Editor, the News-Herald:

Please help me out, here. I realize that the editors, the powers that be, at the Suffolk News-Herald hate George W. Bush, and delight in printing anything that will make him look bad, but do you really hate America so much that you bally-hoo someone who actually hates our country and has said as much?

You have run several editorial cartoons lionizing that supposed grieving mother, Cindy Sheehan. You have depicted her as someone who is standing up to a supposedly cowardly president, and then did an article, supposedly getting Suffolk residents’ opinions on her actions. (The article was ‘even-handed,’ in that it was approximately 50-50 in support vs. opposition. I do not believe that 50 percent of Suffolk would support her actions.)

But given Mrs. Sheehan’s past comments and activities, I wonder about the judgment and/or loyalties of the editorial board of the Suffolk News-Herald.

At an Apr. 27, 2005, meeting at San Francisco State University, for lawyer-terrorist Lynne Stewart, Cindy Sheehan had these things to say:

&uot;America has been killing people on this continent since it was started. This country is not worth dying for.&uot;

&uot;America has been killing people, since we first stepped on this continent.&uot;

&uot;We are waging a nuclear war in Iraq right now. That country is contaminated. It will be contaminated for practically eternity now.&uot; (Please, someone tell me when we dropped an A-bomb on Iraq.)

By the way, this meeting she spoke at was sponsored by International Socialist Organization student group at San Francisco State University. This is from their webpage:

&uot;Revolution Not Reform

Reforms within the capitalist system cannot put an end to oppression and exploitation. Capitalism must be overthrown.&uot;

This is who Cindy Sheehan represents now.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Mrs. Sheehan doesn’t feel that the people who killed her son, an American soldier, are terrorists. Earlier this month, she was interviewed by CBS news reporter Mark Knoller. In a portion that didn’t get aired by CBS (big surprise) but has just been leaked, this exchange took place:

KNOLLER: You know that the president says Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism, don’t you believe that?

SHEEHAN: No, because it’s not true. You know Iraq was no threat to the United States of America until we invaded. I mean they’re not even a threat to the United States of America. Iraq was not involved in 9-11, Iraq was not a terrorist state. But now that we have decimated the country, the borders are open, freedom fighters from other countries are going in,…

Did you get that? Those people who are killing our soldiers, our sons and daughters, who are killing hundreds of Iraqis, are not terrorists, but freedom fighters

So, again I put this question to you, Mr. Prutsok et. al., do you hate our president so much that you are willing to align yourself with someone who has embraced those who hate our country, who call for revolution, and those who kill our soldiers?

Chuck Fisher

Suffolk