Though I am not in support of the "war," I am behind our troops 100 percent. Supporting, admiring and being thankful for our young women and men who are risking all in the service of their country can be done without consideration of politics and religious persuasion.

As an Army veteran, with family members who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with lifelong friends who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and with lifelong friends who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country, I am deeply insulted by his letter with its characterizations of our fighting men and women.

Mr. Kirby, please don't spit on those who serve while you rest comfortably at home. Either keep your feelings centered on politics, or volunteer your family and friends to join the services to raise it to your moral high ground.

Douglas Wick

Hattiesburg

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Mathias has her supporters(7-28-06)

Clinton Kirby's letter, "We Shouldn't Be At War," July 24, lambasting B.J. Mathias for "extolling the virtues of war and warriors in these pages," reeks of the obvious terror inflicted upon the writer by the terrorist enemy, a terrorist goal achieved in his case for which they can be proud.

If anyone sees Clinton Kirby, tell him that "war is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things."

Tell Kirby that "the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse."

Also, explain to Kirby that "the person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

Folks sort of like B.J. Mathias , please tell Kirby.

John Stuart Mill, noted philosopher, arrived at this answer in 1865.

Armond "Si" Simmons

Pell City, Ala.

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We have reason to be at war (7-29-06)


I would like to respond to the letter from Clinton Kirby. ("We shouldn't be at war," July 24) Once again we see a liberal attempting to spin untruth into truth. The truth is that we would all like not to be at war.

Now we have Mr. Kirby who follows along with the far left and their assumption that when you throw manure surely it will stick; unfortunately, most of the time they throw it into a fan because most of it lands on their own face.

Case-in-point, when you can't think of anything else to say, attack the U.S. military. He invented the most vile thing his brain could come up with: U.S. soldiers killing pregnant women on the way to the hospital.

I suppose he wants us to believe that this is what U.S. soldiers do when they are not killing puppies or eating babies.

His statement that we shouldn't be at war and we are wasting billions of dollars is far from thought-provoking and fails to acknowledge the fact that we didn't start this war.

This is World War III (recall 9/11) and until terrorism is dealt with, and ruthless animals like Saddam and his blood-thirsty, sub-human sons are dead and gone, we can either spend the resources fighting on their soil or ours.

The fact is they started this war and they won't stop until we have killed them all. Sounds crazy but these are their rules not ours.

Gray Nichols

Hattiesburg

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Support troops, bring them home (7-31-06)


Douglas Wick recently accused me of "insulting" our troops. However, I am not the one that is insulting our troops.

Rather, it is the Bush administration that has insulted them by: sending them to kill and die in an immoral, illegal invasion of a sovereign nation that was no threat to us; not providing them with proper body armor or vehicle armor; essentially drafting what were initially volunteers through the "stop loss" policy; refusing to withdraw them even though it is now clear to a majority of Americans and the rest of the world that what is happening in Iraq is a complete fiasco.

But all that is really beside the point. The point is that our illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq must end. We must stop killing and being killed, and the only way to do that is to leave the Middle East right now. We must not allow ourselves to be fooled into believing that Iraq will descend into chaos if we leave - the country is already in a state of chaos because we are there.

The best way to support the troops is to bring them home now so no more of them will die.

And ultimately that is what I am in favor of, and if Wick or anyone reading this can truly convince themselves that somehow that is the equivalent of "spitting" on American soldiers, then may God have mercy on us all.

Clinton Kirby

Hattiesburg