“U.S. Wrestling With Prospect of Offering Olive Branch to the Taliban”

To the Editor:
Re: “U.S. Wrestling With Prospect of Offering Olive Branch to the Taliban” (news article Jan. 27):

Perhaps we are involved in a hopeless effort against such groups as the Taliban and Al Qaeda but to begin negotiations and essentially rehabilitation programs for those who have expressed such hatred for us is not only unwise but naive. Since President Barrack Obama took office on January 20th 2009 he has encouraged others in the international forms to follow his example of dealing peaceably and with tolerance with those who are both intolerable and do not understand peace. By extending an “olive branch” to those who already despise us, we appear as weak as they judge us to be. The Taliban, at least the lower tiers of the organization, are willing to kill not only themselves but innocent bystanders for their faith. They do not surrender, why we think acting peaceably toward them will engender anything but contempt is unfathomable. What happened to the will to win? A war, any war, is fought on many fronts and first of those is in the mind, second is in the heart. If we have lost both the strength of mind and heart our chances of anything good coming from this conflict are greatly decreased. These negotiations are only surrender by another means and this is a war we cannot afford to lose.

Estelle S.
Denver, Jan 29, 2010