Letters

Blame the war plan, not the liberals

I read Chuck Muth's disturbing opinion this morning. Correct me if I am wrong, but he is advocating the murder of civilians, goatherds who were out herding their goats when they accidentally encountered our Seal team on a secret mission. The Seal team opted not to murder the goatherds and subsequently lost 3 of their own 4 lives when the shepherds announced their presence. Muth blames liberals for the loss of those American lives saying the Seals decided not to murder the goatherds because they would be considered murderers back home by liberals.

How about blaming the plan? What can reasonably be expected when dropping 4 Americans behind Taliban lines in Afghanistan these days? Those are not empty hills. What happened could be reasonably expected, goatherds or not. God help our soldiers.

I am a liberal and I do not think in any way that we should bring the troops home from Afghanistan. Conversely I think the troops we sent to Iraq should have gone to Afghanistan! That Neocon phrase "They can run but they can't hide," spoken about Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, still rings in my ears. The President has apparently forgotten 9/11, because Osama bin forgotten.

There should have been 400,000 men sent on that mission in Afghanistan! Americans can win and have won wars without making it a practice of murdering civilians and torturing people. Wars are not won fighting cheap. Wars are won by mobilizing all of our resources and giving it everything we have got. We can only do that with a clear and supported mission, such as bringing Osama bin Laden to justice for 9/11.

PAT HUNTER

Carson City

Soldiers should be held to a higher standard than gangsters

In Friday's paper, Chuck Muth quotes Marcus Luttrell in his book, "Lone Survivor: The Eye-Witness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10." Four U.S. Navy Seals were dropped into northern Afghanistan to kill or capture a notorious Taliban leader, and were discovered by some local citizens, whom they captured.

As Muth writes, "Unable to detain the goatherds without blowing the mission, the team held a vote on whether or not to risk letting them go. Team Leader Michael Murphy framed the debate on what would happen if they did what clearly needed to be done: 'When they find the bodies, the Taliban leaders will sing to the Afghan media. The media in the USA will latch onto it ... very shortly after that we will be charged with murder.'

Then author Luttrell adds: "I suddenly flashed on the prospect of many, many years in a U.S. civilian jail alongside murderers and rapists."

Well, wouldn't it be murder to shoot down these innocent people?

Chuck Muth wants to support our troops by allowing them to shoot anyone it's convenient to kill, without fear of the consequences. This is the way gangsters operate, Chuck, not soldiers.

DAVID TOLL

Gold Hill