Re: Senseless attacks on Islamic scholar, by Charles Krauthammer, Aug. 15.
This is not the first time Charles Krauthammer expresses his one-sided approach on matters related to Muslims and Islam, but this time he has crossed the line and insulted our intelligence by his comments about Daniel Pipes.
Pipes has devoted his career to spreading hate, fear and bigotry against immigrants and Muslims. If one visits the Web site of the Middle East Forum (www.meforum.org) he will find scores of articles written by Pipes since the 1980s. Just select any five written pieces at random and read them. You will come away with a distinctive thread that runs through all Pipes' written work - a tinge of malice in respect to almost every aspect of Islam. Although Pipes writes from the Jewish perspective, he is more like a character from a Shakespearian tragedy. He really can't help himself.
In an article titled The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming! appearing in the National Review on Nov. 19, 1990, Pipes says "All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most." In the same article, Pipes describes Muslims as "... brown skin peoples cooking strange foods and not exactly maintaining Germanic standards of hygiene." Pipes continues with "Muslim immigrants bring with them a chauvinism that augurs badly for their integration into the mainstream of European societies."
Pipes stated that 15 percent of the Muslims in the world are "potential terrorists and killers." In an interview by Mark Richardson that was in the Ontario (Canada) Free Press, Pipes was quoted as saying, "I worry very much from the Jewish point of view that the presence and increased stature and affluence and enfranchisement (voting rights) of American Muslims will present a true danger to the American Jews."
We doubt if Pipes truly represents the vast majority of Jews because out of all minorities, Jews know the most what it means to be singled out and persecuted due to increased stature and affluence.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was outraged by Pipes' comments. Harkin states, "From the deepest part of my body I strongly disagree with Pipes when he says that the very fact of enfranchisement, affluence and assimilation will somehow threaten our values; the opposite is true. They have taken our American values and have become American Muslims."
So how can anyone describe such a person as a "scholar" and, worse, how can such a person serve our country's interests in the U.S. Institute of Peace, a federal agency charged with the mission of expanding society's knowledge about the changing nature and conduct of international relations and the management of international conflicts as well as increasing understanding about international conflicts, and approaches to their prevention, management and resolution?
-- Roy Smith, Tampa, and Ezzat Zaki, Lithia
President is protecting U.S. interests
Re: Build a coalition of the free, letter, Aug. 22.
The letter writer states that before the war in Iraq, he predicted that "if we continue, we will force a war of Muslims against the non-Muslim world."
The fact is, militant Islam has been at war against the non-Muslim world long before the war in Iraq, but we didn't know it. Their lethal acts of terrorism go back decades, before Osama bin Laden appeared on the scene.
President Bush is the first one to recognize this war for what it is and to take appropriate action to protect American interests. And for that, he is castigated by the Democrats and our European fair-weather friends.
The writer is naive in thinking that when the Iraqi people see that their "wanton self-destruction" is counterproductive, they will stop. With a madman like Saddam Hussein as their leader? Fat chance.
Part of the writer's simple solution is to stop supporting Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. He states that Israel is "an artificially created country." He doesn't mention that almost all the Arab countries in the Middle East are artificially created.
What is really confusing about his letter is that he starts off by saying we should stop trying to be "the savior of the world" but ends up saying we should establish a "coalition of the free." What then is the writer leaving for the United Nations to do?
-- Marvin Katz, Oldsmar
The "slugging' won't be easy
Re: Iraq nightmares are coming true, by Maureen Dowd, Aug. 21.
Maureen Dowd is right on the mark with our situation in Iraq. We (the United States) have started something we don't know quite how to finish!
Things continue to look worse each and every day. Bombings and death escalate while we seem to be unable to control the situation. We've opened a Pandora's box and have lost the ability to contain things.
Dowd's last paragraph sums it up: "So where are we? We can't leave, and we can't stay forever. We just have to slug it out."
This "slugging" won't be easy.
-- Dorothy E. Karkheck, Dunedin
Let's mind our own business
During the 1930s, I was often told by adults to "M.Y.O.B." That is, mind your own business!
At the age of 75, I advise the United States to M.Y.O.B. We stick our nose everywhere! Who died and left the United States boss?
We don't belong in the Middle East! We don't belong in Iraq! We need to get this "one nation under God" back to the basics. We need a large dose of humility!
-- Ralph A. Packard Jr., St. Petersburg
Don't play politics with planes
When on the Air Staff in the late 1970s Pentagon, it was very apparent to me that the priorities between competing requirements favored everything but getting new engines for an underpowered and potentially dangerous refueling tanker, the KC-135. There were times during the takeoff phase that the airplane was doomed if certain conditions occurred. Finally, the tiring airframe was given a new engine in the early 1980s, and the rest is history.
Today we again find the military trying to modernize the air-refueling capabilities that have been so critical to the Gulf War and again to the Iraq campaign. The problem is no longer the engines but the tired airframe that first came into the inventory in 1954. A half-century old and we expect our pilots to fly the same aircraft that the airlines have taken out of their inventory over 30 years ago. When was the last time you flew commercially on a 707 aircraft?
Today's budget will not let the military buy a new refueling aircraft. The Air Force has worked for two years to negotiate a deal to lease a new refueling tanker to begin to replace its aging fleet. With 40 percent of the fleet out of commission for repair at any given time, our fighting men and women are desperate for new tankers.
Congress is getting ready to vote on whether to approve the Air Force's negotiated lease deal with the Boeing Aircraft Co. And some folks are playing politics as usual up in Washington to stop our troops from getting the planes they need. While our representatives are home this month, all citizens who support our troops must contact their congressional offices and let the lawmakers know that we won't stand for political games when it comes to winning the war on terror.
-- Charles R. Schaefer, lieutenant colonel (retired), U.S. Air Force, Niceville
Bush's support for veterans is scarce
I am somewhat surprised President Bush chose to make an address at the American Legion convention. And I'm even more surprised he got a uniformly enthusiastic reception.
I say this because of the way the White House has dug in its heels in opposing an end to the "Disabled Veterans Tax." Moreover, the White House has generally not been a supporter of veterans issues. President Bush may be a friend of the military, but that's active military. He spends money like it's going out of style, but he gives veterans the short end of the stick, so to speak. Oh, he might talk like he cares about the veterans, but when it comes time to put words into action, not only does he come up short, he also stands in the way.
-- Ernest Lane, Trinity
Labor costs send jobs elsewhere
Re: Let them work for their wages, letter, Aug. 25.
I found it rather interesting that the letter supporting an increase in the minimum wage appeared in the same issue of Times as did Robert Trigaux's excellent, but disturbing, article (The call to move overseas) on the increasing trend of "out-sourcing" jobs to overseas locations. Corporations are making this move based simply on economics. The labor rate in countries such as China, India, Malaysia etc., is far less than it is in the United States. Yet the letter writer states that "These writers would have you believe raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses. It hasn't yet."
If it hasn't, it's because those businesses have moved their manufacturing and/or service centers off-shore to cut costs! If we continue to increase the minimum wage, this problem will worsen to the extent where we'll have teenagers "flipping burgers" for $10 an hour but too few people with jobs to afford them!
-- Bob Lindskog, Palm Harbor
Suddenly, we're noticing
Re: The call to move overseas, Aug. 25.
Does it suddenly seem more serious when white-collar jobs find a home overseas? I doubt if this revelation plays well with those thousands of blue-collar workers who have already "bit the bullet." Sometimes it takes a personal experience to recognize someone else's pain.
The big question should be: "How much longer does this go on?" It's just a shame this economic policy can't affect the jobs of politicians. If their jobs were even remotely threatened, the laws that allow this job exodus would probably change overnight.
-- Russ Kelley, Largo
Why change a good thing?
Re: New comic section.
The new comics are far too many, and they are not any good. And some are colorless in more ways than one. Why did you change a good thing when you already had a good mix? Now it is a nuisance. I don't want to get involved with that section anymore.
Separating the puzzles was not a good idea either. That package of good, lightweight fun was quick and easy to fit into a quick breakfast break. Now it's a mess of gobbledygook.
-- S.D. Haddock, Brooksville
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