To the editor:

Recently, former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke out regarding our lessening position in the world as a moral leader.

Do we now have the national statesman this country needs to unify it? But who is next to speak up?

Sadly, there appears no one from Kansas to join the lead in ending our country’s unjustified destruction of Iraq. Not Sen. Pat Roberts, former journalist and supposed protector of truth, now more interested in redacting facts from government documents about the build-up to the war in Iraq on behalf of the Bush administration. Regrettably, not Sen. Sam Brownback, a devout Catholic, who’s expressed justifiable outrage about genocide in Darfur but has been unsatisfyingly quiet about our occupation of Iraq. Both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI have spoken out against the pointlessness of the war in Iraq; we hope Sen. Brownback listens soon to the counsel of his spiritual leaders on this issue. Finally, not Rep. Jim Ryun, a good and moral man, who’s fought tirelessly for the rights of unborn children. But where’s his voice regarding the thousands of innocent men, women and children who’ve been killed in Iraq due to our presence there?

Pre-emptive attack on Iraq, smart bombs that kill innocents, false imprisonment, secret torture locations, massive cover-ups and disinformation.

Had enough?

Alan Hickey,

Lawrence