Unfettered Letters

‘Preventative’ war is a crime

During a recent televised interview, Vice President Dick Cheney opined that whether or not Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to our national security was immaterial; it was the speculation that at some future time Saddam Hussein may have the capability of becoming a threat that was sufficient justification for going to war.

Legal scholars generally agree that a war based on speculation about what may or may not be a future threat is an aggressive, “preventative” war, a supreme crime in international law. Critics of “preventative” wars, including Dwight Eisenhower, have argued that accepting “preventative” wars would reduce the world to “the law of the jungle.”

Harold Oppenheim
Kansas City

Scrutinize Cheney’s ties to Halliburton

A letter writer (12/18) commented that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should forfeit retirement benefits when they leave office. As a starting point, that is OK. However, Dick Cheney’s relationship with Halliburton needs close scrutiny from the standpoint of war profiteering. Some say he should stand trial as a war criminal, but that is unlikely to happen.

If Congress does go down the investigation path, they should also look at the salary and bonus matrix of investment bankers. If drug companies sold products as poisonous as the financial instruments those “masters of the universe” pushed on the public, they would be sued out of existence.

Tracy Leonard
Kansas City

Withhold benefits from Bush and Cheney

President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney are not deserving of any retirement benefits, due to their incompetence of leadership.

In the past eight years we’ve had the most deceptive administration since the birth of our nation. We the people were lied to incessantly by our executive office. The administration of Bush and Cheney has demoralized our country, given tax breaks mainly to the wealthy and big corporations and are responsible for the economic mess we are facing today. The past eight years has also been the most corrupt government in the history of our country.

The retirement income of Bush and Cheney should be donated toward the “bailouts” our country is experiencing. With the harm Bush and Cheney inflicted upon the United States, how could they, in good conscience, not refuse their retirement for the mess they caused our country?

Terrance R. Hawbaker
Atchison, Kan.

It’s time to restrain the demons

By now as we go deep into recession we should understand that democracy and economic stability are incompatible with a wholly unregulated market system. Yet the Ayn Rand folks are still in denial and, from reading letters to the newspaper from various angry citizens, I sense that Bush and his crew have planted well the seeds of fear, ignorance and false certainty.

How can we as a nation address our very critical problems when the only majority we can muster is the one of complaint? And another question, posed by Saul Bellow, “With everyone sold on the good, how does all the evil get done?”

I think an essential task of political leadership is to keep the demons within us all from getting loose. The last few years make me believe the demons are out and about. Can they be restrained in the coming administration? I can only hope.

Being an old man, playing in the late innings, hope is about all I have left. Maybe, just maybe, that will be enough.

Charles Litz
Topeka

Time to fix 8 years of damage

The gestation period for an elephant is 22 months, or nearly as long as the race to succeed George W. Bush. Unfortunately it may take that long to start fixing the damage — to the dollar, to the national security, to the environment, to America’s standing in the eyes of the world — caused during the last eight years.

In perhaps his most eloquent moment ever, Sen. John McCain started the nation on a road to healing that is long overdue with some very thoughtful remarks in his concession speech. Meanwhile, people around the world celebrate the outcome of our election and look forward to our country returning to its place as a beacon for freedom, hope and justice.

Tracy Leonard
Kansas City

Substitute ‘Iraq’ for ‘Georgia’

George Bush is quoted as saying, “Georgia is a sovereign nation, and its territorial integrity must be respected” (8/10, A-15, “U.S. has few options to deter the Russians”). Substitute “Georgia” with “Iraq” in that quote, and you realize why the United States has lost so much credibility around the world under the Bush administration.

It’s no wonder pundits such as Michelle Malkin and Kathleen Parker spend their time attacking Barack Obama instead of running on the record of this Republican administration of the past eight years. It’s a record they know Americans will not vote for again.

Alex Migliazzo
Leawood

Our wallets already ‘drilled’

I was dumbfounded by a photo that accompanied The Star’s story on the pivotal role of Greene County, Mo., in the presidential race (8/10, A-1, “Battle line drawn in Greene”). The photo was of Greene county supporters of John McCain holding signs critical of Barack Obama. One said, “The only place Obama wants to drill is your wallet,” and another said, “America can’t afford Obama.”

The only explanation I can think of is that these voters have been asleep the last eight years when oil companies, military contractors, credit card companies and the health insurance industry have successfully lobbied the government to give them easy access to our wallets. Another explanation I suppose is the success Republicans have had by repeating the phrase “tax-and-spend liberals.”

Our wallets have indeed been “drilled” by a government that transfers tax dollars to the private sector, abdicates regulatory checks on profit-driven corporations and systematically dismantles what’s left of an economic safety net.

I hope voters check the facts rather than cling to hackneyed slogans.

Julie Stephens de Jonge
Lee’s Summit

Doublespeak from the Decider

“Time horizon?” “Aspirational goal?” The Bush administration is at it again, dreaming up euphemistic phrases to describe its ever-changing policies in Iraq.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised at such befouling of the English language from a president who knows so little of it and yet is so cynical about its use.

These phrases recall Newspeak, the official language of the fictional country Oceania in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. In that language, compounds like doublethink and Oldspeak were coined to disparage usages that might lead to questioning of orthodox political views.

An Oldspeak expression, “All men are created equal,” could not be translated because it ran counter to Newspeak mantras like “freedom is slavery,” or “love is hate.”

It’s foolish, I suppose, to expect straight talk from any politician or administration. Yet this “Great Decider” and his merry band of spin doctors have gone too far.

How one yearns for the days of Harry Truman, who knew just where the buck stopped and when to get out of the kitchen.

Robert F. Willson Jr.
Emeritus Professor of English, UMKC
Leawood

Gas prices aren’t Bush’s fault

Mark Anderson (7/20, Letters) suggests that the current energy crunch is a conspiracy between Bush-Cheney and the oil industry. He wrote: “Anyone who can’t see this is dumber than Bush, and that is dumb!”

Wow, lest we forget Mark, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her can’t-do gang took control of Congress in January 2007, the average cost of gasoline was between $2.10 and $2.20 per gallon. After two years of the can’t-do gang we have hit $4 per gallon.

You’re right, Mark. That is dumber than Bush!

Paul Howe
Platte City

Happy with Bush-Cheney

In answer to Frank Vassholz (7/23, Voices), who wonders whether those who voted for Bush and Cheney in 2000 are happy right now: Yes, I am. I feel safer than if Al Gore or John Kerry had been elected.

Yes, I have to spend more for gas, but that makes me think twice about buying things I don’t really need and getting myself in debt. It’s called taking responsibility for one’s own life and actions. I don’t want the liberal Democrats taking the money I earn and giving it to people who do not try or do not belong here in the first place.

And don’t give me guff about these people being disabled and unable to work. There are some out there who fit in this group, but most people on welfare are there because they are too lazy and want someone to give them something for nothing.

I’ve been a double bilateral amputee (that means I have two artificial legs.) since I was 4 years old. I’ve worked at least 40 hours a week since I was 18. I’m now 51, so don’t me tell they can’t work.

Mitchell Lawson
Riverside