Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Dana Rohbacher's Letter To The Editor...

http://m.washingtonpost.com/opinions/engaging-russia-the-enemy-of-our-enemy/2013/06/11/4b219fd2-d1fc-11e2-9577-df9f1c3348f5_story.html

One can only assume based on the June 4 editorial “Our ‘friends’ in Moscow?,” that The Post’s editorial board doesn’t believe radical Islam is at our throats or at the throats of the Russian people. History suggests, and the future will confirm, that The Post is wrong.

Radical Islamic terrorists continue to commit acts of mayhem and murder against the people of the Western world, including the people of Russia. But The Post nonetheless portrayed my call for closer cooperation with Russia as accepting Russia’s human rights abuses. That is not the case. I suggest that magnifying Russian government transgressions distorts the greater picture of what is happening in that part of the world.

In contrast to my modest desire not to demonize and isolate Russian leaders, U.S. leaders wine and dine the tyrannical Chinese Communist Party bosses and pay homage to terrorist-supporting elites in countries like Saudi Arabia.

I’ll let the American people, who have been victimized at the hands of radical Islamists, decide whether it is naive of me not to hammer the enemy of my enemy. This doesn’t excuse human rights abuses in Russia, but rather recognizes the need for a working alliance if tragedies like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the attack at the Boston Marathon are to be prevented.

Dana Rohrabacher, Washington

The writer, a Republican, represents California’s 46th District in the House.