A response to Thomas Sowell

To the Editor:

When you read the articles by Thomas Sowell, two facts become obvious; he absolutely hates Barack Obama and he will publish and embellish any lie he finds or can create that he thinks will discredit our president.

Consider his recent article entitled, “Libya and Lies” (West Newsmagazine, Nov. 7). Sowell dedicates the first half of his article to repeating the lies of the far right wing that are heavy with wild accusations and very light in fact. I need not repeat all his lies. I only ask that, as the facts come out in the next few months, the readers of West Newsmagazine take the time to compare the facts with the lies of Sowell and the far right wing.

The deaths of our personnel in Libya were not even known when the far right began its attacks on the Obama administration. With no facts about the timing and level of response, with no knowledge of the options for response and the risks of additional deaths, these uninformed idiots did everything they could think of to belittle the very people most capable and eager to thoughtfully respond.

Soon the truth will be known and revealed. If there is blame to be levied, it will be. If corrective action is required, it will be expeditiously done. When the facts are known, I think reasonable people will agree – Thomas Sowell and his likes are making a living generating hate.

Sowell goes on in his article to suggest that the reason for “hiding” the truth about the Libya attack was to hide the reality that Obama seeks to bring anti-Western Islamic extremists to power in Egypt and Libya. That is a lie and Sowell knows it is.

He goes on to criticize the praise given to the president for the operation that ended in killing Osama bin Laden. He does this in spite of the credit given to the president by every single person actually involved (the seals who conducted the attack, their commander who designed the attack, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretaries of Defense and State.

But Sowell asks, “After bin Laden was located, why would any president not give the go-ahead to get him?”

Think about that statement folks and you begin to understand Sowell’s lack of knowledge and eagerness to attack President Obama.

There was no guarantee that bin Laden would actually be in the targeted house at the time of the attack. The attack could not be coordinated with the government, military or intelligence of the country where bin Laden had been tracked. If revealed, that country could have allowed bin Laden to escape, could have forbidden the attack, could have dispatched their forces to stop the attack. A drone attack could have failed or caused extensive collateral deaths.

Many things could have gone wrong. There were many unknowns that could have resulted in the death or capture of our brave men who respond to the order to attack. There were mixed opinions expressed by those who were consulted. All agreed that it was a very tough decision to make, a decision that our president alone could ultimately make and be reasonable for.

Thank God the decision was right and the operation was a success.

And, contrary to the remarks of Sowell and the far right, the president has consistently given the credit to our brave military.

Had the operation failed, Thomas Sowell and the far right would have leaped at the opportunity to discredit our president just as they are trying to discredit him for the tragedy in Libya, the bailout of the auto industry, the slow but steady recovery of the economy and anything else they can twist with their lies.

I hope most of the readers of West Newsmagazine can see through this hate. We have a hard road, but worthy goal ahead of us.

If people like Thomas Sowell and Rush Limbaugh seek to gain their fortune with hateful lies, let them do so in the dust we leave behind.

John F. Doolittle

Grover