Kelley Benham's article about Faith Fippinger made me weep. Ms. Fippinger's strength of character and dedication to her principles should be a lesson for all Americans. The simple truths and heartache portrayed in this article should be required reading for the entire Bush administration. If Ms. Fippinger has a defense fund, I would be happy to contribute.
I live in an upscale gated community. I will no doubt benefit financially from the recent tax cuts, but I am not happy about it. I would rather pay more in taxes to ensure a better education for our young people, and some assurance that they will not be paying for this huge federal deficit for years to come. I don't even want to think about the rape of the EPA and what Bush/Cheney and their cohorts in Big Business Energy are going to do to our environment.
We, the voters, need to make some changes. The United States is the No. 1 world power. Yet we continue to have hungry children and no national health insurance. Those of us who are rich, continue to get rich, while the rest of the world suffers. Not acceptable.
I wish there was a way I could give Faith Fippinger a great big hug, and tell her that I am so happy for what she has done, since I didn't have the energy to do it myself. Thank you, Faith!
-- Jon Lewis Wahlstrom, St. Petersburg
Remember war's reality
I hope that our government agencies aren't too hard on Faith Fippinger (the human shield who lives in Sarasota). As her fellow citizens, we should show her some Christian kindness. As my dear departed grandmother used to say: "She's tetch in the haid." We learn from her own words that she has wandered the world, rudderless, seeking Nirvana for decades.
Those of us with our feet on the ground realize that America has been brutally attacked and we are, therefore, at war. This war has real enemies: Us, the good guys, trying to defend ourselves; and Them, the militant Islamics who want us destroyed. We can't talk them out of it, we can't reason with them.
America is not perfect, but probably as nigh to Nirvana as we'll get on this earth.
-- Rita Girard, Brooksville
A life of meaning and love
Re: A soft target.
Congratulations to Kelley Benham, Bill Serne and the editor for this compassionate story about Faith Fippinger. Her journey to Iraq and her whole life reminds me of a quote from Cesar Chavez:
"We can choose to use our lives for others and bring a better and more just world for our children. People who make that choice will know hardship and sacrifice. But if you give yourself totally to the nonviolent struggle for peace and justice you also find that people give you their hearts and you will never go hungry and never be alone. And in giving of yourself you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love."
-- Dwight Lawton, St. Petersburg
Important truths
Re: Iraq's current situation would mortify its creator, Aug. 31.
Thank heaven for Susan Taylor Martin! She has done it again, authoritatively telling important truths about the Middle East.
Her article on modern Iraq's "mother," Gertrude Bell, based on Janet Wallach's biography Desert Queen and on an interview with Wallach, throws needed light on the complex circumstances leading to the current bloody turmoil in Iraq.
No one acquainted with those circumstances (as our leaders and commentators should have been!) could be surprised by the events in Iraq since the end of "combat hostilities" on May 1 . . . or by equally appalling events in that region that are sure to come.
At the time of Iraq's birth as a nation just after World War I, King Faisal I put his finger on one of those circumstances: "Remember," he said to Bell, "we have been slaves for 600 years . . . We have not had centuries of liberty to train us to be free men." (Desert Queen, p. 345). Today, after Iraq's enslavement by Saddam Hussein, that statement is still pertinent.
Another important circumstance is that because of America's long alliance with Israel, in Arab and Muslim eyes the archenemy, Iraq's perennial hostility toward foreign intruders has intensified and focused on the United States.
In the leadership of a superpower, the combination of ignorance with arrogance, self-righteousness and greed is as dangerous as terrorism, and inevitably provokes it.
-- Mildred Harding, Gulfport
Subjective labels
Re: Word choice matters in Mideast reporting, Aug. 31.
The word terrorist is now being used by many governments to justify their own aggressive actions. It sort of gives legitimacy to their illegal ambitions.
I would suggest that Philip Gailey read A History of Israel by Howard M. Sachar and recall how the founding of Israel was wrought with violence by the Stern and Irgun organizations and others. They were responsible for the murders of Lord Moyne and the U.N. negotiator, Count Folke Bernadotte, the bombing of the King David Hotel and many other acts of sabotage.
I'm certain that Mr. Gailey would call these organizations "freedom fighters" even though the British and most of the word called them terrorists.
My aim is not to point the finger at either side but to show how the word "terrorist" has become both arbitrary and subjective.
I have one suggestion for the editor in writing about the combatants in the Mideast: Address an Israeli as "terrorist/freedom fighter," address a Palestinian as "terrorist/freedom fighter" and let the paper's readers decide how to classify the persons involved.
-- Arthur McGinnis, New Port Richey
When weapons are limited
Re: Word choice matters in Mideast reporting, Aug. 31.
I very much approve this column, which sought to clarify the distinction between a "terrorist" and a "militant" in connection with the many trouble spots that afflict our world today. However, the problem has many facets, and I would like to add one more that was brought to mind by this piece.
As a kid in grade school, I witnessed the usual number of fights between two boys. If it was a small kid against a big kid, sometimes the small kid would kick the big kid in the shin and run away. While kicking your opponent in the shin was always considered "dirty fighting," somehow it never seemed as bad if the offender had no other weapon available.
I realize that some Muslims and some Palestinians are dirty fighters when they use the weapon of terrorism, but against the high-tech armed might of America and Israel, what other weapon do they have?
-- Charles W. Clapp, Sun City Center
Key differences
Re: Word choice matters in Mideast reporting.
I suggest to Philip Gailey that terrorists intentionally target civilians for injury or death. We observe that when the Israelis unintentionally injure civilians they apologize; when terrorists intentionally injure civilians, the "militants" celebrate.
-- Gilbert Kushner, Tampa
Export the CEO jobs
Re: Manufacturing hits the skids, by David Broder, Aug. 31.
Much has been made of downsizing and outsourcing the American workforce in order to keep American businesses competitive in global markets. As David Broder points out, over the past three years, one in six industrial jobs, paying an average of $54,000 per year, has been lost to more "competitive" workers overseas.
Surely those countries which are able to provide so many competitive and competent industrial and service workers also have a surfeit of competitive and highly skilled top managers and CEOs who would be willing to work at a fraction of the millions of dollars in salaries, benefits and extraordinary perks paid to those at the top of America's business world. And the non-American business leaders would in fact have to meet only a very low standard of competence, since according to recent congressional testimony, the American business leaders who drove their own corporations to criminality, scandal, crisis and bankruptcy were not even aware of the fraud and corruption within their own organizations.
So let's all strive to replace these incompetent and uncompetitive American managers and CEOs with truly competent and competitive foreign ones. Export their jobs; it would be a bargain all around.
-- Jean Gottlieb, Brandon
[Last modified September 7, 2003, 02:02:02]
