Terrorists, not president, are evil

Anne Cook's venomous Jan. 4 letter, "President's war agenda is evil," stands out not only for the pure hatred she spews, but for factual inaccuracies as well. Her concept of evil is the mind-set of liberals everywhere who can believe anything as long as it fits their twisted concept of morality.

My copy of Webster's New World Dictionary defines "mandate" as "the wishes of constituents expressed to a representative, legislature, etc., as through an election and regarded as an order."

Since President George W. Bush won re-election with a margin exceeding 3 million votes - 51 to 48 percent of the popular vote - it is entirely correct to say that he has a mandate from those who voted for him.

Mrs. Cook continues her diatribe by stating that the president "has no mandate to continue his uncivilized, immoral war in Iraq." War by its very nature is uncivilized, but the immorality in this war comes from the terrible people our brave men and women in uniform are fighting in the name of freedom. Yes, it is an ungodly war, but the ungodliness doesn't come from our decision to fight it; it comes from the monsters whom we fight.

Like Mrs. Cook, I too have a grandson. He is 8 years old, and I too would do anything to protect him. But how much security will he have if we let the terrorists win? Would he one day be killed by the same terrorists we could kill today? Do we want to merely postpone that day, or prevent it?

Mrs. Cook might want to recognize the fact that maybe the reason her grandson and other of our citizens' children and grandchildren are alive and free is because we are in Iraq fighting those who are truly evil.

Don Christian, Hephzibah