U.S. has played prominent role in arming its enemies

Editor,

I deplore columnist Scott Darnell's characterization of the U.S. as an innocent bystander in a world of tyrannical bullies. He laments that "none of us asked for" the likes of Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il. While he correctly points out that the American people did not in fact ask for the threats we face today, he conveniently neglects to consider the active, if not definitive, role our government has played in creating and arming these threats.

His implication is that Congress' anti-war opinions are more

dangerous now to the U.S. than were the government's past actions of arming Iran to fight the Soviet Union, arming Iraq to fight Iran and more recently, forcing Iraq into civil war. It is misguided and shortsighted to suggest that voicing opposition to what would be a second major foreign policy blunder is harmful to the U.S. A representative government is healthy when its actions reflect public opinion.

Before he denounces dissenting opinion, perhaps Darnell should abandon the father-knows-best attitude toward government to which Bush apologists blindly swear allegiance.

Zac Westbrook

Daily Lobo reader