Enemies are within our gates

To the editor:

The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq has passed 1,000. It is interesting to compare those numbers with the following:

In 2001 (the latest statistics available) 9,536 people ages 16 to 44 died in alcohol-related accidents.

In 2001 (the latest statistics available) more than 29,000 people ages 15 to 24 committed suicide.

In 2002 (the latest statistics available) 4,970 people died in industrial accidents. Of those, 526 were homicides.

In 2000 857,475 children were murdered by abortion.

In 2002 9,300 children and 886,575 adults and teens had AIDS. A large percentage of those will die early. Since 1981 over 357,000 people have died of AIDS, including 4,400 children.

Eleven percent of teenage girls become pregnant every year. A third of them abort their child.

Obviously, the war on terror is the least of our problems. Since God was taken out of our schools by liberal judges, a little noticed war has been waged relentlessly, and our youths are dying by the thousands. Enemies of a God-centered way of life and the moral fiber of our nation have permeated our government, courts, schools and institutions of higher learning. The war against terror is a real war, but so is the one being waged by enemies within our gates. It is time we take aggressive action to save our children and our nation.

ARTHUR DOCKEN, Jackson