I would like to take issue with Jerry Thompson’s conclusion that “only by some demented stretch of logic can one claim to be for troops and against the policy of war in the Middle East” (Feb. 4, “A pox on ‘cheerleaders'”).

It seems to me, rather than providing a basis criticizing such a position, Thompson’s own arguments compel him to take exactly this position.

Thompson bases his support for American policy (and his disdain for war protesters) to a great extent on a number of acts he attributes to Saddam Hussein, which Thompson relates by telling us: “Remember he’s the guy who … “

1. … invades his neighbors when the leaders of his neighboring countries do things that hurt the people and the economy of his own land,

2. defies the United Nations when it is not in his own or his nation’s interest to comply with mandates of the United Nations,

3. bombs countries that offend him and defy his demands and

4. leads an army bent on killing as many of his enemy’s troops as he can.

It is apparent, however, that each of the above statements also describes how George Bush and other recent U.S. presidents have been running our own foreign policy (e.g., Nicaragua, Panama, etc.).

Hence, it follows, if these observations have led Thompson to advocate war against Iraq, they also must lead him to advocate war against the United States or at least a U.N. embargo of the United States as well as Iraq.

Now, I doubt Thompson really wants to see either a U.N. embargo or a war against the United States. Yet, I presume he still supports our men and women who are fighting in the Middle East.

Hence, I must conclude that Thompson has himself come to the position of supporting the troops but not the policy (even though he may not have recognized it at the time he wrote his column).

If this is the case, I would think, far from continuing to criticize those who he describes as a “motley crew” of protesters, Thompson will soon be joining them to lend support for our troops by encouraging our government to stop the war and return to more reasonable and more effective alternatives for solving international conflicts.

Robert W. Suchner

Associate Professor

Sociology