I read Marianna Tziantzi’s commentary “A War Veteran at 22” (January 22) on America’s War on Terror in Iraq. Although her article seems typical of a left-slanting anti-American view, I wonder how we can take her seriously if she cannot portray basic details accurately.

She refers to Alexis Papachelas’s TV documentary, saying most US soldiers drafted into the US Army come from the poorest parts of the country. This is indicative of the typical “copy and paste” Michael Moore mentality the mainstream media has today. First of all, the USA has not conscripted troops into its armed forces for almost 30 years, and we currently have no draft. Furthermore, when these troops were asked whether they would go back to Iraq, she seems surprised that the young American hero would want to go back to the war zone. America is a free country based in part on the sacrifices of our young men and women in military uniform and I’m very proud that people like them are willing to risk their lives for my freedom.

If Ms Tziantzi is so concerned with deaths, maybe she should recall the Greek Civil War when Greeks were killing Greeks and the death rate was significantly higher than that now in Iraq.

RALPH LANDRY, Argyroupolis.