Editor,
I am writing concerning the Republican Party's fantastic effort to make the invasion of Iraq a nonissue. Republican officials are dismissing claims that they misled America before the invasion as unfounded. It seems to me the conservatives are telling us not to question or debate the war in Iraq. That is incredibly irresponsible and chilling.
It is irresponsible because if there is one thing in this country that should be questioned, debated and legitimized, it is the decision to go to war. I wonder just what the GOP is implicitly saying by their flippant, defensive response to war criticism. Are they saying that sending our people to die and kill thousands of mostly innocent people - maybe they get lucky from time to time and obliterate a village that's got a few terrorists in it too - is not important enough to be talked about? Are they saying that the $220 billion - and growing - bill for the war is so insignificant that it does not warrant questioning?
The GOP's dismissive response to war critics is chilling, because it seems like there is something the government does not want us to find out. To use a classic USA Patriot Act catch phrase, "If they are not doing anything wrong, then why are they worried?" Bush wants to raise war support, but his conservative pep rallies across the country are not going to do the trick.
The government needs to provide Americans with full disclosure. They can't jump to the defensive, call concerned citizens silly names and expect to gain support. To get war support, the GOP is going to have to discuss the war openly and attack their critics' anti-war arguments, not simply dismiss them as "unfounded." I am afraid of what they might be hiding, but I'm even more afraid that we may never find out.
The GOP - in effect, the government - staunchly supports this war, but a substantial portion of America does not. So I challenge the GOP to tell us what we don't know. If the government supports a war but the people do not, then there must be something we do not know that they do. As Gen. Sherman said, "War is hell." Members of the GOP cannot sit in their palaces and tell me war is not worthy of discussion or their time. I want debate and I want answers.
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Maybe after years and years of debate we will still be divided over whether it was the right thing to do. But at least then I can walk by the grave of 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Christopher Adlesperger and know that he didn't get sent off to die without some damn good reasons and accountability.
Jeremy Hunt
UNM student
