Why didn't you give the real numbers on the protestesters. There were over 100 people speaking out for peace and only 7 anti-peace protesters. Why are you biased?

I am so proud to hear of the anti war demonstration in ludington. We summer there every year and we share the sentiments. Listen to the people. Go Ludington!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In response to the protest sign featured on front page.Consider how many people have died because the Clinton Administration covered up the truth concerning involvment of middle east terrorist behind the Oklahoma City bombing and the downing of TWA 8OO FLIGHT. By the way the Russians helped IRAQ relocate all their WMD WEAPONS with trucks.One source that people can obtain if they are serious about doing their homework is to read "THE NEXT WORLD WAR" BY Grant Jefferey. What if Clinton had taken appropiate action following the 1993 TRADE CENTER bombing---maybe we would not have had the attack on 9/11 Tim

No one likes war, war brings death, but it also brings change. I have a blog in which I keep contact with several soldiers in Iraq, who want to stay until their job is done. They see the poverty and filth that the people lived in under Saddam's rule. They see children begging for food. They have clean water, new schools, young girls attending who weren't allowed an education before. People happy to embrace them, not all want us gone. Since we have been there, there are alot of changes for the good, even though the war goes on. The news doesn't report all the good things our troops have done, nor that most of the problems we are facing there are caused by insurgents from other countries. One soldier told me "I would rather fight them here, then have them come to us."

I understand that in America today that it has become trendy to protest the war in Iraq. However, I ask what is the vested interest of these protestors? My guess is that they don’t have one, other than just to protest. How many of them were there? How many of those were forced to go? How many have loved ones there? I would venture to guess probably none, absolutely none and very few. The one thing that has to be remembered is this is an all volunteer military. The military is only here for one reason, to fight our wars. Remember, our elected officials voted in overwhelming numbers to send us in this war. Believe me I am not a fan of this war or any other war. But sometimes it has to happen. I am not being cavalier in my statements, I was there and I was severely wounded. So I can speak with a little authority on this subject. I ask these three questions: If we leave now, what was it all for? What will happen to the people of Iraq if we leave now? How long do you think it will be before we would have to return to the Middle East to fight the next even larger war?

Had to laugh at Tim and his wife's letters, where do these two get their information? Wouldn't it have been easier to just write one?

"Mark Ward - Bear Lake Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - 7:42 AM Why didn't you give the real numbers on the protestesters. There were over 100 people speaking out for peace and only 7 anti-peace protesters. Why are you biased?" Not reporting the actual numbers is not being biased, it's just not being thorough. If we want to levy charges of biasness, why did the Daily print 5 comments anti-war and only 2 comments supporting the strategy? Furthermore, people who support the President's strategy and the war in Iraq are not "anti-peace." Some people, thankfully, in this country still believe that there are causes worth dying over. Only a naive, head-in-the-sand individual would actually believe that if we only pull all of our troops out of Iraq that terrorism against the US will stop. Those who believe that must not have a good sense of history as we've been victims of Islamic terror for the past 30 yrs simply for being an ally of Israel. As long as we continue our relationship with Israel (and I believe we should) we will be targets for Islamic terrorism world-wide. I support the troops, I support the surge, I support the war.

The song lyrics "War, what is it good for?" is not from the Temptations, but Edwin Starr. The article you wrote indicated that "Some passing drivers honked and waved their way in support of that sentiment" regarding the anti-peace protesters signs. You did not mention that many more people driving by showed their support of the peace demonstrators. It is unfortunate that the Daily News did not have a reporter in the People's Church to cover what that part of the story. The Manistee News Advocate did.

Whether you are for or against the war...that is your personal choice. But one thing that just gets on my nerves is when people confuse supporting our troops and supporting the war. The fact is, our men and women are fighting because they took an oath to protect and serve no matter what... they joined up because they WANTED to, and are doing their jobs. They have left their loved ones for extended periods of time and can't wait to come home. They have no choice in the matter. They deserve our utmost respect and our suport no matter what choices their Commander in Chief may make. God bless the USA. This war may go one for a long time...we are not necessarily fighting an enemy but a religion, and that is the hardest war to fight.

To Tim Martin: My wife's sign refers to the basis on which they have tried to impeach and what they should impeach a president on. To comment on the other posts: The reason there was more comments from more peace rally attendees rather than the folks with "support our troops" signs is there were over 100 people rallying for peace and 7 on the other side of the street. Most against the war do not support a full withdrawl of our troops, but a better strategy to let the Iraqis take control of their country. There is a great misconception that if a person does not support this war or our president they are a traitor, or do not support the troops. That is false and a baseless accusation. The Bush administration put us in this war based on lies, false information, and media spin control. My wife and I do support the troops by giving donations to various non-profit organizations that give directly to the troops. I respect a person's right to speak their mind and respect opinions based on facts, but to say someone is a traitor because they do not agree with you is ignorance.

Yesterday I spoke with my son, David Holden, who is currently serving in Iraq. He was just coming off of duty after working (he is a tank mechanic) for 26 hours because they are down 4 men right now. Does he want to be there in the sand and 120 degree heat, is he enjoying being shot at, no he does not, but he is there because he toke an oath to defend the USA and so he is there doing a job that needs to be done and rather I believe that the war is right or wrong does not matter but what does matter to me and to every other parent, spouse, bother or sister that has some one other there is that they get the support and respect that they deserve while they are over there, doing the job that no one else wants to do.