Letter Of The WeeQ

President Bush's speech on the war in Iraq represents yet another chapter in this administration's governing strategy to stem the rising tide of public dissatisfaction through trite imagery that seeks to project strength and resolute "toughness," while ignoring or minimizing the concerns of the public.

Mr. President, the American people are not growing uneasy with this war because they lack patriotism, a sense of duty, or resolute "toughness" in the face of hardship. Our history contains countless examples where "ordinary" people made heroic sacrifices for the sake of the nation and others.

The American people's concerns are based on the administration's shifting justifications for going to war, the apparent lack of proper war preparation and seeming inability to anticipate post-war realities, and an unwillingness to level with the American public regarding the war's direction and potential costs (human and otherwise).

The people, Mr. President, are being asked to sacrifice their blood and precious resources for this war. Surely these sacrifices entitle them to raise hard questions about the direction and strategy of the war with an expectation that they will receive a direct, coherent and comprehensive reply.
- N. Brian Gentry
Des Moines.

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