More than two hundred years ago this country decided it had had enough of the heavy handed tactics of the ruling country and take action. However, among the residents there were a group that chose to stand with the status quo. They were the loyalists and the revolutionary war became a sort of de facto civil war with the loyalist eventually being driven out, many to Canada.

Many of us understand the difficulty of the Navy moving away. We advocate that the U.S. includes the community as well as the ME of the military. We are all impacted and insist that the military acknowledge that fact and try to understand and accommodate our position. Become a partner not a dictator. Put our interests on par with your own perceived interests (we disagree that your interests are always our interests and history has proven our side).

As an Iranian/American I can personally proclaim that most Iranians envy the right of our citizens to protest. Look to the totalitarian countries and see what happens when one loses their ability to air their grievances. Look to those countries to see the result of letting fear take over their lives. The whole idea of freedom demands that we be able to make decisions for ourselves and not let others do it for us. When the military/governmental forces take over the decision process we get a totalitarian society. Furthermore, I would add, some of the letter writers seem to not understand how a democratic society works nor the aspirations of those people living under a totalitarian regime.

Parvin Baharloo

Lopez Island