REBUTTAL

(The following letter was published in the Blade this week by one of my NWOPC comrades. He makes a good point, and I would be remiss not to run it here.)

Put Ferner's 'crime' in perspective

Mike Ferner spray-paints an anti-war message on an overpass, defacing public property. There are vilifications, indignation, shock, and awe. The public order is disturbed. Protest is one thing, but he defaced public property. How sophomoric. How inappropriate!

The Bush Administration pre-emptively attacks the sovereign nation of Iraq based upon selective and equivocal intelligence. Some 160,000 American soldiers are mired in a bloody political and factional quagmire. The liberators have become occupiers.

The United States has gained the enmity of almost a third of the planet.

Almost 2,200 American soldiers have been killed in armed conflict. Depending upon whose figures you use, 30,000 to 100,000 Iraqis have been killed. The conflict has resulted in the destruction of a considerable amount of private and public property.

Placing these crimes on the grand scale of propriety, which one tips the balance?

Which crime defaces public property, which crime defiles human beings? Which crime messes up public property, which crime destroys people's lives? Which crime deserves our attention? Which crime deserves our indignation?

You tell me. You be the judge.

STEVEN R. MILLER