War isn't over, and the world still isn't safe

To the editor:

The defenders of George Bush and his war on Iraq overlook the killing of over 3,500 Iraqi civilians and continuing deaths of Iraqis and American military personnel. They argue the war was a win-win situation because we have deposed an evil tyrant and dictator. They sadly miss the point. When it takes thousands of deaths to achieve a goal, we have to ask a critical moral question about whether the end justifies the means.

One might argue that Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein. But we have thousands of deaths, an Iraq domestic society verging on chaos and a refusal of the occupiers to allow Iraqis the freedom to choose their own government. Despite the president's grandstanding declaration that the war is over, it is not. Occupation is not liberation. With terrorist acts around the world escalating over recent weeks, one cannot reasonably argue that the world is safer. Since the United States is still subjected to almost weekly elevations of the danger level, real threats to us must still abound.

What the gung-ho war-mongers amongst us must recognize is that tyrannical dictators are plentiful around the world and that the United States not only enabled many of them to gain power but also continues to support them. That we disagree with the leadership of another sovereign nation does not confer upon us the right to invade and bring chaos to its citizens lest some other nation make the same decision about us.

JENNIFER ST.CLAIR

Cape Girardeau