Stripes: Making room for opinions (by Command SGT MAJ)/Let's be fair, AFN

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Making room for opinions

Somewhere, I think, there must be room for more than one opinion. The writer of "How quickly some forget" (letter, Oct. 14) wrote, "Cindy Sheehan...dishonored her son's death." Strong words. Perhaps she's just a mother seeking meaning for the loss of a child. Vietnam War protesters asked questions similar to Sheehan's. The cost then was 55,000. The benefit was? Maybe it's good that Americans are free to ask those types of questions.

"Major offers his answers" (letter, Oct. 14) wrote, "we fight terrorism" (I concur), cites facts to show Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator (he was), and that Saddam had frequent contact with al-Qaida (a profile that fits most Mideast regimes). He implies that those are the reasons we went to war. Idi Amin killed 500,000 in Uganda, Pol Pot killed 2 million in Cambodia and we did not go to war. The pith of his letter said, "I'd rather be...here keeping terrorists from attacking...back home." But {most of} the people who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Saudis, not Iraqis. Perhaps that should generate a question or two.

"Sergeant gives an answer" (letter, Oct. 14) wrote, "{I} am now deployed to Afghanistan...I would go back a million times for ...freedom." Would that freedom also include Sheehan's right to dissent, or the writer of the Oct. 8 letter, "'We deserve answers'" to ask questions?

My point is this: I don't necessarily agree with Sheehan or with the author of "'We deserve answers," but I swore an oath to defend the Constitution. That oath means I must defend the free speech of others equally with my own. I also believe it to be totally appropriate for Americans to have viewpoints that don't agree without demeaning each other with words like "dishonorable." "Disagreeable" would be more accurate while rendering a fellow American his or her due respect.

Command Sgt. Maj. William H. Brown
Bagram, Afghanistan


'Let's be fair,' AFN

I have been listening to conservative Rush Limbaugh on American Forces Network radio for a long time now, and I think it's about time we have an opposing viewpoint.

I read "Liberal radio host nixed by AFN" (article, Stars and Stripes, Oct. 19) and that prompted me to write. The article made the assumption that comments made by radio talk show host Ed Schultz when he criticized Pentagon officials nixed the show. I say, either take Rush Limbaugh off the air or bring on another show with a different, liberal point of view.

Come on AFN, let's be fair and assume that we are intelligent enough to make up our own minds.

Dale Greenberg
Kitzingen, Germany

URL provided when available (perhaps Allison Barber is holding things up)

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1. Here's the URL

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=32620