To the editor:

This letter is in response to Robert Polack Jr.'s March 25 letter.

Polack stated that his organization has delivered petitions to U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's office containing 60 signatures against war with Iraq. Does he realize Emerson represents over 400,000 people?

Should she be held accountable for her actions and votes in Congress? I believe she is every two years when the voters go to the polls. That is part of living in a republic.

I served in the U.S. Army, in part to help preserve our rights to free speech and in part because I felt I was duty-bound by my birthright as an American.

However, I also have the right to free speech. Seeing small, special-interest groups such as Polack's write to the editor and whine about things going wrong, especially in light of the mass graves, the torture and rape cells and the downtrodden victims of Saddam Hussein makes me ask how can freeing 30 million Iraqis from a dictator be wrong?

JIM BLAKEMORE

Jackson