Calls for peace simplistic

Rusty Nelson (“Peace is the vets’ friend” – Oct. 31) and his Spokane Veterans for Peace fail to grasp a basic premise: There are evil forces in this world that would threaten the existence of this nation and its people. These people have little regard for our manner of society, political system or nature of our national character. They would do us harm simply because we exist.

To prevent this, we have soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines tasked with learning very violent and lethal skills combined with a stringent set of ethics and a moral code, both highly regimented and specifically designed to prevent the transition from professional guardians of the republic to mindless killing machine.

Nelson has forgotten two fundamental truths:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” said Edmund Burke; and, “Those who ‘abjure’ violence can do so only because others are committing violence on their behalf,” said George Orwell.

If you cannot stand behind our veterans, feel free to stand in front of them.

William Benson

Rockford