Readers write

Innocent people will die in Trump’s war

President Donald Trump’s war of choice is killing innocent people in Iran. Yes, innocent children and their mothers. Yes, innocent protesters who tried to rise up against the repressive Iranian regime, whom Trump is urging to rise up again, are getting killed by his war of choice. This is unconscionable.

Trump’s war was not authorized by Congress, as mandated by our Constitution. And the spineless congressional Republicans won’t stand up and tell him his war is illegal. This is egregious.

Trump’s flippant remark when asked about Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which killed six Americans, and whether Iran could strike on U.S. soil: “But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.” Yes, American military will die in his war of choice. And possibly Americans, including children, in the U.S. This is egregiously unconscionable.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth criticized the media for focusing too much on our six dead soldiers in an effort to make Trump “look bad” and suggested those deaths were getting disproportionate coverage. This is despicable.

In poll after poll, most Americans oppose Trump’s war of choice and his handling of it. War is, indeed, hell. There’s no glory in graves. Peace has no casualties.

KATHLEEN COLLOMB, DECATUR

Dems, take your wins and reopen the government

Take the win, Democrats! You got former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem fired, ended the surge in Minneapolis, and got agreement on body cams and increased training for ICE agents.

Declaring success is your off-ramp from your increasingly difficult position to leave the TSA and the Coast Guard unfunded during a time of war. Take the off-ramp and enjoy some positive press, unless, of course, you’re secretly hoping for a disaster to occur here in the homeland so you can blame Trump.

That may be a political game to you, but it could cost the lives of some of your constituents while you jockey for points.

WAYNE KERR, STOCKBRIDGE

Tribute to Capitol Police was long overdue

Finally, a memorial honoring the police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was installed last week at the Capitol.

There were no cameras, no ceremony and no speeches, just a long-overdue tribute to the officers.

A simple plaque now stands where those officers fought to protect Congress, the Capitol and the constitutional process.

More than 140 officers were injured. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick died the next day after confronting the attackers, and four other officers died in the months that followed after enduring the trauma of that day.