The Gulf War Demonstrations and Their Impact on the Troops

In the Jan. 23 coverage of anti-war rallies (“Crowd at Pro-War Rally Hears Bad News: Missiles Hit Tel Aviv”), you quoted a 45-year-old professor at UC Irvine who stated, “It is very important to discourage the troops and demoralize the troops.”

This is the first comment of an “anti-war” protester that truthfully states the anti-war position--which is to discourage and demoralize our troops.

Comments like this from an apparent leader of the anti-war protest drive nails into the coffins of innocent troops in the Middle East who joined the military to protect freedom for all human beings. John Rowe, the English professor, has the ability to say what he said precisely because of troops like ours in the Middle East.

It is imperative for military success to keep up the troops’ morale. Each soldier’s life and the life of the soldier next to him depends on the execution of his job. If soldiers become discouraged and demoralized, the likelihood of their death and the deaths of their fellow soldiers amplifies.

GREGORY SEQUIN, Irvine