To the editor:
In their respective anti-war letters (see June issue) both Mary Anne Grady Flores and Mark Scibilia-Carver ignored the fact that war was declared on the U.S. on 9/11.
President Bush, a pro-lifer, addressed that attack with the same determination he made to protect the unborn from the consequences of “choice.”
Unfortunately, his critics have responded to his policies with lies and innuendo. One lie that should be put to rest is that torture by our military is SOP, standard operating procedure. In truth our troops are trained to fight terrorists and treat prisoners humanely.
At “Gitmo,” Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, where dangerous prisoners are housed, guards are daily attacked in all different ways, yet they are required to respond nonviolently under the threat of severe penalty.
Our enemy knows no such restriction as they routinely behead their prisoners and bomb civilians including women and children.
I wonder if our home-grown protesters who invaded Ithaca’s Immaculate Conception Church a few years ago were aware that their actions only inspire our enemies to commit more violent acts?
Catholic teaching never told us we had to sit still while our enemies blew us up and attacked us.
Let us pray for our enemies, but let us also not provide them a shovel as they try to bury us.
Robert Bart
Elm Street
Ithaca
