Praying for Peace 1/31/2003

2723 Gallivan Loop

Park City, Utah 84060

January 31, 2003

To the Editor

The Park Record

P. O. Box 3688

Park City, Utah 84060

Dear Sirs:

Praying For Peace

I applaud the patriotic citizens of Park City who made their voices heard in a protest against war, standing on the corners of Park City in spite of the weather. It is a blessed freedom given to us by God, as intimated by President Bush in his State of the Union address.

I also applaud those patriotic citizens who are willing to stake their lives and fortunes to protect us from the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) by those who would destroy America if they could. After 9/11 can anyone honestly doubt that there are other terrorists who would willingly attach themselves to the WMD’s, giving their lives to kill thousands of Americans?

The underlying reason for attacking Iraq, if it should become necessary, is to prevent WMD’s from reaching willing hands. Unseating Saddam is the route to that end, not the principal end itself. Perhaps a more “moral” way will yet turn up through pressure from other dictators in neighboring countries, that will cause Saddam to be deposed in one way or another. Perhaps in due course “he may be converted and LIVE”, as our highly respected clergyman so earnestly postulates. In the meantime I believe our elected leaders have a great moral obligation to act before it is too late.

Now for some spin on the world situation, particularly the potential war with Iraq. We are all entitled to "spin". Goodness knows it bombards us all the time. That is one of the benefits of a free society. I am afraid that there are many people in other nations that do not

understand this freedom that we have and think that the anti-war demonstrations in our country prove that we will not go to war regardless of reason. There seems to me still to be a chance that Saddam will step down but my “spin” is that all the anti-war demonstrations in this country have augmented similar outcries against the US in countries around the world--people who do not understand the freedom to protest in this country and think that our demonstrations reflect the majority opinion here and will cause us to back down. To my mind there is a bit of unintentional "aiding and abetting" the enemy in all this that has very likely prevented Saddam from yielding so far. Let's hope and pray he may still give in.