I fail to understand the constant breast-beating by columnists Molly Ivins and Steve Hochstadt over the very inappropriate actions of some of our troops toward prisoners held in Iraq and Cuba.

The columnists are calling these actions torture, and I do agree with them that torture of any sort should not be allowed, anywhere. However, these two have not condemned the beheadings, the limb severings, the assassinations, the bombings and other acts that are practiced by the extremists. They do not account for the attacks on innocent people of other countries – in the name of their religious zealotry.

On Sept. 11, we were attacked by zealots. Do these columnists expect us to just lie down and not fight back?

Yes, some of the actions of the prison guards could be called torture, but no prisoner was stabbed, beheaded or fatally harmed, and as much as I agree that the actions of the guards should not go unpunished, let us stop torturing our minds with the idea that only we are the bad guys in the universe.

Hap Gallin, West Sumner


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