I would like to respond to Michael Modest's letter ("Republicans should not follow party lines" Wed. Oct., 20) in which he insists that Republicans should not follow party lines when voting this year. First I would like to ask Modest if he has ever voted across party lines himself, after reading his partisan and misleading letter, I highly doubt it. In the very first paragraph he says that President Bush has violated international law by invading Iraq. What law prevents the United States from taking military action as it sees fit?

Bush spent months at the United Nations to no avail, thanks to France and Germany. Modest then talks about how the U.S. went into Iraq unilaterally, ignoring the fact that the coalition consisted of over 30 nations.

He then mentions that former President Clinton implemented anti-terrorism programs, which is just not true, Clinton took no action after the first World Trade Center Attack, the African Embassy bombings and the U.S.S. Cole bombing. Bush, on the other hand, took strong action after Sept. 11 and has now gone on the offensive in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, there have been no terrorist attacks in the more than three years since Sept. 11. I am not voting "for my party," I am voting for Bush, a president who will take on terror overseas so we are not attacked here at home again, something Sen. John Kerry has proven he will not do.