Unfettered Letters

Hold Rumsfeld accountable for terror

How many of us voted for change in this past election? Will we change our sanctioning of torture, terror, and terrorists?

If so, then Donald Rumsfeld must be held accountable for his crimes against humanity. How can our country fight against terror around the world when we employ terrorist tactics ourselves? A bipartisan report from the Senate Armed Services Committee has denounced Rumsfeld for his authorship of policies that OK’d torture techniques at Guantanamo Bay and other facilities (12/12, A-4, “Top officials faulted in detainee abuses”). He has made a travesty of our stand for human rights worldwide. Will President Bush resist the urge to pardon him?

If not, in the words of Pogo, we have met the enemy, and he is us.

Claire M. Caterer
Shawnee

Pre-war intelligence

The Star runs a story from the Associated Press titled “.‘Alternative’ prewar intel reports examined; Production of reports linking Hussein, al-Qaida was inappropriate but not illegal, probe finds.”

This manipulation of prewar intelligence, which helped lead our country into a war that has cost thousands of lives and which was authorized by Donald Rumsfeld, is only called “inappropriate.”

It seems to me that someone should be serving jail time for this, or is it the case that if people are high enough up in the government they are immune from punishment?

The entire war-mongering cabal of Bush cronies, and Bush himself, should be behind bars.

David Hann
Lawrence

Rumsfeld the best?

While watching Vice President Dick Cheney declare the Donald Rumsfeld the “finest” defense secretary ever, I realized that Cheney must have a different meaning for his words than I do.

That being said, it appears that by Cheney’s definitions, George W. Bush is the “finest” president, Cheney is the “finest” vice president, and so on.

So if Rumsfeld is the “finest” secretary of defense, why get rid of him?

Will anyone but the “finest” be able to get us out of the mess that the “finest” got us into?

M.L. Stein
Overland Park

ACLU lawsuit

This letter is in reference to “Judge considers ACLU case against Rumsfeld” in Saturday’s Top 10 (12/9, A-2).

Add one more group to the “axis of evil”: the ACLU. Now it is standing up for former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

First, why is the ACLU — which stands for the American Civil Liberties Union — suing Donald Rumsfeld, on behalf of nine former foreign prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan?

These people do not fall under the Constitution of the United States. So why would any judge from the United States consider this case? And if they do let it go forward, then add that judge to axis of evil list, too.

I’m tired of hearing this group whining. Change your name to the American Crybaby Lunatic Union.

Brett Richardson
Kansas City

War mistakes

The day George Bush should have been impeached was the day Donald Dumsfeld (sic) stood before our troops and said, “As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.” He didn’t have armored vehicles or body armor for them.

We did not have to go to war at that time, nor at all for that matter. If the administration was determined, why not wait until we could provide the maximum protection for the men and women we asked to go into that country and fight? Our sons, fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers and friends. Our future.

Thousands have died needlessly in a foreign civil war. We did not and do not sufficiently protect them. We should be ashamed.

Janice Malott
Independence

Misguided praise

President Bush’s praise of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney — “Both those men are doing fantastic jobs, and I strongly support them” (11/2, A-7) — ranks right up there with his earlier praise of former FEMA Director Michael Brown: “You are doing a heck of a job, Brownie.”

Don Breckon
Parkville

Woodward on Rumsfeld

I was privileged to see Bay Buchanan, one of the great minds of the Republican Party, on CNN, discussing Bob Woodward’s new book on the Bush administration.

The book reports that Colin Powell, being fired by President Bush after the 2004 election, suggested that Don Rumsfeld should also go. Buchanan stated smugly that “Rumsfeld won that fight.”

What a relief — our Secretary of Defense finally won a fight! The path to victory in Iraq is now clear.

We must subtly lure the Iraqi insurgents into joining the State Department. Then, Rumsfeld will surely destroy them all with his superior bureaucratic infighting skills.

Daniel R. Baker
Joplin, Mo.

Focus on defense

Apparently, the U.S. Defense Department wastes precious time and money employing people to monitor our newspapers and chastise them for publishing articles perceived as critical of the Bush administration and its policies (9/23, Letters, “What Rumsfeld said”).

It seems to me the Defense Department should use its resources to conduct real intelligence. Why do we need “assistant secretaries of defense for public affairs”? Since when is the Defense Department in the public relations business? Talk about suffering from “moral and intellectual confusion”!

Pablo La Rosa
Mission

What Rumsfeld said

The assertion in a recent article (9/17, Books, “Who’s to blame for the war”), that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld “accused Iraq war critics of suffering ‘moral or intellectual confusion’.” in his remarks to the American Legion National Convention, is inaccurate.

The secretary warned that:

“In any long struggle or long war, any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere.”

He did not equate this notion with critics of the administration. In fact, the secretary never mentioned any critics of the Iraq war in his remarks. This mischaracterization has been subsequently corrected by other major newspapers, such as The New York Times. We ask for a correction in your newspaper as well.

The secretary’s remarks were an effort to remind people of the similarities between past and current periods in U.S. history, so that a mentality of dismissing real and gathering threats while focusing nearly exclusively on American imperfections does not undermine our nation’s ability to prevail in what will be a long and difficult struggle against violent extremists.

We invite your readers to read the full text of the secretary’s remarks at www.defenselink.mil/speeches.

Dorrance Smith
Assistant secretary of defense for public affairs
Washington, D.C.

Rumsfeld column

If you want to print articles from government officials, such as the recent piece by Donald Rumsfeld (9/9, Opinion, “America must never stop defending its freedom”), by all means do so, but please label them appropriately. They are press releases, not commentary.

Carl Bettis
Kansas City