A letter to the editor in last Wednesday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Can't answer that
Last week I was reading your article on the anti-war protesters in Oakland when my 9-year-old son asked me what I was reading. I told him what the article was about, pulling our troops out of Iraq. He stated he agreed with the protesters, we should not be in Iraq. I asked him why he thought that and he stated that "if we leave them alone, they will leave us alone."
I explained to him that normally that is true but not in this case. I gave him a quick rundown of what the hijackers of Islam have done over the years against Western civilization around the world for no other reason than the culture. I started with their attacks as far back as the '70s with the Iranian hostage crisis and pointed out the recent ones, the U.S. embassies, the USS Cole, the Marine barracks, Bali, London and of course 9/11, just to name a few.
My son then asked, "So if we leave them alone, they won't leave us alone?" My one word answer was "exactly." He then asked if the protesters know this, and if they do, why do they want to bring the troops home instead of fighting them where they are? I told him "that I don't know."
BILL HOAGLAND
Whitehall
Thanks to my mom for the heads up.
