To the editor:

A recent letter to the editor cited numerous attacks against the United States both at home and abroad since 1979. None of the attacks mentioned can be attributed to Iraq or the Iraqi people. The common belief seems to be that a person cannot be against the war but support the soldiers. They did not begin this war, nor do they deserve the disrespectful, shabby reception that many soldiers returning from Vietnam received.

People die in war. Understanding that concept does not make this war any more viable. I can only imagine the horror our soldiers felt when they realized they had killed a van full of women and children. Many veterans suffer the horrors of Vietnam to this day. The driver and passengers in that van believed they were fleeing for their lives; we don’t know what they had been told regarding the attacking forces. We should remember that the Iraqi people have encountered us before. Were they liberated back in ’91? No, they were left to fend for themselves after the U.S. abandoned their promise.

As Americans, we should feel free to protest this and any other war we feel unjustifiable without being tagged as traitors, cowards and unsupportive of the troops. Likewise, those who support the war should be able to express their opinions without the juvenile name-calling and threatened violence that is beginning around the world. We are ALL Americans, regardless of personal beliefs and, as fellow human beings, those rights should be respected.

Doris Stine,

Lawrence