To the editor:

I support the publication of the graphic image of charred bodies hanging from the bridge in Fallujah, but not for the reasons the Journal-World has given. Journal-World editors say the photo reminds us why we should be fighting. I believe the opposite: The photo reminds us why we should avoid fighting.

I believe the responsibility for those charred bodies in Fallujah rests solidly on our collective shoulders, so I’m glad average Americans were “forced” by their local newspapers to face the grisly reality of what our president and his profiteering partners got us into. A little more than a year ago, our country was not in this war in Iraq. And as we all know for sure today, we didn’t need to start that war. Now we’re not likely to get out of it before many more of our children are sent to fight and die there.

How many of you who are outraged or shocked by this photo are also “supporters” of this war? Face up to what that photo tells us: If you “support” war, you “support” grisly death.

I wish that the Journal-World and all of the other papers in the world would, on a daily basis, show graphic images of the previous day’s casualties from the various conflicts around the world, rather than sanitized photos of unrealistically romanticized military glory or of American Idol contestants or diving catches in the end zone.

If there are other graphic images available, I say, “bring ’em on.”

Mike Cuenca,

Lawrence