Dear Editor

An editorial writer from Granite Falls, seems to have successfully
defeated his own straw-man arguments.  Sadly, he conveniently forgets
the history of Democrat involvement in past wars and the outrageous loss
of American lives that they must be held accountable for.

The Korean War cost 34,000 American lives because Democrats allowed the
Chinese Communists to have free rein.  The Democrats snatched defeat
from the jaws of victory and pulled the rug from under Gen.  MacArthur,
eventually allowing nuclear weapons to exist in North Korea to this very
day.  We still have 30,000 troops stationed there because President
Truman and his Democrat cadre refused to allow the war to be won.

President Kennedy, promised to support Cubans who sought to retake their
country from the Communists but treacherously removed air support and
allowed Castro to crush the Bay of Pigs freedom fighters.  The contrived
"missile crisis" eventually gave Castro a guarantee that we would never
invade.  And now we have a Communist Cuba to this very day.

The blood bath that was Viet Nam claimed over 58,000 American lives
because two Democrat administrations refused to allow the war to be won.
We allowed the Communists to claim the entire country and finally left
in unmitigated disgrace.  Meanwhile, the USA became inundated with a
million and a half freedom-seeking refugees.

And now, because of infiltration by radical Islamic fascists, we are
forced to fight an asymmetrical war where civilians and enemy are
impossible to distinguish.  We have lost nearly 4,000 brave men and
women in a war that was originally waged to rescue a nation from a
brutal tyrant.  In spite of the Democrat desire to prematurely surrender
and employ their philosophy of "cut and run," the current administration
is determined to win this war and bring the troops home under honorable
circumstances, not leaving Iraqis behind to be slaughtered by al-Qaida.

The gentleman from Granite Falls may or may not approve of the
traitorous title the Democrat's gave to General Petraeus, but patriotic
Americans don't.  Their goal of cutting off funds for the support of our
troops and the enforcement an artificial timetable for troop withdrawal
is part and parcel of the Democrat's perfidious surrender strategy.

Finally, our Caldwell County writer says, "The majority of Iraqi Kurds,
Shiites and Sunnis want us out of their country."  He failed to respond
to whether al-Qaida also wants us out of Iraq?  Do these same terrorists
who attacked us on 9/11 also want us to remove our troops from Iraq and
Afghanistan?  And, pray tell, what political party would they support if
they could vote in American elections?

Derick S. Hartshorn
Conover, NC