To the editor:

Reading Cal Thomas’ column Tuesday, Sept. 19, my feelings of distaste for his vitriolic rants were reinforced. As he passed judgment on liberal appeasement and lack of moral fortitude, he then opened up both barrels of his shotgun logic on Republican Sen. John McCain. Mr. Thomas blasted Sen. McCain for suggesting the U.S. should be bound by the Geneva Conventions, and the torture of terrorists would do more harm than good in the long run.

Mr. Thomas went on to refer to Sen. McCain’s five-and-a-half-year imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese at the “Hanoi Hilton.” So, if I am to get this right, Mr. Thomas discounts the years of captivity and torture that Sen. McCain endured, because the other side didn’t adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Two wrongs make a right? Since the “other side” doesn’t follow rules of civility, we should stoop to their level? This, as we say we seek the moral high ground and are spreading peace and democracy across the world?

I didn’t read in Mr. Thomas’ bio that he served in uniform or was tortured by the “enemy.” That he passed judgment on a decorated Navy pilot for his views on torture after the fact makes me sick. He went too far – again.

Steve Craven,

Lawrence