In recent memory, the West, led by the U.S., has intervened in several cases to rid a country of an authoritarian government and put in its place a more democratic system. However, there is also a long track record of propping up regimes, for strategic and economic reasons, that embody everything the West claims to stand against.

Thank you for the August 19 article, “Soldier’s death ‘killed all of us.’” The story of the tragic death of Illinois Guardsman Simone Robinson gives readers a more detailed look into how our wars overseas inflict so much pain on not only the people in Iraq and Afghanistan, but right here at home.

From Republican contender John McCain's Jul. 25 meeting with the Dalai Lama in Aspen, Colorado to Democratic candidate Barack Obama's visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall the same day, the intersection of religion, politics and the "war on terror" has been a recurrent theme in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.