Letter to the editor<br>In support of decisions following 9-11<br>

The last letter in the Grand Canyon News states, “How is it possible that in a bitter presidential contest that is focused on issues of ‘character and values,’ the American people are so easily duped by a man who says one thing and does another repeatedly and without any real repercussion to himself or his administration?”

Duped? We were not duped. The reality is that Bush was handed a government that already had lost credibility due to the last Democrat in office who, if I remember right, LIED blatantly to us on national television. Now, name an administration that has followed through with everything they claimed they would get done – Democrat or Republican. It’s not “realistic” to get everything done correctly. Impossible actually.

The letter was correct in one aspect though. These guys do work for us, and we do have the obligation to question and demand accountability. But what issue is it that you’re having trouble getting an answer for? It seems pretty clear that, despite certain security and sensitive information issues, we know what’s going on in this country, and if you take a second to review the past four years, you too will realize that this country could have taken many other roads after the 9-11 tragedy. What road would you have taken? None of them looked appealing. The one we took was initially embraced by all Americans. What happened?

Here’s the reality of what happened. George Bush was faced with tens of millions of people demanding revenge upon the evil people that committed this heinous crime. He acted and this country pulled together patriotically like nothing I’ve ever witnessed or read about in history books. And slowly Americans realized that this conflict that we are now still involved in had no short-term fix. This is a war on an evil that spreads as quickly as we can destroy it. Americans are dying. This is not a pleasant thought whatsoever. Now Americans are in a rage because we are engaged in a war that is based on spreading freedom and liberty to other countries. Are freedom and liberty not why our founding fathers left England and why the American Revolution was fought? 

Now for Kerry. It’s easy to see what this guy’s agenda is, so this paragraph will be short. All I ask of you is to listen to this guy speak. He is a well-spoken people pleaser. One question destroys Kerry’s entire agenda. He tells us he wants to double and triple monies for projects such as the war on terror, homeland security, education, health care and the environment. In the same breath he tells us he “will not” raise taxes for the middle class, and that he’ll cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Two things wrong here. First, it’s impossible. Second, his tax plan is going to destroy any potential the job market has for improvement, in turn hurting our economy gravely. Duped? This man is the one duping American people who actually think he has a credible plan.

The real problem in this country is not our leaders. It’s our followers. We (including me sometimes) question and analyze issues into the ground. Much of what this administration has done is for good, but we break it down. Much of what this administration has done is wrong, and we exploit the faults and continue to break down the trust and faith we have in our leaders. We have hundreds of thousands of troops spread across the Middle East and Southeast Asia living in conditions that are less than many living in poverty and they still manage to fight night and day – fighting for not only our freedom and liberty but also fighting to spread that gift we embrace whole-heartedly to others. I’ve questioned and analyzed this and can’t find much error in the cause. The spread of this gift is our best weapon against the evil breed of monsters that think killing innocent people will strengthen their cause and reflect positively on them amongst their own kind. Try supporting something for once. Instead of breaking it down with pessimism, think of ways it will work. Then give some constructive criticism instead of saying the same thing we’ve all heard dozens of times already from negative minded people. In shorter words, many of our problems today could be solved by a simple attitude adjustment. 

I currently serve in the United States Air Force – proudly, and I know and am proud to be associated with others from Grand Canyon that also serve with honor. I also am currently deployed in Southeast Asia. I’m tired of inhaling dust and eating chicken and rice. It’s sweltering hot and humid, but I now know that this is the very least I can do and the smallest price I can pay for the beautiful country I stand for. I love freedom. I have freedom. I want to share that freedom. Do you?

Staff Sgt. Steven J. Harvey “AZ”

Air Traffic Control

438 EOSS/ATC

Shahbaz AB, Pakistan