Dear Editor:
I would like to thank the East Tennesseean for their excellent coverage of the local anti-war march and rally. Hopefully there will be more public events where people locally can express their desire to have this war end as soon as possible, as well as opportunities to make the point that the only person who had the authority to send our soldiers into harm’s way in Iraq, and who is also the only person who can give the order to bring them back, is the commander-in-chief, who also happens to be our elected president: George W. Bush.
Yes, Josh McKinney, in case you didn’t know, the responsibility for sending our soldiers into war lies directly with President Bush. Many people feel that he is not the architect of this war; that he is following the direction of others. If this is so, he might be considered a “puppet.” In any case, as he himself has said, he is “the decider.” This is why there was a puppet of him at the march, because we all have to wait until he gives the order to bring our soldiers home. There are more soldiers who are going to lose their lives every week and month that this war continues. Why is our president continuing on this course? Has he made any kind of convincing case to us as to why we went to war initially, and why we are still there? Doesn’t the person who sends our sons and daughters to be killed in foreign lands owe us a coherent explanation as to why this is necessary?
It is ridiculous to say that by “carrying that puppet . someone was using the war in Iraq as a platform to attack President Bush” as McKinney said in his article. The truth is that carrying the puppet was a way of saying that President Bush is the one person responsible for sending our troops to this war, and demanding that he bring them home. Anyone who is really against this war, as McKinney says he is, should be looking for ways to convince our commander-in-chief to change his mind and bring our soldiers home.
-Jim Benelisha
Owner, The Acoustic Coffeehouse

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