STAFF REPORTS
Published: April 18, 2008

It is shameful how the people who whined that we “didn’t finish the job” in the first Persian Gulf War are now the same ones who lament the sacrifice necessary to do so today [Sun editorial: Far too many lives lost in Iraq, March 28-April 3].

The Butcher of Baghdad — Saddam Hussein — is now dead and gone. Hussein, who was the most horrific mass murderer since Adolph Hitler, was credited with killing at least a million of his own people alone — some with chemical weapons, lest you forget. An emerging form of democracy is now emerging in the Middle East, and women are now an essential part of Iraq’s political process. And, whether you like it or not, the free flow of oil through the Persian Gulf remains a vital national interest until or unless we decide to free ourselves from our addiction to it.

Please stop diminishing the sacrifices of these 4,000 men, women and their families. Operation Iraqi Freedom was a just war with a righteous purpose seven years ago when you and everyone else on the beltway were proudly flying an American flag on their cars. Where are your flags today?

The editorial staff of the Stafford County Sun should spend more time objectively reporting the news and less time reading from the Democratic National Committee playbook.

Guy Strawder
Stafford