Editor,

After listening to the media one more time about the war in Iraq and the President’s high disapproval rating I could not take it anymore.

To those of you who are bashing our President, I do not want to hear your angry tirades anymore. I guess you could say I am more disgusted with the fact that there are so many people who allow their personal opinions to be shaped by the media. Are you aware that each news source has its own agenda, have their own political viewpoints, and more often than not, slant the news in the way in which they wish the public’s opinion to sway? Fair and balanced news in America, oh how I wish it were.

To those who are against the war: How many of you personally are military or war strategists? How many of you have top security clearance and access to military intelligence or international surveillance capability? I didn’t think so. Yet, there are so many naysayers who don’t have all the insight, intelligence, information access, or wisdom to make decisions on how to best ensure our national security, or even have the knowledge of how to run or strategize a war, so vastly different and complicated as we face today. John Q. Public is speaking as though they were experts on how to solve the problems we are facing in our country today. Yet many of them do not have the in-depth knowledge to make such decisions.

The truth is, no one likes war, but there are times and under certain circumstances that war is necessary. No one enjoys seeing our men and women leave for such dangerous duty, but for most they are proud to be serving our country and protecting the freedoms we so cherish here. My nephew has just enlisted and instead of discouraging him in his decision to serve, I am telling him that I am proud of him for making such a courageous decision. Yes, I will say it again. There are times when war is absolutely necessary.

I know my limitations. I am not privy to national security or secret intelligence reports. I am not at all informed in international surveillance. I am a citizen who believes that there are things that we do not know, and that there are others in places of decision who have access to such sensitive information, and they, not I, must make the decisions necessary, although at times unpleasant, to protect our country from those whose only wish is to destroy us.

We are facing a very complicated and dangerous threat to our country, terrorism on scales we have never seen before, at any time in history. I choose to stand with my President, however unpopular, trusting that he is making informed decisions to best secure our country for the future.

For the rest of us, I believe our energy would be best used praying for our leaders and supporting our troops, who have chosen to lay their lives down so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms. Let’s stop bashing and start praying.

May God bless America.

Joan Moore

Naples