Dissent to war is healthy, not treasonous
Letter to the editor published 04/08/02
http://texarkanagazette.com/display/inn_opinion/opinion02.txt
Lisa Thomas (page 1)

Our entire country truly and rightly came together on Sept. 11, with the compassion for all those who died and for their friends and family being as real as could be.

Since then, however, we have been increasingly bombarded with the idea that dissent "in time of war" is wrong, that any criticism of a President Bush or John Ashcroft policy is tantamount to treason. It is this fear of speaking up that worries some of us the most. There are some ready to crucify Tom Daschle for suggesting that our objectives in Afghanistan were not clear enough.

I have yet to meet a person who is not fully behind our young men and women in Afghanistan. Most of them are young and unaware that this war was probably coming anyway, with the need for the Caspian Sea pipeline for oil and natural gas growing greater by the year. Regardless of the motives of some, the support for military is full and complete. However, a growing number of people are whispering that the approval Congress gave to attacking Afghanistan in hopes of finding Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar was not a blank check. Now we talk of attacking Somalia, Yemen, Georgia, Iraq and any other place that some point their fingers at.

This is a democracy. War requires congressional approval. And disagreement about the unilateral approach this administration is taking is not treason. The fact is, according to the foreign media, that we are losing world support rapidly. Sixty years ago, when there was a declared war and sacrifice was being asked of Americans, Senate GOP leader Robert Taft declared: "Criticism in a time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government."

We have all suffered. We have lost more than 3,000 of our citizens. In what the world is beginning to think of as revenge, and according to human rights groups, the U.S. and its partners have killed more than 4,000 innocent Afghan civilians, many being small children. At the same time we have failed to find Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar. It is only right for some of our citizens to question what we are doing.

Tom Ridge wants another $38 billion for Homeland Defense. Congress has certainly been accommodating in writing the checks, but they are now demanding to know how this additional money will be spent and cannot get answers.

These are dangerous times, made more dangerous by any objection to dissent. Edward R. Murrow once said: "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."

Without our soul, we would be a shell, unworthy of our Founding Fathers' hopes.

Lisa Thomas
Texarkana, Ark.

Lisa

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