OK to question wars

While Rusty Nelson (Oct. 31) veers left, into the pacifist ditch, William Benson’s response (Nov. 11) swerves rightward, into the ditch of U.S. military interventionism.

Benson falsely appeals to our natural inclination to honor vets. His quip, “If you won’t stand behind our veterans, stand in front of them,” implies that every military conflict America has embarked upon must be just, because … well, “the vets.”

Question American foreign policy and you’re hating on the vets, or ignoring the fact that there are evil men in the world who seek to harm us. Nonsense, all.

As a former U.S. Air Force jet mechanic (1980-1983), I once intended to encourage my three sons also to enlist – only in the Marines or Army – in order to learn both a marketable skill and how to fight, something that the USAF only sent the officers to do.

But 9/11 changed everything. After watching U.S. leaders lie us into Iraq, I started counseling my sons not to enlist at all. I couldn’t bear the possibility of their dying – or even fighting – in an illegal war, launched for the purpose of promoting U.S. foreign policy.

The best way to honor our vets is to stop ordering them into unjust wars.

Frank Golubski

Spokane Valley