I AGREE with the editor that the road to peace is a strong defence. As an expat American, I agree with the view that Australia was drawn into what, in hindsight, were disastrous wars.

In Iraq, we won the war and lost the peace, and in South Vietnam, like Korea, we came to the aid of a democratically elected government being invaded by Communist governments. In Vietnam the north won and is now governed by a one-party dictatorship.

We will never know what the world would have been like if we had not been involved in those wars.

How many peace activists leave their keys in the car, leave their front door unlocked or have security screens installed? Wars of aggression are just larger-scale versions of stealing or break and enter by large-scale bikie gangs.

We have 300 million Indonesians with a history of aggression in Timor and PNG and we have China becoming more aggressive in claiming territory in the South China Sea. Without Australian and American influence in the region, how long would it be before Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia and smaller nations begin to lose their independence?

It is not how many wars we have been in in the past, but how many we may prevent in the future by maintaining our alliances with other nations and a strong defence.

I think it is good that we have the freedom to express differing views and it makes all of us perhaps ponder a bit about big issues, like defence spending and alliances in our region.

The question is what do the peace activists provide as an alternative?

Jim Steward

Yeppoon