A Letter on West

The following letter appeared in the local paper and stands by itself pretty well I think. By today's politically correct incoherence, if we had captured Hitler in WWII we would not have been allowed to call him names for fear of hurting his feelings and stunting his ability to be considered for a chair of "Peace Studies" at Harvard. I'll stop before I tell you what I really think.

West's tactics are justified
By Stanley Kass

This letter concerns a tragedy called Lt. Col. Allan West. I was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, WWII. After the jump in Normandy, the Germans we captured were reluctant to give us any information, even with intense questioning.

And, being GIs we could understand why. To get them talking, we had to use extraordinary measures.

I don't intend to discuss what we had to do, but it wasn't easy to watch. They talked.

Such is the case of Lt. Col. West, who was questioning an Iraqi policeman who knew quite a bit about the terrorist situation but would not talk. West knew he had to create a situation to force the issue. He fired a shot over the policeman's head, which was enough to get him to talk.

He eventually learned enough where he knew it would save American lives. Because of the shot he fired in the air, it is said that he may be court martialed.

I wish the best for his family for what they are going through.

Stanley Kass,
Fort Collins