Letters to the Editor

This generation has known no conflict

I must take issue with “A free Iraq is worth the fight.” (April 21) My main issue with this article has to do with the references to my generation.

I have to say that my generation does not know a thing about struggling, fighting or war, and my generation certainly does not know anything about casualties. Six-hundred dead, that’s nothing. I hate to sound insensitive but if you are going to talk about war 600 dead is not a big number, and many of these casualties were not even during the so-called war.

They have happened during the occupation. This country has not seen real casualties and a real war for 30 years. What we do now is not war—push this button to start war, push these buttons to continue war, push that button to end war—congratulations you won.

That’s not a war, that’s a video game. You could train a monkey to do that.

A war you fight on the ground, soldier to soldier, gun to gun, grenade stand offs, storming beaches and bunkers. My generation has never seen a war, and we certainty have not seen the consequences. You know the maimed soldiers returning, the broken families, and all the psychologically wrecked people. Also the statistic that says 57 percent of Iraqi’s believe life is better now, is that supposed to impress me? That’s barely half, and that means that a little less than half those people think things were better or the same with Saddam.

People think we are going to establish a new democratic government and everything will be fine, but it’s not going to be fine. Once that government is up, the U.S. is going to have to stick around and make sure it is not overthrown, and we are going to have to stay for a very long time.

— Brandon Hamilton