To the editor:

Can patriotic Americans question the war in Iraq? Vice President Cheney recently charged that some critics of the war are “dishonest,” “reprehensible” and “opportunistic.” House Speaker Hastert said, “They want us to retreat. They want us to wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists of the world.”

Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. (Journal-World, Nov. 26) declared, “Lowbrow attacks have always been part of the playbook for Bush and his surrogates. When you don’t like the message, kill the messenger. Call him unpatriotic, call him crazy, call her a liar, smear his name with every half-truth and non-truth you can.”

Sen. John McCain, a Republican, said, “Let’s not tell Americans everything is going great. Once we admit our failures, the key is to fix them.” McCain, by the way, got the Senate to approve a prohibition on torture although the White House has threatened to veto any such bill.

Because I’ve had a daughter who risked her life fighting against Saddam in Iraq, I can feel nothing but compassion for families who have loved ones involved in such a costly, if not needless, war. But I hope we can ask questions about the war without being accused of being against the troops, hurting morale or supporting the terrorists.

Unfortunately, our soldiers do not have the privilege of asking questions. Like the soldiers in “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Tennyson, “Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred.” Now it is the 700, 800, 900, 1,000, 2,000 :

Harold Piehler,

Lawrence