War on terror, five years on
Re: “No compromise with terror,” Sept. 3 John Andrews column.
John Andrews’ column reinforces the policy we have committed to since Sept. 11, 2001. If this policy is the answer to any and all forms of terrorism, then the future is bleak, more frightful and chaotic than what we’re experiencing now.
The reasoning is based on a claim, a view, which is taken for granted as bedrock truth. It is the root cause of our ill-planned, and even more poorly executed, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The claim, Andrews states, as fact, is a “hot war for global domination by radical Islam.” Once again, the certitude precedes any in-depth analysis or soul searching on our part. Hey! We are for freedom and democracy, so everyone who doesn’t join us is against us and must be dealt with ruthlessly.
There are radical elements in Islam which tear at the heart of the Koran and true Muslim faith. It will be challenged, disavowed and removed as a schismatic affront to true Islam when Islamic leaders come to grips with it. Military force and endless barbaric violences to thwart it will not succeed in anything more than what continues to stare us in the face: more innocent people dying, suffering and facing ever more devastating conditions, each provoking seeds for more young candidates to join the radical strains as they do today.
Bellicose attitudes and righteous arrogance aren’t an answer. We betray ourselves in the process, approving torture, unlawful confinement and other injustices. These mock the freedom and democracy we proclaim to uphold.
No more compromise with terror is a must. How we choose to do that requires much more integrity, honesty, repentance and openness to other choices than what we have blindly pledged allegiance to thus far.
Mark Franceschini, Denver
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Where do I begin in my critique of John Andrews’ column? His thinking is pure war-mongering, aided by thinly veiled racism.
How ironic that right-wing hawk Andrews attacks the moderate, peace-loving Ibrahim Kazerooni as some sort of threat.
Yes, we have to fight terrorism, but neither our war in Iraq nor our proxy war against Lebanon fought by Israel has anything to do with eliminating terror. Instead, they stoke it.
Sadly, through our short-sighted and morally bankrupt foreign policy, we have in the past supported entities we’re now trying to fight, including the Iraqis loyal to Saddam Hussein (when Iraq was fighting Iran) and even the core members of al-Qaeda itself, who were the mujahedeen we supported in fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. A principled foreign policy would have prevented much of the mess we’re in today.
Suzanne Ghais, Arvada
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Since coming to Denver, Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni has made an effort, along with Christian and Jewish clerics, to spread understanding and promote peace among adherents to the three faiths. Yet, John Andrews dismisses the imam’s words as “bland generalities” and questions the sincerity of his outreach efforts.
On Sunday, Aug. 27, I was present at a town hall meeting at the University of Denver, titled “Abrahamic Path to Justice and Peace” and sponsored by a local Muslim organization. At this event, Imam Kazerooni, Rabbi Arthur Waskow and the Rev. Bill Calhoun spoke from their own religious perspectives on ways to find that path to peace and justice in the Middle East.
As a Jewish American who deeply cares about finding solutions to the protracted conflicts in that part of the world, I was interested in what all three men had to say. However, I was particularly struck by one comment by Imam Kazerooni. He noted that the sacred texts of all three religions contain passages on honoring human life, reaching out to the stranger, and other precepts that could lead to peaceful coexistence. The fundamental problem, he stated, was not in our religious texts, but in human failure – our failure to heed the best teachings of our faiths instead of continuing to treat one another unjustly.
Cheryl Kasson, Denver
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“War finds my generation,” Sept. 3 Colorado Voices column.
Jessica Peck Corry’s column was spot on. As a history major many years ago in college, I learned that to study human history, one had to focus attention on our wars and other conflicts. You learn that warfare is the norm, peace is not. As someone once said, freedom is not free.
We can sit around and wring our hands over this war or another and hope and pray that another one will not appear on the scene. But you should not worry, because it will not happen. We humans are a violent lot, and have been since we threw rocks at one another from our caves while wearing animal skins.
B. Walter Kopilow, Denver
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Reading the columns by John Andrews and Jessica Peck Corry last Sunday, I was inspired by the immortal words of Maharaji Tucargaragi: “Peace is the state that immediately follows surrender.” Buddhist-like in its simplicity, clarity and ambiguity, this road to peace has become the guiding light of American foreign policy.
There are people in this world who hate us, and we’re going to bestow peace upon them, even if we have to use war to do it. After all, it is our oil. Even if it lies beneath other people’s lands, we need it, so it’s ours. But we’re not just taking it, we’re encouraging the formation of governments in those lands that will exchange it for beautifully printed pieces of paper, covered with English words and pictures of our past presidents. What could be more fair? Or more inspiring to democratic ideals?
Peace be with you.
Ski Milburn, Boulder
Stem-cell battle
Re: “Mixed signals in fight over embryos,” Sept. 3 John Aloysius Farrell column.
John Aloysius Farrell correctly notes the contradictory positions taken by the Bush administration when it supported the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Plan B “emergency contraception” for over-the-counter sales while opposing human embryonic stem-cell research on cell lines grown from a single cell removed from a human embryo, the embryo remaining viable after the cell is removed. While Farrell claims that “those of some faiths” believe that life begins at conception, this position does not require faith; it is also the consensus of mainstream science. The one-cell human zygote is biologically a new life, with self-directed potential to form a complete human being if it remains in the proper environment. The foundational question centers around when this new life becomes a person endowed with the rights and respect which should be afforded a human person. If indeed this embryo has those rights and is due that respect, it can never be considered the means to an end, regardless of the worth of that end. Removal of a single cell from a living embryo is not a risk-free procedure and the individual on whom the procedure is performed has no way to give consent.
Sam E. Alexander, M.D., Denver
Ritter and Beauprez
Re: “Spineless politicians offend,” Sept. 3 David Harsanyi column.
Though I often enjoy the irascible David Harsanyi, I have to take exception to his recent column where he suggests that governor candidate Bill Ritter avoids tough issues. Believe it or not, most Coloradans are focused on real issues like education, health care, and jobs and the economy. Ritter has outlined a thoughtful and detailed plan for growing Colorado’s economy. Bob Beauprez’s website has an entire page devoted to marriage and not a thing about making Colorado more competitive or creating new jobs. Maybe that’s why so many of Colorado’s independent and Republican voters are getting behind Bill Ritter.
Mark Cavanaugh, Denver
Medical marijuana
I am writing in response to Cindy Rodríguez’s Aug. 27 column (“Legalizing pot would hurt kids, and here’s why”) and letters to the editor from Robert K. Hoshide and Matthew Hayes (Sept. 3 Open Forum).
Twelve days ago, I spent the afternoon in Swedish Medical Center with a longtime friend of mine who suffers from epilepsy. How surprised we both were when the doctor, after a short interview, mentioned that marijuana use would raise his threshold of tolerance to seizures, which in turn might allow him to take a lower dose of anti-seizure meds that are known to damage the liver over time.
Four years ago, I witnessed firsthand the benefits of marijuana use as my mother struggled through the poisonous affects of chemotherapy, including nausea, followed by increasingly intense pain from terminal cancer.
These are but two examples of everyday citizens who have chosen to break the law by obtaining marijuana for its inherent benefits. These are facts, not “programmed” opinions.
John N. Train, Denver
Women at the Capitol
Re: “Women in the legislature,” Sept. 3 Perspective article.
In his commentary, Fred Brown quotes Norma Anderson, the former Republican state senator, as saying that “the Republican Party has become so religious.”
Our first president, George Washington, said, “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained … .” If Anderson wants atheists, I am sure that Mr. Brown can supply her with examples of what 70 years of atheism did to Russia.
Dianne Moyers, Centennial
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Way to go, Norma Anderson. The Republican Party moved, not me. I’m a mother of four, grandmother of 11, great-grandmother of one and have been a registered Republican since I could vote; but even though I’ll support some local candidates, the state and national ones are out of my sight. I’ll never become a Democrat, but I sure am ready for individual rights to be recognized again.
Betty Archuletta, Grand Junction
Inadvertent lesson
Last Sunday, while most of my middle-school friends were out having fun, I had the pleasure of sitting at the kitchen table, listening to my dad blathering on about the importance of correct writing. After our lesson, he grabbed a handy section of The Post to show me some correct sentences. On the back page of the Perspective section, we saw the group of short letters under the heading “To the Point.” We randomly selected a paragraph, and here is how it began: “According a Newsweek pool … .” As you might have noticed, this sentence serves as a horrible example of “the importance of correct writing.” Because of this screw-up, I was forced to suffer through another lesson on this sunny afternoon on “the importance of proofreading.” Turns out the 40-word maximum for “To the Point” was violated by four of the six letters there. That led to a math lesson, as my Sunday wasted away before my eyes.
On behalf of all middle-schoolers with teachers for parents, could you please do better in both language arts and math? My Sunday was lost. I’m counting on you to do better!
Adam Zizzi, Golden
Editor’s note: Sorry, Adam.
TO THE POINT
Unless the decision to downgrade ex-planet Pluto to dwarf-planet status is reversed, Buck Rogers and Dr. Heuer will continue to turn in their respective galactic graves.
Howard Berger, Denver
I watched the defining moment of Bush’s presidency recently in Golden. The young driver of a silver Jaguar flipped the bird to a veteran in an old Honda with an anti-Bush bumper sticker. Says it all, doesn’t it?
Sam Domenico, Golden
How Cindy Rodríguez ended her column about men marrying career women: “No woman wants a man who doesn’t see her as his equal.” How about this instead: “No woman wants a man who doesn’t see himself as her equal.”
Patricia Trinco, Colorado Springs
Congratulations, Denver, you now have the most hideous “art” building in the West. But I have a solution: Let’s have Christo cover it up.
Larry Koller, Grand Junction
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