Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 182 Editor's Choice: 38
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Vacation for troops
[Read the article: In Baghdad, time for a break]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Our troops in Iraq should also get a vacation. As long as the Iraqi parliament is on vacation our troops shouldn't patrol the streets or the neighborhoods. They should just provide security for their own bases and for roads leading to them.
If the future of Iraq is not important enough for their parliament to stay in session, our troops shouldn't be dying for them.
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It's their country, right?
[Read the article: In Baghdad, time for a break]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's hot? That's a good reason to take a vacation when your country is being torn apart?
Our Continental Congress stayed in session in June and July 1776 when it was 90 degrees in Philadelphia to hash out the Declaration of Independence. There were tough choices to make then, too. End slavery and watch the southern colonies kill independence? or become independent and live with the shame of slavery for another 90 years? You can constigate our congress back then for allowing the horror of slavery in a nation supposedly dedicated to the freedom of the individual, but at least they stayed and made the hard choices. They all signed their names to that document. They then faced the possibility of swinging from a British noose for the next 7 years.
We created this mess with our invasion, but at some point the Iraqis have to stand up and decide what they want their country to be. They need to make the hard choices regardless of the weather and tell us to go home.
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No blood for oil
[Read the article: In Baghdad, time for a break]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't want Iraqi oil.
I just want our people out of there.
And Bush and Cheney out of office for high crimes and misdemeanors.
And the French did think that helping us would help them re-establish their place in North America that they lost in 1763.
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Forgotten trade
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Mets traded for Luis Castillo for a couple of prospects. He's a free agent after this year so the Mets bought a 2-month tryout. Castillo usually has as many walks as strikeouts; career OBP is .368; career AVG is .294. If he can plug the No. 2 spot in the Mets' lineup, Reyes should see better pitches. He's not a great player but solid.
Willie Randolph has tried everybody in the No. 2 spot this year with no luck. Catcher LoDuca was terrific in 2006 in that spot; patient, allowing Reyes to run, and hitting well with 2 strikes. So far in 2007, no one has been able to handle the job. Reyes is not providing the spark he did last year because pitchers can go after him knowing the next guy isn't that dangerous.
Castillo was 1 for 5 last night with a sacrifice.
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Too late
[Read the article: Will the real Colin Powell stand up?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It doesn't matter what Colin Powell says or writes now. He had his chance in late 2002 or early 2003 to do the right thing, to save the lives of thousands of young soldiers. He passed. He joins Robert McNamara as secretaries who knew what was happening was wrong but didn't have the courage to say so publicly.
If Powell had resigned, like William Jennings Bryant and Cyrus Vance, and gone public with his disagreement with Bush & Co. about starting an unnecessary war in Iraq with false intelligence, it might have slowed the rush to war. Powell could have lent cover to those who opposed the war and wanted to give the UN inspectors more time to find the WMD. He could have given the truth time to overcome the Bush-Cheney-Rice web of lies.
Powell speaking out might not have stopped the war but it would have given everyone pause if someone so respected resigned because of it.
As for writing a tell-all book, Powell's idol, George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State, never wrote his memoirs because he felt he shouldn't profit from public service. He did sit for hours of interviews with Dr. Forest Pogue, the Army's chief historian.
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Where's TR, Karl?
[Read the article: Remembering Karl Rove]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Karl Rove modelled himself after Mark Hanna, the powerful political boss and Senator from Ohio, who was McKinley's campaign manager. So far, so good. Got his boss elected and re-elected. Started an unnecessary war which begat an anti-American insurgency (the Philippines, not Iraq), and was pro-business to the point of lunacy. Rove and Hanna would share a common legacy of bad presidents, bad wars and screwing the little guy except for one thing. Mark Hanna saved his soul by giving us Theodore Roosevelt as president.
The then-governor of New York (FDR modelled his career after TR's right down to the nez pince glasses) was an up-and-coming star in the Republican party, but was considered too "progressive" (the early 20th century version of "liberal," same sneer used when saying it).
Instead, Hanna "buried" TR in the vice presidency. An anarchist at the Buffalo World's Fair in September 1901 shot and killed McKinley. TR was vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains and endured a treacherous 30-mile wagon ride down dark, muddy roads at breakneck speed to make a special train taking him to Buffalo.
When MicKinley breathed his last, Hanna said, "Oh my God, that cowboy is president." Thanks, Mark.
Hey, Karl, where is your TR to save your soul?