In todays Herald Journal (9/2/06) there is a great letter to the editor from a soldier who has served in Iraq. I encourage all of you to read it.

HJ’s presidential coverage pathetic

To the editor:

Being one of the many soldiers on the front lines of the war for a more peaceful world, I am finding it hard to sleep tonight so I thought I would send you a few of my thoughts. I must say that your coverage of the president’s visit to Utah was beyond pathetic. Being deployed to the other side of the world, I subscribe to your treeless edition and was very disappointed that the only way I knew the president was in Utah was by your coverage and promotion of the “Bush Haters” protesting him. Don’t you think it would have been nice to at least include a paragraph of what the president said while in Utah? Do you really think anyone besides her parents actually gives a BEEP about what a 13-year-old girl who is skipping school thinks? I guess this would have been newsworthy to a junior high school newspaper. Knowing your history of tight budgets I guess that would explain it. My Great-Grandpa Watts used to say, “You can throw The Herald Journal in the air and read all the news in it before it hits the ground.” Well, 37 years later not much has changed.

I actually had to go to the Deseret News Web site to find out the details of his visit. I am thrilled by the protestors exercising their rights which my comrades and I defend. Yet I am very disheartened by their lack of understanding of the big picture of what the world would be like if we were not combating those who wish to kill us, and our families, so they can get their virgins in heaven. Also disappointing, yet expected, was how your coverage glamorized the lunacy that follows those with such short-sighted views. I am left trying to figure out what is your real agenda. Two weeks ago, I was at the Ramstein Germany hospital accompanying a fellow soldier who had a minor problem. Sitting next to me was a Marine who obviously needed to be seen much worse than my friend. A hospital rep came out and started handing everyone a check for $200 so we could go buy some clothes. When he held out the check to the Marine, the Marine told him to keep his BEEP money; he just wanted to get back to Iraq with his buddies. This resulted in all of the soldiers refusing to take the money. Just remember and know that the soldiers know and understand first-hand what is at stake. That 13-year-old girl you so aptly quoted would be getting beaten with sticks and shoved under a Burka if she lived in this part of the world and opened her mouth. Maybe you should think about that next time you want to dog the president and make a hero out of Rocky and his sheep. I hope you enjoy your nice, comfortable bed with your family tonight. It is because of courageous men like our president and the tens of thousands of brave young men and women on the front lines that our way of life and your right to protest may endure a few more years. If Rocky had his way we would all be reading the Koran soon. But then again, what’s religion got to do with it?

Mike Watts

Hyde Park