Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Life celebration selective

The March 15 rally was billed as the "Celebration of Life and Against War." Yet where are these marchers when there are pro-life rallies to end abortion and physician assisted suicide? I guess Saddam Hussein's life is much more important, and we should just ignore the fact that he slaughters his own people and neighbors.

Unless we remove Saddam from power, there might not be too much life to celebrate.

LAURA JENKINS

Eugene

War in an awful thing

My name is Kendall. I am a third-grader at Fox Hollow Elementary School. I think that we should not be going to war right now. War is an awful thing.

War is wrong and bad for the earth. Why do we want to hurt people in Iraq? Children like me are going to be killed for a stupid reason.

President Bush says that Saddam Hussein has terrible weapons. But won't attacking Iraq just make Saddam use them? Fighting just to get weapons is bad because some of our soldiers won't ever see their families again.

I think the nations of the world should work together and be friends. War is stupid and bad.

KENDALL SHULER

Eugene

Only police were violent

Once again, the media have seized on the chance to portray anti-war protesters as violent. I was there the entire time on March 15, and The Register-Guard's March 16 story bears little resemblance to what I saw.

Yes, a group of protesters began to move away from the rally, marching and chanting. However, that group moved only as far as the crosswalk of Seventh Avenue and High Street (Seventh between Oak and High streets was blocked off all day.) The group stayed there for a short time but then moved back to the crosswalk at Seventh and Pearl Street. The rally was still going on the entire time.

A riot team came in and called for dispersal, and all but seven people eventually moved to the sidewalk - although we could not understand why the police were bringing in a riot team to repress people for being in an area where people had been standing all day. Those seven sat down in the crosswalk and were arrested. No one charged the police; no one resisted. The police left soon after arresting these seven people, leaving the streets still blocked to traffic and the people on the sidewalks moved back into the streets.

The rally organizers had acquired a permit for that space until 5 p.m., and so I ask myself what the purpose of the police could have been other than to repress. At no point did anyone threaten person or property or step out of the permitted protest area.

The only violence was on the part of the police.

JANINE SEPULVEDA

Eugene

Why should we be reasonable?

Columnist Molly Ivins, with her witty, satirical, fact-based commentary, has inspired thoughtful discussion in coffee houses across the nation.

Much of that discussion has been about Saddam Hussein. It is evident that he poses absolutely no threat to the United States. After all, anyone who gasses and tortures his own people must be a reasonable man. Saddam only kills those in his immediate vicinity; it's not our problem. We should attack big business, which continues to steal tax breaks from those who don't pay a lot of taxes.

How could anyone even consider removing such a committed anti-American journalist as Ivins? We wouldn't want to be reasonable now, would we?

ANDREW BARTEL

Eugene

Too many eager for war

Some in our country are eager to wage war at any cost. It doesn't seem to matter that no Iraqis were involved in Sept. 11. Most were Saudi Arabians. Nor does it matter that Iraq has made no threats to our country directly. This pre-emptive war makes us look like playground bullies.

It doesn't even seem to matter that this war will cause those who hate us to retaliate at any cost. Apparently, the fact that this war will further plummet our country into economic peril does not concern war supporters. Since the majority of countries around the world strongly object to this war action, U.S. taxpayers must foot most of the bill for this costly mistake. Children suffer most from any war. Why Iraq, why now?

Companies such as Halliburton (Vice President Dick Cheney was its former CEO) and Bechtel Corporation are staged to set up in post-war Iraq. Again, the big corporations would profit and the American taxpayer would suffer. The massive loss of American jobs, the rapid downfall of the stock market, the lack of financing for education and the escalating cost of health care should have our leaders' full attention.

RITA BABAUTA KILEY

Junction City 

Few protesters disorderly

I'm so tired of standing up for peace and social justice in a rally or march and having the media portray the demonstrators as disorderly, black-clad punks. The Register-Guard's March 16 front page photo did just that. Even if the newspaper prints letters like mine from disgruntled citizens, it has still discredited the peace movement in Eugene by portraying its members as young and idealistic, anarchists or weirdos.

Those people were there, certainly, but there were many more people attending who never break the law, who shave regularly, who wear fashionable name-brand clothes, who have important jobs in the community or who are our elders.

As the United States begins its attack on Iraq, I hope The Register-Guard will do its part to actively portray the peace community as something other than just people who get arrested for blocking traffic. Besides, don't we all look back fondly at historical events like the Boston Tea Party or sit-ins during the civil rights movement? These were courageous people who stood up, together, in the face of a powerful U.S. government and said how the people had decided it was going to be.

DAVID A. NELSON

Eugene

Real patriots ask questions

It is strange to me how the word "patriotism," which in its most basic usage means a love of one's country, has become synonymous with a blind obedience to the government. Perhaps this would be patriotic if we lived in a dictatorship, since the principles of dictatorship mandate that everyone does whatever the dictator says.

The Nazis were, indeed, patriotic in this sense. But as Americans we live in a democracy founded on the principles of citizen participation in governmental affairs. Thus, to be patriotic in the United States of America one is obliged to question the government and take part in the decision making.

It seems to me, therefore, profoundly un-American and un-patriotic not to question our government, especially in a decision as profound as going to war. I think it's time we started to reclaim the words "patriot" and "American" for those to whom it belongs: the people who have struggled in word and deed to bring us the freedoms that we so cherish.

And tell those who blindly follow what their leaders say to move to Iraq, where they might feel more at home.

JOSE CHAVES

Springfield

Threats shouldn't intimidate

Attacking Iraq will cause retaliation against the United States. That's one of the refrains I'm hearing from those who advocate the use of diplomacy at any cost.

Bring that paradigm a little closer to home. Law enforcement officers hesitate or refuse to apprehend criminals because they might resist, and the criminals' friends, families or gangs would retaliate against the officers and their agencies.

This situation obviously won't work to keep the peace in your neighborhood, locally or worldwide.

PETER E. LOEWY

Eugene

Words may hurt loved ones 

On March 18 I gave blood in a room filled with people watching President Bush's speak about Iraq. To my right sat another woman who kept relatively quiet as everyone around her talked about what a huge mistake was being made by invading Iraq. I sat minding my own business, because I didn't agree with everyone else in the room. After this other woman left, I joined her in the waiting room, where another group of people were making the same kind of comments. After five grueling minutes of America-bashing, this woman stood up and said she was leaving because she "had a son in the Marines" and didn't want to hear any more.

My hope is that we support our troops overseas, because they are fighting for our freedoms and liberties. I don't necessarily agree with the decision to go to war, but I can do my part by supporting those who are defending the rights of people everywhere.

They love their country and are taking a stand for it. They do not want to kill or cause harm, but believe that everyone has a right to a free life. People have the right to voice their opinions, but they should remember that in doing so they may be hurting the feelings of someone's father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife.

I am grateful to the woman I sat next to for raising a son who is brave enough to stand up for what he believes in and is willing to risk his life so that other may express their own beliefs.

MONICA BONGIORNO

Eugene