‘Nutshell’ completely misses the point

Virginia Stuart Dopp Albemarle County
Published: July 18, 2008

The author of “Liberal dismay for Bush in a nutshell” (The Daily Progress, July 11) employs specious sarcasm to castigate his “liberal” friends for their disagreements with President Bush. He decries perceived irrational dislike of the man as unexplained by “ideological differences.” The letter ends by suggesting that people who are anti-war (and I assume the writer means anti-Iraq war) “can’t stomach the prospect of a stable, pro-America democracy in the heart of the Middle East” because it would be “the ultimate victory for the president.”

While many rational people felt that Bush was poorly equipped to assume the presidency from the outset, the issue is not one of personality. No one wishes ill on our own country as a vendetta against George Bush. And no one desires more a good outcome to this war than those of us who experienced in varied personal ways the devastation of Vietnam.

It is not only the privilege, but the sacred duty, of U.S. citizens to examine thoughtfully the policies of our government and to express our disagreement with decisions that seem wrong and/or counterproductive. History shows us the importance of doing so. It is nothing short of scurrilous to suggest that dissenters would actually relish the waste of 33,000 Americans killed or wounded in addition to untold Iraqi casualties, the destruction of our country’s honor abroad, and the exacerbation of problems in the Middle East. 

Equating an honest disagreement with the current administration to a lack of patriotism and callous indifference to the welfare of the world is — well, it’s downright un-American.