Critics of war are not unpatriotic

Regarding Charles Kimbrough's Jan. 12 letter, "Rights include the right to emigrate": It was the second or third response to an earlier Anne Cook letter, "President's war agenda is evil."

It has a strangely familiar ring to it, from a historical perspective. I remember "America, love it or leave it" when we were in Vietnam - another misguided attempt to make the world more American.

Why is it that to some people, if you disagree with the president or U.S. policy, you are anti-American and unpatriotic? To some small-minded people, these unbelievers should be shown the door. In a democracy you are entitled - even encouraged - to disagree. That's what the Constitution is about.

At first, protesters against the Vietnam War were demeaned, derided and shunned. But most didn't emigrate, and eventually a bad foreign policy changed - after losing 55,000 American lives. When we lost in Vietnam, the dominoes didn't fall as predicted. Communists did not invade Indonesia, Japan and Australia. To paraphrase, those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.

Now, 30-odd years later, we have invaded a sovereign country and are trying to impose our will on its citizens because we think we're smarter than they are. Yet a lot of people - 49 percent of Americans, and more than that in other nations - disagree with our president and don't think we should be there. And the best response Republican lock-steppers can come up with is, "America, love it or leave it"? Sorry, that's not good enough.

When you pro-war guys come up with a plan to make things right, we'll stop "whining." We should say to the Iraqis, and the world, "We made a mistake." Now let's figure out how to fix the mistake and get out before we throw away more American lives and money. ...

Stephen Barrow, Aiken, S.C.