Peace Letters of the Month

Each month, in the newsletter section of our website, we publish the best peace letters that were published in The Kansas City Star in the previous month. Before the PeaceWorks Annual Meeting, we select the best letter of the year, award the writer with a year's free membership in PeaceWorks, and invite the writer to the Annual Meeting.

OCTOBER 2011

Bush, Cheney books

Former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney had stayed out of the media spotlight—until it was time to cash in by selling their memoirs. That has been after they cost the American taxpayers trillions of dollars on the wars they started.

Let's not forget the more than 4,000 American soldiers who have given their lives and the thousands of U.S. military personnel who have been injured as well. The wars have resulted in more than 100,000 civilian casualties in Iraq.

The former president and vice president have become media friendly to promote their books. They should give all proceeds to the victims' families. If not, I would call the proceeds blood money from the fallen.

David Howard
Raymore

SEPTEMBER 2011

Wars wrong response

Our country's response to the 9/11 acts of terrorism was war in Afghanistan followed by war in Iraq. These two failed wars have brought us no real security. Indeed, the cost of these wars has significantly reduced our financial security by bringing us to the brink of national bankruptcy, a fact that I suspect the terrorists see as one of their greatest successes.

Columnist Joel Brinkley (9/3, Opinion, "Iraq, Afghan war costs will make U.S. debt soar") summarizes the real costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They include:

This $4 trillion to date is nearly 30 percent of our nation's $14 trillion debt. Estimates of future expenses are another $2 trillion to pay interest on U.S. debt and continuing medical expenses for 150,000 wounded veterans.

War is not the answer.

David J. Pack
Peace Action National Board Co-Chair
Lenexa

Detrimental wars

How has "the greatest nation on earth" with the greatest people ended up in this mess in which our government is near bankruptcy?

Did England start a war when the Irish militants attacked them? Did India's government start a war when terrorists from Pakistan attacked it? No. They treated the incidents as crimes to be solved and punished.

When bad people are in charge of a foreign country, who uses war as the solution? We do. We are in three incredibly costly wars and all are "off the books." Yet our leaders never talk about that.

They talk about attacking education, Social Security and other social programs for our people. Raise taxes to support the wars or to reduce the deficit? No.

Change the tax laws so as not to reward corporations that decide to make their profits elsewhere? No. Attack the poor.

Educate our youth to work in today's changed economy? No. Make war.

The tea party should see through this. President Barack Obama should not continue to extend these "rule the world" policies. The Congress, Democrats and Republicans, should stop always supporting war at the risk of seeming "weak."

Grow up.

Fred Slough
Kansas City

Nuclear weaponry

Despite his pledge in the Czech Republic to rid the world of nuclear weapons, President Barack Obama in May 2010 authorized $80 billion to "modernize" our nuclear arsenal. This is complete madness.

Any use of nuclear weapons guarantees only mutually assured destruction of the world, its people, plants, animals and ocean life.

Obama's assent to this spending was the price to be paid for Senate approval of the New START treaty with Russia promising reductions in both nuclear arsenals to 1,550 deployed warheads each.

Part of that money is being spent here in Kansas City at a plant currently under construction at Botts Road. It is a complicated project to construct parts for nuclear weapons, and it involves dollars from the federal government, the city and the county.

If, as Obama promised, the U.S. is serious about ridding the world of nuclear weapons, why should we spend $80 billion increasing our own capacity for nuclear war?

Michele Chollet
Kansas City

AUGUST 2011

Close Guantanamo

Everybody agrees that our government spends too much money. For more than 115 years we have been in Guantanamo, Cuba, against the Cuban people's wishes. We spend billions of dollars to run that base even though it has no strategic value to the United States.

It is the only place in the world, as far as I know, where one country occupies another sovereign country's soil even when they are not welcomed. They have been asking us to leave since they got their independence from Spain, and we are still there.

I've called Rep. Kevin Yoder's office on this matter twice but I have never gotten a reply. It seems to me that this would be a good place to start cutting wasteful government spending.

Would we allow China to open a naval base in Key West? Think about it.

Jorge Prieto
Edwardsville

Afghan war goes badly

I've not slept in eight years. Two of our sons are fighting in Afghanistan, and the United States is losing this war and wasting their lives.

One of my sons called recently and told me some scary things. He said the Afghans who are being trained by U.S. forces talk with the Taliban by radio, and that they are waiting to attack. He told me a Special Forces soldier was killed last week by a member of the Afghan army, whom he was training.

The boys on some of these fire bases have nothing to eat but potato chips. They have to crawl on some of these bases to get from one end to the other and live like animals.

My son told me so many things that I'm scared to even sleep. The American people have no idea. We've been lied to.

Thomas Anderson
Harrisonville

JULY 2011

Moving mountains

Why should we withdraw our military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and begin the long- term elimination of our military bases from the soil of other countries? Because it violates a fundamental principle that resides in the collective consciousness of our species and can be found in the scripture of all the major religions known as the Golden Rule: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire law, all the rest is commentary" (Talmud, Shabbat 3id).

What country's military would you allow on our soil? What kind of world would we live in if the untold trillions now spent on military occupation by all the countries on the planet were instead spent on ensuring clean air and water, adequate food, sustainable and available energy, and basic education and health care for people everywhere?

The list of things we thought impossible 10 years ago but are a reality today is impressive. One of the planet's great teachers told us we could move mountains if we only believed we can.

Jack Whitaker
Leawood

Peril of Afghan wars

From 1979 to 1988 there were more than 13,000 Soviet soldiers killed and more than 35,000 wounded in a Mideast war. Where, you ask? Afghanistan.

Now the United States, thanks to President George W. Bush, is attempting to break that ignominious record.

The Russians invaded Afghanistan and lost. The British did it twice, the Muslims, the Mongols have all tried. Alexander the Great tried more than 2,300 years ago. Don't we ever learn anything?

President Barack Obama says we are getting out of Iraq by the end of the year. We had no business going in there to start with. It's the idiotic Vietnam War all over again.

We have no right to decide which country embraces our style of government and/or our choice of religion. The Middle East is not ours to control. We have no rights in any other sovereign country.

Why do we keep trying? President Obama, get us out of Afghanistan as well before we break the Russian record. Don't we ever learn anything?

George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Our leaders don't have trouble remembering the past. They just ignore it.

Luke Edwards
Olathe

JUNE 2011

Worried about U.S.

My wife and I are each nearly age 89 and concerned about how we may finish our lives if either of us develops a serious illness without adequate coverage by Medicare. I do know that it has already been paid for, but the government has spent the money on one of our many wars or to move our industries to China.

I spent more than three years in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and the girl who later became my wife was a "Rosie the Riveter" in Johnson County.

The one thing that does not seem to occur to anyone is that the real problem about to run us into bankruptcy is ever- increasing military spending. Since World War II we have been at war or arming for the next war. We have been fighting wars that we can't or don't win but never cease.

Unless we quit trying to run the entire world, we will find ourselves joining other empires as the next to crash.

Mansfield Miller
Olathe

Real debt sinkhole

Congress is cutting Medicare and Social Security to reduce the debt, yet we spend three times as much on national security.

More than 90 percent of the national debt is for fighting wars--past, present, and future, including debt service.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates notes problems with NATO. We pay three-fourths of its cost.

Europeans are capable of paying for their own defense. Similar situations exist for defense of South Korea and Japan, while we fight three wars.

The Defense Department has more than 5,429 military bases and 53.5 percent of the world's naval tonnage. Costly equipment like the F-22 fighter, with its high maintenance costs, has never been used in combat.

Three-fifths of defense spending goes to private corporations. From 2008-2011, payroll taxes collected 40 percent of federal revenue. Corporate beneficiaries of war, like General Electric and big oil, pay no corporate income tax.

Social Security and Medicare pay for themselves. Is ignorance a pre-requisite for election to Congress, or have its members been bought by the military-industrial complex?

G. Ross Stephens
Professor Emeritus, Political Science and Public Administration
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Leawood

APRIL 2011

End warmongering

We need to replace the Pentagon warmongers. Instead of going around the world taking over countries in the name of democracy, the U.S should let the affected people decide what they want.

Look at the Middle East. We go to their countries to promote democracy and human rights.

In their eyes, we are the aggressors and use force upon those who do not accept democracy, as we occupy and desecrate their land.

Every year we spend trillions of dollars in the region and all over the world to treat people like this.

The United Nations and NATO tell us to go take care of the problems.

Do we ever see any other countries coming forward, putting their soldiers on the line more than us? Do we ever see those war debts paid back to us?

Billions of dollars go to Pakistan to help fight al-Qaida every year. Have we seen a dividend?

Bring our soldiers home. Protect our citizens and our borders. Save those billions of dollars. Cut the Pentagon's budget.

K. Edward Young
Kansas City, Kan.

Bring U.S. troops home

It is past time for the United States to pull all of its troops, war profiteers and mercenaries--private security firms and private contractors--from the Middle East. Bring back all U.S. military equipment and supplies. Don't leave any for Israel or other states.

The Middle East is no more important for U.S. security than Vietnam. Get out before we kill more people and harm the U.S. economy.

Ralph Whiteside
Leawood

MARCH 2011

U.S. Failing at Wars

With the U.S. intervening in Libya, our once-proud country demonstrates again that we have learned nothing from the last 60 years.

We spent 35 years taking similar paths in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan--all at a terrible price. According to the Congressional Budget Office, these conflicts cost trillions of dollars. According to the Department of Defense, these conflicts resulted in 488,000 Americans being either wounded or killed.

Our country engaged in these conflicts intending to correct what we perceived to be a threat to the country, the world or the U.S. Our missions were to defeat the threat and restore peace to the victimized countries. We failed miserably. North Korea is still a threat to the world. North Vietnam took over all of the country. Iraq is still unstable, and Afghanistan remains a haven for terrorists. When we realize we cannot succeeed in our mission, we quit and go home.

It is time for all of us to accept that the U.S. no longer has the ability or dedication to use force to intervene in the affairs of other countries, nor does it have the right.

Kyle Black
Overland Park

Obama bombing Libya

Hey, where is this nation's "stop this endless war" crowd? Our Nobel Peace Prize winning president has waged war on another Islamic country.

Please allow me to quote our constitutionally educated president who said in 2007, "The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Greg Hand
Lee's Summit

FEBRUARY 2011

McClanahan column

E. Thomas McClanahan's Jan. 30 column, "Obama's limp response to America's fiscal crisis," furthered conservative mythology that America's fiscal crisis is about a welfare state, Social Security, and Medicare.

Presidents and their policies, which McClanahan has fully supported, are the real cause of the crisis:

Can McClanahan deny the reality that more than 75 percent of all U.S. income tax collections are consumed by interest on the debt and military spending? It's not about Social Security and Medicare.

Can McClanahan deny the near-depression this country experienced at the end of President George W. Bush's administration? It's not about a welfare state.

David J. Pack
Lenexa

JANUARY 2011

Military cuts overblown

The Jan. 12 editorial "Fiscal crisis must not trump security needs" hand-wringing over cuts in our defense budget is unnecessary. A careful examination of the proposed "cuts" shows they will be reductions in the rate of growth of the largest war-making budget in the history of mankind.

The United States stands astride the world with more than 1,000 military bases. The wide-eyed alarm about China's "rapid" arms buildup obscures the fact that these assets (particularly the J-20 stealth fighter) are years away from fruition.

What China is attempting to accomplish is simply to push back against the 65-year U.S. Naval domination of their coastal areas.

The United States runs the most expansive and expensive empire ever known to man. There is no "peace" to keep, because of the operations of that empire abroad.

Genuine security can be had only by serious attempts to corral the horribly destructive and expensive military machine that has been created in this country.

Alan Kent
Kansas City

Nuclear-free hopes

Congress made a much-to-be-celebrated baby step with the passage of the New START treaty. It will reduce by one third the number of nuclear weapons the U.S. and Russia use to hold the world's civilian populations hostage.

Surely this is news to be celebrated by anyone who loves Earth and its people. And I hope that once these two nations reduce their number of actively deployed nukes, their leaders will start to consider seriously how to eliminate the ones they hold in reserve.

A mere 100 (nuclear weapons) could kill millions outright and create climate change, leading to the starvation of a billion of the Earth's poorest people. May the glimmer of hope afforded by the New START treaty grow into the enlightened day when humankind at last steps out of its own nuclear shadow.

Jim Hannah
Independence

'Hero' overused

I served 30 years with the Wolfhounds of the 25th Infantry Division. I served two combat tours in Korea and four combat tours in Vietnam. I have been awarded five Purple Hearts, four Bronze Stars and several other medals and citations for heroism and bravery.

Despite the latest fad of all military personnel being heroic, less than 10 percent of those who serve are engaged in any type of combat or conflict. Ninety percent are in some sort of support position such as finance, supply or the motor pool.

Heaping excessive praise and thankfulness on them is akin to heaping the same praise on a bookkeeper, a grocery store clerk or a mechanic.

The 10 percent who do see combat will tell you that there is no such thing as heroism. You do what you do in combat situations based on fear, survival, reflex and instinct. And unless you were there, they really don't care what you think.

Please tone down the hype on veterans. The military is not a "higher calling." It's a job.

As an author once said, "A hero ain't nothing but a sandwich."

Mike Kyle
Overland Park

DECEMBER 2010

Brew to Fix Economy

Here's a recipe for the "cooks" running the government:

Reduce the deficit by ending the recession while spending more on income support and basic needs for people who are especially vulnerable. Spend more on discretionary programs such as unemployment compensation, food stamps, housing subsidies and child care. Keep in mind that by creating jobs and reducing unemployment, we will simultaneously increase government tax revenues and decrease spending on programs to aid low-income people.

Reduce federal spending on war and military excess on overseas military bases, nuclear weapons programs, military aid programs and the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of the wars alone account for a big chunk of total federal spending.

Despite the deal the politicians have made, let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. Extending the tax cuts for the rich would add billions of dollars to the budget deficit problem.

These tax cuts are the least effective policy option for creating jobs.

Sarah Cool
Kansas City

 

Ratify Arms Treaty

The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty may have gained sufficient bipartisan support to be ratified after months of political wrangling. This is fantastic news for international security because both sides will resume reductions of Cold War-sized nuclear arsenals, and inspections of these arsenals will restart.

Ratification will keep mistrust between the U.S. and Russia from spiraling out of control and will increase Russia's cooperation on important issues, including the Iranian nuclear crisis, the war in Afghanistan and future nuclear arms control agreements.

So why haven't all area senators supported this treaty, which has the unanimous support of the military and wide bipartisan support outside of the Senate?

Sen. Claire McCaskill has been a vocal supporter, and has come out against attempts to block ratification led by Sen. Jon Kyl. But Sen. Kit Bond argues that the treaty should be scrapped altogether, while Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts are thought to support Kyl's position.

To Bond, Brownback and Roberts: Kansas City deserves to have our lawmakers decide their positions based solely on the merits of the treaty, not on politics. Put aside partisan issues, and ratify New START without delay.

Marcy Rutan Fowler
Atchison

 

Cut Military Spending

I was grateful that the Deficit Reduction Commission suggested real cuts on military spending. It's difficult to stand up against the Military Industrial Complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned about, yet we need a reality check.

It doesn't make sense to spend 59 percent of the budget on military or $8 billion of borrowed money per month on the Afghanistan war when people are hurting. We are suffering from the high costs of the military and will have to put a leash on this dog before it's out of control.

Obviously the rich have been doing a fine job of taking care of themselves, but my faith says we need to care for "the least of these" and significantly lower the percentage of military spending.

Ron Faust
Gladstone

NOVEMBER 2010

No More Nukes

The Nov. 8 report from the General Services Administration is like being offered a drink by someone who's been giving you water they've known was contaminated (11/9, A1, "Report blasts GSA on pollution; Misleading information, lax oversight and ignored complaints were cited at Bannister Federal Complex").

It's not as though the GSA came forward of its own accord. The cover-up was revealed only by outside investigation. If I worked at Bannister Federal Complex, I'd ask myself what good a paycheck is if I pay for it with my health or my life.

And what about the global threat of nuclear weapons? Eighty-five percent of non-nuclear components for the U.S. nuclear arsenal are made or ordered at the Kansas City Plant. These weapons of mass incineration are immoral, impractical and incredibly expensive. We have 9,000 nukes. Enough, already.

Let's clean up the old plant and stop building the new one.

Jim Hannah
Independence

 

Love, not War for U.S.

War is hell. Then why continue a no-win war? Unless the citizens of a democratic republic know what is really going on, they cannot exercise proper political judgment.

The horrific violence revealed in the Wikileaks documents needs to be thoroughly analyzed and investigated. Secrecy almost always is about keeping the citizenry ignorant. In most cases the enemy already knows.

Isn't it time we quit the futile butchery and find better ways to deal with our neighbors?

Vic Burton
Kansas City

 

Bless Peace Seekers

I ask, is this country's economy truly based on planning for war, as the 1971 book titled "The Economy of Death" by former U.S. Army legal officer Richard J. Barnet seriously considers?

Which is more extreme: protesting against the building and profiting in nuclear weapons, or spending hundreds of millions of dollars with tax abatements on the continued manufacture of these devices?

Thank you to this area's many peace-seeking individuals.

John P. Montgomery
Lee's Summit

OCTOBER 2010

U.S. Troops Still in Iraq

You have to forgive me for not thanking President Barack Obama for bringing home our soldiers from Iraq. You see, my son continues to be in harm's way somewhere in Northern Iraq as a Special Forces medic with the U.S. Army.

To say our troops are home is like saying the Royals have a winning record.

John Blackburn
Shawnee

 

A Wise Treaty

Nuclear weapons are among the greatest threats facing our country and the world. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a rare bipartisan moment, voted 14-4 for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Our Senate now has the opportunity to ratify this treaty when it comes to the floor.

With New START, we will again have the legal mechanism to inspect Russian nuclear facilities to ensure that they do not build up their weapons stockpiles or let them get into the hands of terrorists. Since the expiration of the old START we have not had inspections.

We must all urge our senators to take the New START treaty to the floor of the Senate and ratify it now.

Vic Burton
Kansas City

SEPTEMBER 2010

Keep Focus on Peace

I am a progressive who thinks our president is doing a good job. He's not perfect. Yes, I am disappointed that we did not get universal health care, that the wars have not ended, that war crimes are not being prosecuted and that torture still seems to be accepted.

The president is trying to promote the common good, and I only wish people could get as passionate about the building of a new nuclear components plant on a wide expanse of land on Missouri 150 as some are about the Muslims building a house of prayer two blocks from ground zero in New York City.

One is about war and the preparation of war, the other is about appealing to a higher power to bring about peace.

So what shall we be about? War or peace?

JoCele McEnany
Lee's Summit

 

Completely Exit Iraq

President Barack Obama said that 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, but the combat is over.

God bless the truth and future body bags.

David L. Davis
Leavenworth

 

Tale of Two Buildings

We have been reflecting on the community's response to two different buildings. One is the proposed law office on the Plaza. The other is the building for the manufacturing of parts for nuclear weapons.

Nearly 7,000 persons responded to a Star survey about the Plaza building. The Star reported the balcony building, which was to have been razed, has 2,000 Facebook fans. By contrast, earlier this month about 75 people protested the construction of a nuclear weapons parts plant, and 14 of them were arrested.

While many appreciate the unique architecture of the Plaza, how can anyone ignore the potential destruction caused by even one nuclear bomb? Would there be more concern if it were dropped on Whiteman Air Base or on Fort Leavenworth?

We ask where is the concern that Kansas City is becoming one of the three hubs to aid in the production of weapons that could accidentally or intentionally destroy Earth?

Pope Benedict XVI declares: "In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims. The truth of peace requires that all … agree to change their course by clear and firm decisions, and strive for a progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament."

Sister Jeanne Christensen
Sister Therese Bangert
Social Justice Offices of the Sisters of Mercy & the Sisters of Charity
Kansas City

AUGUST 2010

Iran Is No Threat to U.S.

Here they go again. The same neocons (check the Project for the New American Century) who distorted facts and used their influence to have Dick Cheney coerce the gullible George W. Bush and the debating society on Capitol Hill into an unnecessary and illegal invasion of Iraq are beating the drums to have our military bomb the nuclear facilities in Iran.

Assume that Iran does produce the bomb. What would that country do with it? Does anyone seriously think the Iranian leaders are unaware of the consequences of their dropping it on Tel Aviv? Tehran would be obliterated.

Except for propaganda purposes, the bomb would be useless to Iran. Iraq was not a threat to the United States in 2003, and Iran is not a threat to us now.

America would gain nothing and have much to lose from bombing Iran. A more serious threat is the security of the nuclear arsenal in Pakistan.

Al Elton
Leawood

JULY 2010

Afghanistan unwinnable

This may be the first time I have ever agreed with Republican Chairman Michael Steele on anything, but historically he was correct - although politically incorrect - when he said, "You do not engage in a land war in Afghanistan ... because every one who's tried over a thousand years of history has failed."

Immediately his party, along with Democrats, demanded a retraction, which he was forced to deliver within 24 hours. He said that of course we will fight until we achieve victory in a war that has already dragged on for eight years. We have the patriot fantasy that if America goes to war, victory will follow. It's our manifest destiny - although we seem to overlook Vietnam when we insist we "stay the course" in Afghanistan.

There has been no credible case made to date as to why America will succeed when Alexander the Great, the Soviet Union and the British Empire had zero success in controlling that isolated and primitive land.

Why would tribal chiefs, war lords, poppy growers or Muslim fundamentalists now choose to have an outside, non-Muslim army of occupation take control? Sadly we are asking for the impossible.

Harold J. Schultz
Kansas City

JUNE 2010

Iran Not So Offensive

The U.N. Security Council voted on June 9 to impose yet another round of sanctions against Iran, within days of its refusal to adopt a motion condemning Israel for its recent attack in international waters. The Security Council has become largely a rubber-stamp for U.S., British, and Israeli foreign policy interests, reflecting power policies rather than any semblance of justice.

In the real world outside of the Washington Beltway and the mainstream media, no one really believes that Iran is primed to threaten its neighbors; certainly not armed-to-the-teeth Israel. U.S. intelligence studies have repeatedly debunked this. Once again, in the real world few accept Israel's stated reasons for imposing a blockade on the hapless residents of Gaza, creating what the U.N. and the World Health Organization have called a humanitarian catastrophe.

The geopolitical logic of these moves points to a blank check to Israel's right-wing government to continue policies that continue to serve U.S. foreign policy aims, including the real possibility of a horribly dangerous assault on Iran.

Alan Kent
Kansas City

MAY 2010

McClanahan Column

It is fitting that the photo of the aircraft carrier accompanying E. Thomas McClanahan's column notes that the USS Intrepid is a museum, given the antique quality of his argument for preserving a bloated force whose necessity is questioned by Defense Secretary Robert Gates (5/9, Opinion, "Carriers still crucial to projecting U.S. power").

McClanahan bases his opposition to cutting the number of carrier task forces on arguments made by Alfred Mahan, citing his 1890 text on naval power.

Aviation, nuclear weapons, cruise missiles and satellite surveillance all serve to render large navies antiquated, if not obsolete.

McClanahan neglects to mention the fact that the most recent threats to national security have come from terrorists armed with box cutters, shoe bombs or explosive-laden vehicles, not from large, well-equipped armies or weapons demanded by the economy-weakening budgetary demands of the military industrial complex.

Martin Zehr
Kansas City

APRIL 2010

World Without Nukes

In coming months, as U.S. senators debate the provisions of the new START Treaty, they would do well to listen to the wisdom of Gen. George Lee Butler, former commander of all U.S. nuclear forces 1992-94.

Gen. Butler said: "As to those who believe nuclear weapons desirable or inevitable, I would say ... accepting nuclear weapons as the ultimate arbiter of conflict condemns the world to live under a dark cloud of perpetual anxiety. Worse, it codifies mankind's most murderous instincts as an acceptable resort when other options for resolving conflict fail ..."

"We can do better than condone a world in which nuclear weapons are accepted as commonplace. The price already
paid is too dear, the risks run too great. The task is daunting, but we cannot shrink from it. The opportunity may not
come again."

Bill Wickersham
Adjunct Professor Peace Studies
University of Missouri
Columbia

MARCH 2010

Israeli-U.S. Tension

It seems that the Israeli tail is wagging the American dog again. I think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention whatsoever of supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. He has clearly said that while he appreciates Vice President Joe Biden's statement of unequivocal support for Israel's security he is pursuing policies that are only in Israel's self-interest.

It is natural for a leader to say that. But of course it means taking more Palestinian territory for constructing more homes for Israelis, especially in the disputed area of East Jerusalem - thereby diminishing any Palestinian hope for part of that city as their capital.

The Israelis have repeatedly kept up enlarging settlements in the West Bank. Why? Because they can get away with it.

Even Gen. David Petraeus is worried that the continued failure to reach a two-state settlement negatively affects the entire Middle East region. One solution is to stand up to the Israelis and discontinue the military and humanitarian aid program until they get serious about a Palestinian settlement.

That's not anti-Semitism. It's putting some spine in our foreign policy.

Leslie Page
Blue Springs

FEBRUARY 2010

Time to Click Heels Again, Dorothy

President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address announced a three-year freeze on non-military discretionary funding.  The economic crisis is real, but the target for savings is wrong.  Real savings and real security are to be had in cutting the military budget, getting U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and investing in job creation and meeting people's needs here at home.
 
Since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. military spending including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased by 78%.  That money now accounts for more than half of "discretionary spending" -  that portion of the budget that Congress makes decisions on annually.  Next year's military spending will be the largest ever.
 
A reduction in military spending would slow down the worldwide arms race, show the international community we are committed to diplomacy and dialogue, and demonstrate to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan that conflict can't be solved through the force of arms.

Nancy Roberts
Fairway

JANUARY 2010

Money for Wars but Not for Health

All of the debate and wrangling that has gone on since health care reform was introduced during the present session of Congress is amazing.  Health care reform is aimed at helping people by providing them with the means to have decent medical care, something that millions of Americans do not have.  Many are willing to pay for insurance but have been denied it because of pre-existing medical problems.
 
What is so puzzling and frustrating is that it is hard to find the money for people to live and so easy to find the money for people who die.  There has been no trouble finding billions of dollars to spend on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Maybe a little debate, but nothing of the passion and intensity of those who oppose national health care.
 
It is time for members of Congress to get a backbone and stand up for living people they represent and say no to the killing machine known as the military-industrial complex, the bomb makers and bomb droppers who have no respect for human life.  If money can be found for them, it can be found for American citizens who need health insurance.

David Shipp
Nevada, Missouri

DECEMBER 2009

Obama's Mixed Message on War

How can one reconcile the "realistic" war and peace philosophy that President Obama presented in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech with the "dovish" one he proposed to the Muslim World 10 months earlier?
 
In the latter, Obama preached to the Palestinians to "abandon violence, because "resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed." "Violence is a dead end," he unequivocally added.  He rubbed the Palestinians' face with the examples of South Africa and the "black people in America" who "suffered the lash of the whip" but won by peaceful means.
 
In justifying America's wars, the examples of South Africa and black America seem not to be all that absolute.  "To say that force may sometimes be necessary" is "a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."
 
This double standard is nothing new.  It is precisely the source of frustration and anger in the Muslim world toward U.S. foreign policy.  If Obama seeks to turn a new leaf in the relationship between the U.S. and the Muslim world, he needs to close the gap.

Rami Saffarini
Platte City

NOVEMBER 2009

What We Owe the Afghan People
 
I appreciate Mary Sanchez's concerns expressed in her column "U.S. owes Afghans full shot at peace, stability" (10/27, Opinion).  She is correct that we failed the Afghan people after massively arming the mujahedin.  The failure then and now is that we did not and are not using diplomacy to improve the lives of the Afghan people.
 
What is needed today is not more U.S. military support for a corrupt government unconcerned with the well-being of its people. 
 
Instead of listening to a professor receiving contracts from the U.S. military, Sanchez would be better off reading the resignation letter from Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain Matthew Hoh.  He observed the bulk of the Pashtun insurgency "fights not for ... the Taliban, but rather against the presence of foreign soldiers and taxes imposed by an unrepresentative government in Kabul."
 
What we owe the Afghan people is to withdraw U.S. and NATO troops and apply a surge of wisdom.

Ira Harritt
Local Program Coordinator
American Friends Service Committee
Kansas City

MARCH 2009

War is not the answer

As the antithesis of anti-war is pro-war, I choose fervently and confidently to be anti-war. For me, that means I am against death and destruction that we, the American people, are inflicting on those who live in war-torn parts of the world where we employ our combat troops. We should bring our combat troops home now. Really, we should have never sent them in the first place. We're not eradicating terrorists. Rather, we are destroying livelihoods and lives of innocent women, children and families. I believe in God's commandment "thou shall not kill."

We human beings, regardless of nationality, race, creed, sexual orientation or other differences. have the God-given ability to find a peaceful manner of getting along in the world. I choose to love all of God's people equally, no matter where they are in the world or to what religion they ascribe. I continue to pray that we'll all learn to do the same. Imagine what the world will look like when that prayer is granted.

I don't claim to have the final answer, but I do know, without any grain of doubt, that war is not the answer.

Sarah Cool
Cherith Brook Community member
Kansas City

FEBRUARY 2009

Stopping the Violence

I have read with great interest your feature articles on the violence in Kansas City's 64130 zip code. As I read the article "Working toward a solution" (1/27, A1), it occurred to me that the prescription for healing in Kansas City is the same prescription needed in troubled areas in the world, including Gaza:

Give our children a strong education.
Encourage commerce and jobs.
Teach people to value life.
Reach the at-risk youths and them love, not hate.

These are just a few of the solutions offered by The Star's article. I, for one, plan to help Kansas City and any other troubled area to the best of my ability.

Dan Kass
Leawood

JANUARY 2009

Conflict In Gaza

The disproportionate bloody incursion into Gaza confirms the loss of morality by Israel and its supporters.

Feeble rockets from Gaza were an attempt at resistance to decades of humanitarian abuse. Edward Said put it best back in 2002: "Every Palestinian has become a prisoner. ... Gaza is a human nightmare. ... Hope has been eliminated from the Palestinian vocabulary so that only raw defiance remains." And so those Israeli outposts and the enduring military occupation of Palestine, coupled with the de facto prison called Gaza, all provided tinder for the conflagration playing out in Gaza.

Now fearsome and thunderous F-16 raids and computer-guided missiles overwhelm innocent women and children in Gaza. Any peaceful resolution has thus been pushed way, way into the future, and the American taxpayer once again must pay dearly for yet another reckless military sortie with armaments purchased by our tax dollars while further damaging our prestige.

Richard Phalen
Parkville