On Memorial Day, you had “Faces of the Fallen” written boldly on the front page. Fallen is such a lame way to describe the unfortunate dead victims of our unnecessary invasion of a defenseless, sovereign country.

Here’s another unappetizing opinion which I consider fact: These brave young patriots were killed by Dick Cheney, George Bush, John Bolton, Colin Powell, Bill Kristol, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice and every cowardly congressman and -woman who supported going to war with Iraq.

Fallen? No! If you fall, you get back up! They are dead! And they’re never coming back.

I salute and mourn every soldier who served and died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I thank and admire the ones who came back. Fallen? Come on, get real. Shame on The Spokesman-Review for sugarcoating such a horrific war crime.

Stanley R. Carpenter

Spokane Valley