Email from yesterday’s column follows. I did get the expected hate mail, but I also got some of the most flattering email I’ve ever received. One guy compared me to Henry Hazlitt, which is a huge honor, and probably completely unfounded. But flattering nonetheless. Lots of people objected to the “Saddam isn’t Hitler” line. I’m not convinced. Saddam isn’t Hitler. We left Hitler alone for ten years and he took over half of Europe. We’ve left Saddam alone for 12 years and he’s done us little harm. If we loose one tenth as many troops liberating Iraq as we did liberating Europe, this war will have been a calamitous tragedy. I can’t even really believe there’s a debate, here.

Oh well. Here we go:

My son is on the front lines with the United States Marine Corp. I personally think if you like him so much that you should sell your belongings pack it up and move on over there. In Sadamâ??s world you cannot speak your mind, if you do you die. Has everyone forgotten his crimes against humanity? He is no different than Adolph Hitler. Sadam gets richer and his people get poorer, starve or are killed. Again I say if you donâ??t like it in the United States and fill so sorry for Sadam than get out. As one Iraqi national here in the United States said in his short time on the news he told protestors you donâ??t know what freedom is, my people say what they have to survive because they donâ??t have freedom. What about the Kurds he killed with chemicals, has everyone forgotten them. What about his own family he has killed, has everyone forgotten them. He has lied and lied. What about the dead soldiers Iraq showed on T.V. is that a humane regime?

What is wrong with you people, you all need to go and research this man’s history before you start running your mouths. Know what you are talking about before you speak. I cannot believe that his integrity is being weight against ours and the other nations with us. I am glad for you that you live were you do because over there you would have been killed already. The Iraq people are happy to see us and afraid that we will not finish the job and he will kill them all like he killed the last generation that helped us.

So I say President Bush finish the job this time.

Laureen Harris
Jacksonville, Florida
Marine Corp Mom

I recently read your FOX column on the war debate. I thought it was well thought out and accurate. However, I was troubled at how you implied certain people as being “Un-American.” I am a Republican myself, and it really upsets me when I hear people like O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh labeling those who are dissenting and disagreeing as “Un-American.”

Just because Michael Moore may be a passionate liberal does not mean that he hates america. I may disagree with alot about the guy, but I know he at least respects things like democracy, human rights, and civil liberties. In fact, isn’t open and free debate an American Value? Anyway, this (now common) labeling of dissenters as “un-american” has really tarnished my view of the modern Republican party. I would welcome an explanation from you sir! Thanks, have a great day!

Pat Manning

Hello

My name is Shawn Rivas. I am in full support of this war, troops, and the President. However, I want you to know that you gave my spirit a boost that made me feel even more alive. You made me even more proud to be an American. Your article really touched me so deeply, as I read I cried (literally) with even more pride within me.

Although we certainly have some differences in opinion, I guess I got caught up in the “Michael Moore and Dixie Chick” types that I lost focus. I just would react harshly to anti war statements, not realizing that they are not all extreme and biased like the above mentioned. We all want what is best, as few casualties as possible and people to be free, feed, and well taken care of.

I’m going to print your article and post it at work at my desk. And when I get frustrated I’ll just read it and feel peaceful.

God Bless you, our troops, our coalition, our President, and the Iraqi people.

Shawn Rivas
Los Angeles, CA

Radley,

Thanks for your article “Thoughts on the War Debate.” I write a daily business piece and do a workplace issues radio feature that airs on several stations here in Idaho, so I’m constantly steeping myself in the news. I found you article to be on target (with the exception that Hitler killed the Jews during the war, not before it).

Last year, I, too, wondered what the hell we were doing going after Iraq. My thoughts are twofold:
a) sour grapes that Saddam is still in power, and
b) a genuine threat of terrorist funding through Iraqi sources.

My wife (who leans more left than I do) and I agree that regarding taking Saddam out, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. We liken it to having to face the bully on the block: There will be a fight and it will cause some pain, but if we don’t get it over with, the problem will just get bigger.

Anyway, thanks again for your balanced piece.

- Dan Bobinski
President
Leadership Development

Mr. Balko,

You state that “Three thousand dead to topple Saddam Hussein is a travesty.”. Is it? How few casualties would be acceptable to liberate the Iraqi people and remove the cloak of fear from places like Kuwait and Israel? At what point do you say “sorry your freedom and security is not worth another life”?

Respectfully,
James Taber

On that last one, I guess I can only turn the question around: How many casualties are too many? At what point is the loss of American and Iraqi civilian life too great for this cause? 5,000 troops? 10,000? All of them? Let’s hope it’s a question that doesn’t need answering. More:

Very well written. I had wanted to hear both sides for some time and would have appreciated a healthy old fashioned debate but never could find an “antiwar” person sane enough or intelligent enough to offer any valid reasons. Keep up the good writing. Will look for your commentaries in the future.

Surly Balko;

I strongly suggest that you should move to an environment that you find more to your liking, i.e…France, Russia, Germany, Iraq, or that real hot spot. If this is not a nice place to be NOW, where you can express where your views, as pungent as they are. I accept it like typhoid. So you’re a true American?

This is a satire in case you didn’t notice, being that your profession is not journalism.

Thank you and you can thank all the people fighting for YOUR right to freely express yourself.

God Bless America, and God Bless our leaders for being strong!

George T. Petersen,
Longwood, FL

Mr. Balko,

I just read your article on foxnews.com concerning your thoughts on the war debate. I had to email you to tell you thank you.

I, like you, was not “on board” with going to war with Iraq prior to the war. I have to admit that many of my acquaintances attempted to make me ashamed of my views. Quite literally, I had to reexamine my own views. Before I could finish my moral inventory the first shots were fired in Iraq. Then, just as you described everything changed and I “fell in line” with our men and women in uniform and our President in full support of the greatest nation, the United States.

Your article illustrated many of the arguements that I used and some that I had not thought of. Your article restored my confidence in my views and reassured me that I was not the only person engaged in these type of discussions.

So, once again, thank you.

James Yaklin
Houston, TX

Dear Mr. Balko,

I just wanted to say I appreciate your very intellectual and broad view of looking at the differing opinions on the war in Iraq. I do support our going and fighting this war, but I understand many who are against this. As a minister in the Lutheran Church I have people who have sons and grandsons in Iraq and fighting in Afghanistan. They struggle with this whole proposition, because they could lose children. As a minister I believe it is not my duty to influence or speak one way or another about this war to the people of my congregation, but to pray for good leadership in the country, for the protection of our troops, for the comfort of families who have lost loved ones or who have ones that are pows, a quick end to the conflict and for the turning of the heart of Saddam Hussein from his path of evil and destruction. Thank you again for your very thoughtful article.

Your Servant in Christ,
Pastor Henry H. Biar II
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Bastrop, TX

Dear Friend,

I am a Malaysian. Born a Hindu in Malaysia and have lived here all my life. I am happy I am not in Irag. Even more I am happy I am not an American living in the USA or serving in Irag today.

For 54 years I adored, respected and believed that the USA was the greatest nation in the world because it stood for freedom, democracy, human right and a host of other things.

Today, however, my dear friend I HATE AMERICA. GOD forbid that I will ever have any respect from now on for your country.

You have destroyed everything!

Saddam Hussein we all know. He killed the Kurds, he invaded Kuwait. He deserves and is scorned by the world. The US is now invading Irag in the same manner. Bush, Powell, Frank, Cheyney….all of them are the same as Saddam. No different. Period.

Human Rights? Geneva Convention? You must be kidding! The US has the right to kill but Irag not the right to broadcast pictures? America today is sick!

I’m sure you do not want to listen…so I’ll stop. Because America and the Americans are deaf. If you want to listen to the rest of what I have to say….please send me an e-mail.

Vijay
Malaysian
Hindu
A citizen of the world
GOD SAVE AMERICA

Dear Sir,

I nearly had a stroke when I read your reasoned, cogent and thoughtful analysis on how one should view the war. Imagine, those traits in an American journalist! I have a minor disagreement with you on the Hitler analogy. The issue is not that Hitler was far more powerful than Hussein is now, you are right there. The issue is that left in power, Hussein could combine all of Hitler’s moral depravity with weapons with a destructive capacity Hitler only dreamed about.

That aside, your article is the calmest and most rationale of all journalistic pieces I have read thus far. Thank you for your contribution.

As an aside, when I was considering the war, I was envisioning a 30 day or so campaign with 5,000 coalition casualties. I thought then, and still think today, that by any measure of modern military history, such a time frame and casualty figures would have to be considered an astonishing victory.

Pray for those securing our freedom and safety.

Best Wishes,

Sean P. Crowley

Dear Mr. Balko:

While you claim to now be, though reluctantly, for an American victory in a war that you do not advocate, you seem a bit confused.

You dismiss analogies between Saddam Hussein and Hitler. Why? Seriously, why bother? You claim that Saddam does what Hitler did but on a smaller scale. That makes the analogy wrong? Perhaps you just do not understand what someone who is â??Hitler-liteâ? can do with wmdâ??s. In any case, what was the point? Is Saddam not as bad because he is not taking over Europe, just wanting to from afar?

You appear befuddled at the idea that those who view the war as necessary are incorrect in seeing those who are against the war as helping Saddam.

Isnâ??t that a bit silly? If you demand a premature end to the war, which if allowed to continue would end Saddamâ??s regime, you are in fact, even if not intended, helping Saddam. The same goes for folks such as yourself who would have had America not get involved in the first place, Saddam would remain in power. Seems to be pretty clear.

To be more clear, Americans who understand the threat to America that Saddam poses; any dissent in effect is anti-American. To not understand that a ruthless dictator, who hates America and has shown contempt for UN resolutions and disarmament, and a desire and plan to develop biological, chemical and nuclear weapons is a threat to America after the events of September 11, 2001, is either purposefully ignoring facts, naiveté, or worse.

In any case, if the antiwar ranting were to have been, or would be heeded now, would only lead to horrific results for Americaâ??s children.

Thanks for your time,
Paul Walfield

I would like to thank you for your article. I support our troops, and I support their Commander in Chief. No one wants to go to war. I believe that Saddam needs to be removed, and that he would never disarm. Yet I didn’t want them to send my husband, and the father of my two children to war, but they did.

He didn’t go because he was forced to, he went because he wanted to. He went because “he didn’t spend 14 years in the Air Force to sit on the side lines and watch.” He went because it is his job, and because this is his country. He volunteered to go, just as he volunteered to go after September 11th. Although I didn’t want him to go, I understood how he felt. He takes his freedom seriously and doesn’t take it for granted. I was just telling him in an email today how much I missed him and needed him. This was his response, “I know, I miss you and need you too… but right now, our country needs me also. When this is all over, we will have something to tell our grandkids about, but the pain we go through now is well worth it so that our kids and grandchildren will be able to live in a free country”

He believes in his country and he believes in President Bush. The war debate is
over, we are at war. Now, it is time to support our country and the men and women who are in harms way. I can tell you that the people that think that our men and women over there don’t know about the anti-war protest and aren’t disheartened by it are sadly mistaken. My husband is one of them, he knows about it and to say that it does not affect him would be far from the truth. It affects them, and it affect us, their families, more than anyone could know!

Anonymous

Yes, the protests must continue. Because it is more than just the war in Iraq, it is also about a new direction in U.S. foreign policy. If we are to use the criteria we used in this war, whose next on our list? Is any country really safe? My feeling through the weeks leading up to this war, is that Bush was set on war from the very beginning. Certainly the U.N has many problems, but if we expect others to be bound by their resolutions and policies, we must also follow suit. It seems that Bush has decided to return the world to the days of the Cold War. Only in the eyes of many countries, it won’t be the super power in the East it will be the U.S. that is the threat. I am a pacifist, so I can not condone the killing of even Saddam. Brought to justice? Of course, that goes without saying. But, rather than resort to war, we need to explore all options which can bring change without violence. We also need to look at abuses within the governments we choose to call friends. It wasn’t so long ago that we were providing assistance to the man. Protests may not have any bearing on this war, but it may help in determining policy in the future.

Doug Waite

This was the most human response I have heard, or read, to date from anyone who was anti-war before the war broke out. Thank you for responding as a human and not a representative from some political party.

It would have been nice if you included another unspoken assertion that is getting thrown around. The unsaid implication that if you we for rendering Sadddams and his regime powerless that you are for war. Just because one recognizes the necessity for military action in this instance doesn’t mean they want war, just that they don’t want what inaction promises.

I am an Air Force officer’s wife and believe me I am not for war but I am proud and relieved that our men and women in uniform finally get to finish the job that should have been done 12 years ago.

Thanks for your time,
Imani L.

Radley Balko;

Your article may be about insanity, but your writing is certainly sanity. You are yet another reasonable voice, if not a voice of reason — but of course you’re that, too. I feel lucky that you showed up on the planet before I left.

You write as well as Henry Hazlitt, yet you don’t have a wrinkle on your face. (I have plenty of ‘em.)

I don’t know if you’re religious or not, Radley, but I’m sure you’ll understand my saying God Bless You.

Andy Key

There were others — quite a bit, actually, for a column that got no play on the Fox front page. But most were variations on the themes expressed above.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2003 at 8:56 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.