Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 201 Editor's Choice: 38
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Shame on you, Condi
[Read the article: War critics as Nazi appeasers? How about slavery supporters?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wasn't Texas one of those states that wanted to keep slavery?
There was a strong movement to let the South go during the Civil War. "Wayward Sisters, go in Peace" was their motto. If that had happened, Texas wouldn't have all the railroads, airports, military bases and highways the US government has built there in the last 140 years.
What's next? If you are opposed to this war, you would have supported the Kaiser in the First World War?
It is sad and shameful that instead of re-examining their policy and trying other things, all the Bushies can do is attack those who want this stupid war to end.
This war is actually like two other wars: Vietnam and the Mexican War (1846-1848).
Vietnam was a war we bumbled our way into even after the French, the Japanese and the French again could not beat Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh and Viet Cong. Ho Chi Minh visited the Paris peace talks after WW1 to ask President Wilson to support self-determination for the colonial peoples of the world, to no avail. During WW2, OSS officers who visited Minh to coordinate efforts against the Japanese thought he was briliant, the "George Washington of southeast Asia." George Washington was Ho's hero; he even used Washington's strategy to beat the US. Don't occupy cities and towns. Stay out of reach but keep the army intact. And wait for the enemy to grow tired of expending so much effort to supply so many men so far from home.
Vietnam was also a war where what the government told us was far different from what was happening. The lies were exposed and the people demanded an end. Nixon's deal in 1973 was almost the same as what could have been achieved in 1969.
The Mexican War was President James Polk's land grab. Even junior officers such as Ulysses S. Grant (who served under Robert E. Lee for a time) thought it was a shameful act of aggression. Polk lied about Mexican aggression in an area of Texas still claimed by Santa Anna. Polk instigated the fight by sending US troops into the area.
The differences between Mexico and Iraq are:
(1) we won a decisive victory because the US Army was led for the first time by graduates of West Point;
(2) Polk actually had an exit strategy and had no desire to occupy Mexico; and
(3) we got something out that war, namely, California, southern Texas and parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming. And later, New Mexico and Arizona.
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Some thoughts
[Read the article: The Sept. 11 that never was]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have read some, sorry not all, of the posts about ABC's "Path to 9/11" and I have some thoughts.
1. ABC can't claim the miniseries is based primarily on the 9/11 Commission Report and then throw the report's facts to the wind. That is misleading and irresponsible.
2. The airwaves are supposed to belong to the public; even with a "docudrama" ABC has a responsibility to get the basic facts right and not create events out of thin air.
3. There are still a lot of people out there who don't know how we got to 9/11 (about a third of the country still believes Iraq had something to do with it); this miniseries may be their first exposure to the whole story. Just as Oliver Stone's "JFK" created false impressions for a lot of people, this show could create many false impressions about 9/11.
4. Weren't 9/11 and the events leading to it dramatic enough for a miniseries without having to goose it up with falsehoods? Watching survivors tell their stories of escape in documentaries on PBS or listening to the 911 tapes of calls from dying people have been gut-wrenching. Watching my fellow New Yorkers cheer our NYPD and FDNY heroes as they trudged north from the WTC that awful night was extremely emotional.
5. Five years later, why didn't ABC take their $40 million and create a five-hour documentary about what happened? Perform a public service and tell everyone the whole bloody story, warts and all. Yeah, Clinton could have done more and Bush could have been less dense. Maybe Clinton would have done more if the Republicans had been more interested in protecting the nation than bringing him down. Maybe Afghanistan and Iraq would have gone better if the Democrats had insisted on a seat at the table planning and executing the war in exchange for supporting it.
6. Thomas Kean should be ashamed for profiting from his 9/11 commission chairmanship. At least ABC didn't get away with buying his acquiescence.
7. It is sad that the murder of 3,000 innocent people in a single day is still being used for political and financial gain. Shame on us all.