To the editor:

I am responding to a letter in the Aug. 16 issue of the Call by Mike Povich of Festus: Letter writer deeply saddened by President Obama’s “Wild Bunch.”

Mr. Povich is not aware that our president — whom he calls Marxist, Socialist, infidel — is quietly and forcefully building up our military presence in the Middle East.

There has been a steady buildup in the number of U.S. ships and aircraft available for new military action in the Middle East hot spots. That includes aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, with more than 100 aircraft plus their strike groups operating in the Persian Gulf area, along with five destroyers and two cruisers.

Reports indicate that the Pentagon has done little to hide this from the Syrians and the Iranians. While Assad of Syria and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran are fully aware of the growing U.S. land, sea and air forces they face, critics like Mr. Povich refuse to recognize what is going on.

These evil leaders know Obama does not bluff. President Bush famously said he did not know where Osama Bin Laden was hiding and he really didn’t care. It was Obama who made it a top priority and tracked down the greatest mass murderer in U.S history and shot him in the face, while there were no Navy Seals shot or killed in the operation.

Even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called it one of the gutsiest calls he had ever seen any president make — and he served under many of them. How many Socialist/Marxist presidents would do this?

Mr. Povich, your assertions do not stand up to scrutiny.

Deportations under Obama have reached a higher level than under President Bush. Obama anti-God? He is a committed Christian family man. Sounds like good family values to me.

The North American Free Trade Agreement was actually signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. You can look it up. And the impetus for NAFTA began under Ronald Reagan. In 1984, Congress gave Reagan “fast-track” authority to negotiate free-trade agreements.

There are so many holes in your arguments, they call into question everything you say.

Get the facts. Know the facts. I don’t mind voters disliking President Obama — because he does some things I totally dislike — but base your arguments on the facts.