Cal Thomas’ column about John Kerry’s secret plan for Iraq (Aug. 6) was stunningly vacuous. Mr. Thomas tried to make the case that voters could not trust Kerry, saying, “To earn trust, one must give evidence of being trustworthy.” This is sickeningly twisted, given our current president’s truth record.

President Bush instituted the No Child Left Behind Act – then refused to fund it fully. The recent Medicare “reform” actually makes it impossible for Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. Bush had the temerity to call this debacle “the greatest advance in health coverage for America’s seniors since Medicare was founded.”

President Bush’s administration repeatedly told the American people, Congress and the world that Iraq posed an imminent and mounting threat; that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction; that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. We now know that none of those assertions are true. Lies, in plain English.

Just as an aside, lying to Congress is a felony.

On the basis of these lies, Bush took this country to war, which has, to date, cost America almost $200 billion and the lives of over 900 American soldiers.

“To earn trust, one must give evidence of being trustworthy” indeed! President Bush has betrayed America’s trust.

I’m voting for John Kerry.

Jackson W Barnett, Poland