A shameful twisting of tragedy

Regarding “Where did all the rhetoric go,” by Lolita Harper, Monday.

The Daily Pilot should be ashamed for running Lolita Harper’s

column that uses the tragic death of Marine Jose Garibay to further

Harper’s apparent agenda of excusing illegal immigration.

When Harper called me, a private citizen -- not a public figure or

a politician -- asking for comments on this tragedy, I repeatedly

told her that I did not want to comment.

When she persisted, I told her that if the Daily Pilot absolutely

had to have my comments about something that I did not want to

comment on, that I would write a column, for which the Pilot could

pay me. After all, the Pilot pays Harper for writing her thoughts,

which mostly seem to be about Harper herself.

Since I did not comment, Harper chose instead to pick and choose

from the millions of words I have written over the years, in

thousands of essays, letters, books, columns and articles, in order

to try to generate some controversy. She then quoted, out of context,

a few words from one of my essays written a couple of years ago,

which has nothing to do with the supposed subject of her column.

The particular essay that she quoted from dealt with genocide and

declining birth rates. If readers wish to read the entire essay, they

may find it through an Internet search.

If readers are interested in other of my thoughts on a wide

variety of subjects from A to Z, including the war in Iraq, they may

also find essays on these subjects via an Internet search. And if

your readers absolutely can’t exist without reading what I think,

they may purchase copies of my books at their local book stores or

over the Internet. As with most writers, I write to be read.

Now, back to the nub of this matter. Here are some views from a

Latino about the deaths of illegal aliens in Iraq. This is from an

Associated Press story on March 27, headlined “An antiwar Latino

group wants end to recruiting of young Latinos.”

Carlos Montes, who heads Latinos Against the War in Iraq, tells

the AP that the Army and the Marines use young Latinos as “cannon

fodder” and that they pressure young Latinos in areas such as East

L.A. to join, knowing they have few attractive options following high

school. Montes contends that the death of Los Angeles Marine Jose

Gutierrez, killed in Iraq, is an example of how the military talks

undocumented youngsters into signing up by promising citizenship and

money for college.

I suggest that Harper go get comments from Montes.

Finally, Harper calls her column “Thinking Allowed.” However, her

present column is a cynical and unthinking attempt to capitalize on

the tragic death of a young man and to create controversy. This can

only be hurtful to the next of kin of the young Marine who was

killed.

I would say to all my fellow Marines, in uniform and out, and to

the next of kin of those who have died, something Harper may never

understand: Semper Fi.

Shame on Harper and shame on the Daily Pilot for using a family’s

personal tragedy this way.

MARTIN MILLARD

Costa Mesa