The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 6 of 18)

Bob Beers br> Henderson, Nevada /p>

Like Ben Stein, I found Joel Stein's L.A. Times piece on America's soldiers and their heroic battle against murderous despotism to be crass and obnoxious. What a contrast between true wisdom and vapid foolishness.

Ben demonstrates his keen awareness of the stakes in the Middle East. Joel demonstrates his self-absorption.

Ben voices his gratitude for our troops' selfless sacrifice. Joel shows a cowardly elitist's fear of bravery and patriotism.

Ben writes with compassion for the victims of Islamic fanaticism. Joel frets about traffic, trinkets and, of course, Vietnam.

p>May God help us if Joel Stein's shallow cynicism ever replaces Ben Stein's wisdom and humility in the struggle for Western culture against enemies who would destroy freedom and democracy. By the way, if the Islamic cause is so just- why do they wear masks when waging "holy" war against innocents and children? br> -- Deane Fish br> Altamont, New York /p>

I read a short column by Joel Stein, from a link on the Drudge Report, about why he does not "support the troops". If that column is the whole text of this matter, then Ben Stein seriously misunderstands his point. Joel Stein does not criticize American soldiers. The war is not the troops' fault; it is the fault of American voters. People who "oppose the war but support the troops"-- for Stein that is a logical impossibility. If you support the troops, you support what they are doing. It negates any political attempt you might make to actually end the war. Your hypocritical sentimentality prolongs the pointless death and disfigurement of war.

The troops are merely doing their jobs. They should get all the human support they need, as human beings, when they return from the war. But, Stein says, "Please, no parades. It seems that what Americans learned from Vietnam is not that we should avoid conflicts in which we have no pressing national interests, but that we should be sure to throw a parade afterwards."

I agree with his reasoning. Our human regard for our own countrymen who loyally serve in uniform, we should not allow that regard to inhibit our political debate about the wisdom of the war itself. We owe it to the troops to conduct our political discourse with rational integrity.

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