I am writing in regard to the letter in the paper by Daniel Coulombe (Jan. 28).

President Bush is the president; he was elected by the people. It was close, but even after the election was over and another recount was performed Bush was the winner.

He is our president and he deserves the respect of the office. He has brought no shame, like President Clinton did; he showed true feelings of emotion that were refreshing in our time of grief.

Since Sept. 11 everything has changed. We forget the terror of that day when we should not and cannot.

After that day we loved what the president did and that he said, “”if you are not with us, you are against us.””

Afghanistan is where the terror began. It is sad that war is the only way to stop this kind of behavior, but when the world is rid of these people we are going to be better off.

Since the end of the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein has agreed to disarm, get rid of the weapons of mass destruction and show proof to the world that he has done these things. Those were the terms of surrender.

We stopped the war on those promises to disarm. Iraq hasn’t disarmed; it continues to try to hide its information and weapons. Now we find out the Iraq is giving terrorists intelligence and medical care. We know Iraq is offering a $25,000 bounty on the killing of American and Israeli citizens.

When does it stop? We must act before it is too late.

Steven L. Reed, Sabattus