The assassination of the Iranian general opens our country to a threat

Now Americans are more at risk

Iran vows revenge | Jan. 4

The assassination of the Iranian general was wrong for many reasons, and it has opened our country to an existential threat. Unlike Osama bin Laden, the general was a citizen of a sovereign nation operating in the open in a third country, not a non-state terrorist in hiding.

In killing the general, we said grace over the right of any sovereign nation to kill our citizens anywhere. American citizens, tourists, business people and soldiers across the world are now exposed to revenge attacks. We have more to lose than Iran and are more widely exposed. Iraq is in an unbalanced condition, with violent street demonstrations and an unpopular leadership. We have spent our treasure and blood to invade and stabilize Iraq and now appear to want to throw that away.

When Iran inevitably retaliates, our volatile president will be tempted, in an election year, to escalate the conflict. War is just a few car bombings away.

Marshall Craig, St. Petersburg

Trump never gets credit

Iran vows revenge | Jan. 4

Let’s see if we have this right. President Donald Trump gets word that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani is going to perform a strike that will kill many Americans. So our president orders a preemptive strike and takes out this assassin, who has killed thousands over the years. Instead of giving the president some credit for potentially saving American lives, he is criticized by the left for being provocative and leading us into war. No matter what this president does, he is criticized by the left.

Can you imagine the furor that would take place if he had said, no, let’s see what Soleimani does, and he killed several or perhaps hundreds of civilians and soldiers?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to think our response was not a proportionate one. How many more Americans would have to be killed before it becomes proportionate?

Charles Salzmann, New Port Richey

Young people oppose war

Iran vows revenge | Jan. 4

President Donald Trump lacks support for any war he wants to wage, especially among our nation’s young people. For hundreds of years, young people have dissented from older generations on many ideological issues, but none have been so pertinent as the distinction in age between supporters and opponents of war.

Today’s young people are different. We tend to reject the idea of organized violence and war of any kind just like those who came before us. But our voice, our rebellion, is louder than your authority. While the United States continues to find money for violence, our poorly funded schools still educate us about American history. We are able to pick out patterns in wars which we were never able to see, and we realize that time and time again, America’s young people are ignored, sent to war and killed. That pattern can end, and it will end when teenagers and young adults like myself find the pattern and choose to eliminate it.

I will not be used as a bargaining chip for your political goals when peace is attainable without violence. I will not fight for the greater good when the greater good doesn’t value its veterans when they return from a meaningless war. And I will not join my country’s military to serve in a foreign war when my president refused to do the same.

Corey Nelson, Plant City

Don’t mix church, politics

Florida church to host Trump rally | Jan. 3

Do not trust a politician who tells you how to pray or a church that tells you how to vote.

Sandra Potter, Spring Hill