Appeasement never worked in U.S. foreign policy

In his letter expressing condolences to the family of Lance Cpl. Anthony Melia, Douglas Crocket stated that this war is "Vietnam all over again." Unfortunately it appears that statement is one of the few things in his letter Mr. Crocket was right about.

The war in Vietnam ended after Congress cut off military funding for the war. This was precipitated by a constant barrage of news reports from Walter Cronkite and the rest of the media of the day in which they decided that the war was not winnable. Sound familiar?

Mr. Crocket stated that President Bush's "claim" that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction was a "load of bull" and likened Saddam's arsenal to nothing more than a "water squirt gun."

I think the families of the 5,000 Kurdish victims of Saddam's poisonous gas bombings may have a difference of opinion.

Come to think of it, the Israeli victims of homicide bombers whose families were paid $25,000 per bombing by Saddam may have a difference of opinion, too. And I believe the antiaircraft missiles Saddam was regularly firing at American and coalition jet fighters patrolling the "no-fly zone" were propelled by something slightly more menacing than water. Of course our balanced and impartial media does a good job of constantly reminding us of these facts--don't they?

Mr. Crocket points out that President Bush can't even "keep our troops safe."

Mr. Crocket, our all-volunteer force is not there to be kept safe, they're over there to keep us safe over here. The almost 3,000 people killed on 9/11 didn't sign up to fight radical Islamic terrorists, but our military forces did, and I thank God every day that they volunteered and continue to do so.

I understand this is a difficult concept for people of your ilk to grasp. It took several years and millions of innocent lives lost before Europe and America learned that you can't appease evil in the world. Since that lesson seems to have been forgotten, I shudder to think how many more innocent lives will have to be lost before we relearn that lesson.
Michael Foxen
Newbury Park