To the editor:

I feel I must respond to the letter from Marty Kennedy (Public Forum, Sept. 4) faulting John Kerry’s record before and after the war. I respect what Mr. Kennedy did in Vietnam and what John Kerry did before and after the war. I also am proud to have stood up against the war here in Lawrence from 1969-71.

I would, however, have fought alongside them both had my number come up. I could relay stories heard from disenchanted vets, many too horrible to mention. Suffice it to say anybody who served in combat in Vietnam, or anywhere else, deserves the credit they got. What could be more patriotic than fighting in a war you found was wrong, heroically doing your duty but waiting until you were home to speak out against it? In America we speak out when we disagree, even during war. Dissent on both sides is what moderates us and makes us the nation we are.

Today I feel this “doctrine of pre-emption” has failed miserably. I liken it to executing people without proving them guilty! The end does not justify the means. We don’t start wars without solid proof, and we don’t torture people or lock them up indefinitely without charges. I feel it’s my duty as an American to stand up and say, “Hey this isn’t right. That’s not America.”

If we spent all those billions on the war on terror, instead of in Iraq breeding terror, the whole world would be in much better shape.

Stephen J. Crockett,

Lawrence