Letter writer Keith Brown created a false analogy in his attempt to caricature liberals’ support of our troops in Iraq in his June 14 letter to the editor. Brown stated: “A woman says to her husband, `Honey, you know I can’t stay at home anymore, so today I went out and got a very important job.’ The husband replies, `I love you very much, but leaving home to do that job was stupid and not a worthwhile endeavor.'”
A more accurate analogy would show the erroneous foundation of his criticism. In a true analogy, the wife would tell her husband, “Honey, my mother can’t stand the fact that I’m not helping with the family business, so she has ordered me to work on the production line 24/7. You understand, don’t you?”
To that the husband replies, “I hate how controlling your mother can be. I know you have no choice but to do what she says, and I will do all I can to support you in complying with her demands; but I am going to make my opposition known to her in the hopes she will see the error of her ways and release you from that improper assignment.”
That is an analogy that clarifies the error of the thinking of Brown and those who think support of the troops is incompatible with criticism of President Bush’s wrongheaded policy of going to war in Iraq, let alone of having had no valid follow-up plan to securing that country following a rapid defeat of Saddam Hussein’s forces.
