Eschaton

Ah, the liberal media.

We've printed several packages of letters recently on the possibility of war with Iraq. After the second one, I asked the man in charge of letters -- Jim Peipert -- if there truly were no letters in support of attacking Iraq.

Not one. At least not then.

I had one complaint call about the lack of balance. Please write a letter, I said. "Maybe later" was the reply.

This is not a solicitation for letters, although of course we'll consider any we get. Editorial writer Linda Campbell suggests that we don't have to solicit them -- the readers will write when they are ready and when they have something to say.

I would be careful about reading too much into the theme of the letters.

I'd say that, on the whole, the writers aren't so much saying that they oppose military action against Iraq as they are saying that they want to be sure we know what we're getting into if we take that path.

But I admit I was surprised by the tone of the letters. And I also was surprised when there weren't letters in opposition after the first package was printed.

So was the rest of the Editorial Board.

Part of the point of this column is to say to those of you who are quick to detect deliberate bias in everything we do: Not guilty.

We've been scouring the incoming mail for some balancing reader opinion, and we're not seeing it.

I don't know what that means -- but I just wanted you to know what's going on.