I was pleased to see a fellow Vietnam combatant step up to the firing line and take some flak from our fearless White House regime. However, I was displeased to see our obstinate Commander in Chief resort to the same trite rationale that I heard in Vietnam.

Our fighter squadron was ordered to napalm residents in North Vietnam that possessed little indoor plumbing and fewer vehicles because they were a dire threat to our way of life. Now another Third World country is a dreadful menace to our country and our defiant National Command Authorities are again playing the same dog-eared “patriot card.” The American public has to listen to the same worn rhetoric about “staying the course” that we heard for seven years during another asinine war.

It makes me disheartened to realize that I fought for and defended this country for 25 years so another Commander in Chief from Texas could “not cut and run” for an untold number of years. It is interesting to note that our bravest, loudest and most patriotic White House bureaucrats have never fought for their country. I am very proud that Rep. John Murtha, former Marine Colonel, had the guts to speak out for our brave troops in Iraq.

Lt. Co. Val R. Johnson, USAF (Ret.)

Anacortes