War does things to its participants
The killing of 16 innocent Afghanistan civilians, including nine children, cannot be justified.
However, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales cannot be held totally responsible.
Sgt. Bales was serving his fourth deployment to the Middle East. He had several injuries during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the loss of part of his foot and a head injury. In my mind, Sgt. Bales was a true American hero.
Sgt. Bales joined the Army right after Sep. 11, 2001, at the age of 27, to serve his country. He went way beyond the call of duty with his four deployments. He was certainly not in his right mind when he shot and killed 16 civilians. This is what war does to our brave young men and women in the military. These soldiers see their friends killed and maimed every day. This has to do something to their minds!
I read in Wednesday’s Times Free Press that the commander in Afghanistan urges the United States to stay on course in Afghanistan. Of course, Gen. Allen would say that! He is a military man and war is what he does. This war has gone on for 10 years now with no hope of ever ending. Haven’t we learned anything from Vietnam?
PAT HAGAN
Hate preventing the curing of ills
I, for one, am tired of this president being blamed for the current price of gasoline. In a New York Times article in 2005, then President George W. Bush said … “in the past 18 months gas has gone up 1.40 from 2.25 to 3.65.” Where was this Keystone Pipeline then?
And to quote another ex-president on how much a president can do to fix the economy, Jimmy Carter said … “the President’s a distant third after the Federal Reserve and the Congress.” Go figure!
There is so much hate in this country and between members of the Congress that nothing will ever be done to effectively cure the ills of this country regardless of who is president.
To quote another great American, my Granny … “we are all going to hell in a hand basket if we don’t get on our knees and pray to God to save us.”
PATSY WILLIAMS
Cherry Log, Ga.