Speak Out 11/26/05

We can't sit back

AMERICA CARED about the Jews during World War II. We knew about the camps fairly early on. It was decided that the best way to help the Jews and others in captivity was to win the war as quickly as possible. Before the war, Jews were encouraged to leave Germany. Many of them were allowed to come to the United States. It was not until the war started that restrictions on all peoples caused a decline in immigration. After the war, America took in many Jewish refugees. America has the largest Jewish population of any country, including Israel. Beating Japan and Germany were acts of defense. There is no question that these two countries would have brought the war to America had we done nothing. If we sit back today and do nothing, how long do we have to wait until another bomb goes off or a building collapses? Many people try to revise history to support their opinions. No matter how hard they try, history does not change as long as people remember the truth.

Exploited issue

ELIMINATING TERRORISTS will be a never-ending battle. Unfortunately, political demagogues will exploit the issue in order to gain or retain power.

Both are patriots

THOUGH YOUR editorial cartoon implied otherwise, Congressman Murtha is just as much a patriot as General Patton, as the administration has belatedly and begrudgingly admitted because the public realizes it.

Important holidays

SOMEONE COMPLAINED about schools getting off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and not getting off for Veterans Day. Americans all over celebrate Veterans Day every year. Millions are proud of what our veterans have done and still do, and millions are proud of what Dr. King stood for: nonviolence and equal opportunity for all. It was not just an African-American movement. It was a movement for all people of all races. His perseverance in trying to promote non-violence and equality for all was the key to a movement that started the whole country making a change for the good. He deserves a holiday for the changes that were adopted because of what he believed in. These changes have benefited all of us in one way or another.

Polling numbers

WHO WANTS to talk about sagging poll numbers? Did you read about the Polling-Report.com poll that shows only 8 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic Party? All of sudden, President Bush's numbers look pretty good.

It's not the same

ITS TIME for the portion of the Vietnam generation who grew into the Democratic Party to give up their efforts to correct their previous mistakes and failures. Iraq is not Vietnam, because our troops are part of an all-volunteer military and our citizenry is too well-informed. Your agenda is growing tired. Either offer an alternative solution or be quiet.

In their shoes

I'D LIKE everyone to imagine a row of Iraqi tanks driving down Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau surrounded by Iraqi troops carrying machine guns. Imagine Iraqi soldiers waking up your family in the middle of the night, dragging you out to the sidewalk at gunpoint and searching your home for a fugitive who isn't there. Imagine a bomb mistakenly being dropped on your parents home and killing them instantly. I know if that happened here, I would fight to my dying breath and kill as many Iraqi soldiers as I could as fast as I could. After all, they're in my country. This is how millions of Iraqi civilians live and feel. Was Saddam evil? Yes. Should he have been removed? Yes. Now, let's bring our boys home, let the Iraqi people build their country in their own vision and save what little dignity we have left in the world.