LETTER: Democracy doesn’t come at the end of a gun

When will we learn? We cannot force democracy onto people at the point of a gun — Vietnam, our adventures in South America and other countries and now Afghanistan.

Because of the 2,977 people killed and more than 6,000 wounded in the United States on 9/11 by 16 nonaligned terrorists, we violated other countries’ sovereignty, invading some, deposing leaders and occupying them. In Afghanistan alone, about 71,000 civilians have been killed. What right did we have to do this? To fight terrorism far from our shores? To keep this country safe?

These actions are not in line with our country’s values, at least as we mouth them. Our deeds show our true values to be domination and occupation instead of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all. To quote Walt Kelly of Pogo fame “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Let’s learn from our experiences and lead through example by following our better values.