Editor,
In the Jan. 9 edition of the Daily Lobo, Cali Garcia takes columnist Dane Roberts to task for not doing any hard research to back up his claim that troop morale isn't affected by protests against the war here at home.
After chastising Roberts for a supposed "lack of intellectual honesty, or any honesty," he proceeds to call war protesters "weak-kneed, insecure, mealy-mouthed, pussyfooting sissies."
Now that this one soldier has characterized fellow Americans in such terms, I can only hope that there are servicemen and women who are capable of enough care for the people who live in the country they are fighting for to realize that there is a real concern for their welfare as they fight what many of us believe is a senseless war that was instigated by lies, was poorly planned and which requires its combatants to work without the necessary gear to protect their lives.
Obviously Garcia is so caught up in his distaste for Americans who believe other than he does that he is unable to realize that unlike the folks who "spit on our troops as they came back from Vietnam," those of us who are against this stupid, costly, idiotic war care more about our troops than the fools who have sent him to fight it poorly prepared and under false pretenses and who are now busy reducing veterans' benefits.
Instead of waving flags and putting yellow magnets on our cars, some of us choose to exercise our rights as Americans to advocate something better for our country, its military, its civilians and the rest of the world's humanity. Despite Garcia's disdain for us war protesters, most of us care for the lives of our men and women in uniform.
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Garcia also states that soldiers of our country are fighting for "our idea of what it should look like, not yours." That statement reveals a lack of understanding of what makes up a democracy that is staggering. I guess we should eliminate all dissent immediately, install a dictator who believes just like Garcia, and he could then get rid of all of us "mealy-mouthed sissies."
I really liked Garcia's sense of outrage over the flag burner too. You know, I'm kind of partial to that flag myself. You see, I was born in this country, and I love it with all my heart - despite some mistakes and some faults. And I deal with flag burners by realizing that it is just a symbol of something much greater than a piece of cloth. And although I disagree with the act and think it is immature and foolish, I still accept that kind of person as a fellow American - one I disagree with.
It's great to know you love the flag, Garcia, and it's obvious that you really love America. I guess it's just many of us Americans that you aren't too crazy about.
John Steiner
UNM staff
