Nightline Closing Thoughts: Viewers Respond
Nov. 13 -- Following are responses to Nightline's Closing Thoughts.
Veterans Day
Read Ted Koppel's Closing Thought on Veterans Day.
Ted,
I watched your show tonight with intense interest, being a National Guardsman myself and a veteran of Operation Southern Watch in Kuwait and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan....
Your closing thought tonight was obviously a criticism of something, but it didn't seem to have much of a point. You said that you wished that we would listen to the veterans before we went to war. I heard myriads of veteran's voices before, during, and after the war on every medium of mass communication. Understandably most of them expressed a dislike for war, but most of them also strongly supported all of the campaigns that we have executed in the War on Terrorism.
It sounded like the veteran that you talked to at Arlington merely stated that the first World War was the war to end all wars. Obviously WWI has been proved insufficient to achieve that goal many times over, so I doubt that he was trying to say that it was wrong for us to go to war this time. I believe that he was trying to point out to you the sad reality that the celebration of November 11th as Armistice Day must be coupled with a day of remembrance for the Veterans who have served and died in service to their country in all wars, both before and after that treaty....
— Alex SutherlandPhiladelphia, Pa.
Michael Jackson
I was extremely disappointed in your choice of topic on Wednesday, Nov 19. Michael Jackson? Come on. Who cares?! Bush faces protesters in England... Bombings overseas... Endless topics of substance, and you choose the mindless. I have come to rely on Nightline for superior news and analysis on timely events. You can do better. — P WeedenMadison, Wisc.
For previous viewers' Closing Thoughts, see "Related Stories," above, right.
