This Kerry Voter Gets It

From the Boston Globe's Letters to the Editor (emphasis mine):

Kerry voter shocked by columnist

February 3, 2005

AS A political moderate who voted for Kerry, I was shocked by the anger and confusion that characterized James Carroll's reaction to the apparently successful Iraqi election ("Train wreck of an election," op ed, Feb. 1).

Carroll would have us believe that Iraq was better off under Saddam, that its liberation was a humiliation, that Islamic hatred of the West is justified, that America's military is emasculated, and that the administration wants to keep troops in Iraq indefinitely. All wrong.

Carroll's notion that Bush welcomes violence as a rationale for our presence is ignorant. His idea that the election is justified only if the Iraqis do what Carroll wants them to do, repudiate Washington, is arrogant.

Fortunately, in the real world, the Republicans must stand for reelection and they need to show significant progress toward disengagement before Nov. 2006. We don't have to occupy a country to buy oil from it. And the desire for freedom is a human impulse that men of all religions and nationalities share.

Why can't Carroll celebrate the courage and joy of the Iraqis? Why are so many on the left hoping for catastrophe?

MICHAEL R. YOGG
Wellesley

Here is the column Mr. Yogg is referring to. I won't dignify any of Mr. Carroll's vile rhetoric by directly quoting any of it here - linking to it is bad enough. Read at your own risk.