Re Daniel Lake's letter (March 31) "I'm prepared to fight... and die."

Daniel, please think again about what you are contemplating doing. What we see on TV and in government press releases is not what is happening in Iraq.

Your family needs you alive. Your country needs strong, courageous young men like you with their arms and legs intact, their health not deteriorating from exposure to depleted uranium, their spirit not broken by seeing the senseless slaughter of innocent men, women and children (who love their country as much as you love yours) because somebody in an airplane with bombs was just "taking orders".

Please Daniel, take the time to search the internet for unbiased news the sites without a political axe to grind, which give an accurate analysis of the reasons behind this unprovoked war against a sovereign nation. Please pay close attention to what the soldiers who have been there say, not pundits receiving big salaries to say what they're told to say.

If, after you've had the opportunity to learn how and why this present carnage is taking place, and you think it should continue and that you still want to take part in it, only then will you be in a position to make this most important decision of your life.

Sharon Burns

Warsaw

New York

14569, USA