To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the letter posted on the 17th of November by Mr. Frank Heinrich opposing all wars, past, present, and future. I do agree with Mr. Heinrich on the fact that wars are very expensive, and that humanity does suffer, yet I believe that there will never be a utopia free of madmen whose crimes against humanity must be halted.

If 15% spoke out against the revolution, we would still be subjects of the Crown. If 15% spoke out against the Civil War, we would still be a divided nation of sharecroppers and slave owners. In both World Wars, our quiescence would have left us in a devastating state of isolation in which the European/World economy would have been in total ruins at the hands of people such as Stalin, Hitler, and other “modern, forward thinking” individuals. On the Korean Peninsula, the UN would have been stretched to the breaking point in an attempt to halt the spread of communism, and if they would have failed, the whole of Korea would currently be under the living conditions that the North are currently enjoying. As for the Vietnam Debacle; Politically, “sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions” to coin a phrase. In 1990, 15% of the American population could have turned the entire Arabian Peninsula into Saddams’ playground, and the world has seen what he can do to a place. (Kuwait, the Kurds, etc.)

Unfortunately, the entire world economy is closely tied to the production of oil, and the planet cannot afford a gallon of gas at $8.59 or so. I just recently returned from Iraq, and I wish that 15% of the population could have their hands and faces kissed by joyous Iraqis, or gaze into the unearthed mass graves of untold thousands of earthlings whom Saddam found to be undesirable. Or perhaps visit the Terrorist training camps we have discovered, or the special places (prisons and camps) where the Iraqis (whole families sometimes) went to be tortured, raped, mutilated, discarded. Those are things you don’t see on the mainstream media. I had the pleasure of staying at one of Saddam's Palaces just outside of Baghdad and the Airport. There were marble and crystal as for as the eye could see. The cost of the palace and grounds had to be in the tens of millions, all of which were probably paid for by oil for food dollars. Yet 100 yards from the outer perimeter, his subjects lived in abject squalor, in cinder block shacks with no power or plumbing.

Quite often Mr. Heinrich, the price of peace is much greater than the price of war; not so much for the average American Citizen, but for the world at large. Regional stability has Global implications, (viz. The Holocaust) and as we stick our collective military noses into other Nations' problems, the Greater Good is almost always the driving motivation. (viz. Genocide in Sierra Leone, The Balkans, etc.) As a Soldier, child of God, and Freemason, I am driven towards acts of philanthropy and altruism to aid and assist all who may be in need. That applies not only within the great community of Sierra Vista, but throughout the world which we all share. I Pray not only for peace, but for freedom and justice, for the organization in which I am proud to serve in is the Governmental purveyor of these fleeting, yet solid entities.

In closing, if you had posted your letter publicly in the places where we go to fight, you and your family would have faced dire, if not the ultimate consequence. Honor your country, pray for world peace, and open your eyes to the world at large, not just here at home.

Rick Parks