I write as a private citizen with no party agenda. I read with great interest the David Woodward column of itemized statements of persons saying what they believed at that moment.
We all speak; sometimes truthfully, sometimes not. History will prove us right or wrong. To hold everyone to a statement made without taking into consideration that "a wise man changes his mind -- a foolish man never will," would keep us in a vacuum that never changes.
This could not be a fact of life. A mindset of that sort would be like saying that we will be at 45 what we are at 18, and that would be another scary thought.
We went into Iraq under false pretenses, to remove the weapons of mass destruction. Since we discovered they were not there, we should have left immediately.
We would have avoided the 3,332 deaths of our sons and daughters; also the 144 from the United Kingdom and 124 from other countries. We would have avoided the 24,314 wounded Americans in our hospitals and the 1,000-plus more who have come home with mental problems because their situations were more unbearable than we can imagine.
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So far, the death toll of Iraqi citizens is between 60,490 and 66,230 -- no one may ever know for certain the actual number. So, we have annihilated as many Iraqi citizens as we did Japanese in the atomic blast of Hiroshima.
I must speak out against the war, for by seeming to approve of what our country is doing, I must take the blame for these lives lost upon my shoulders, also. It's time to go. We belatedly say "better late than never;" well, never is looming ever closer in this catastrophe. Very sincerely
-- Jean Johnson, Callaway
