Stay out of Iraq
Stay out of Iraq
After the first Gulf War, Iraq was, wisely, left largely intact. Under Saddam Hussein, the country remained secular. Iraq’s powers were limited by no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, which were very effective. Oil flowed freely from the Middle East.
In 2003, a Texan cowboy called George “Dubbya” Bush, egged on by a trigger-happy kid called Donald Rumsfeld and a scheming corporate executive named Dick Chaney, smelling profit for the “Military Industrial” complex, declared an unjust war on Iraq. The flimsy excuse was to seek weapons of mass destruction, which were never found.
Eleven years later, Iraq is no longer secular but has become sectarian. Instability and anarchy reign. Into this mess come the Sunni Muslim ISIS militants who want to create a Sunni “caliphate” extending from Syria to Iraq and, perhaps beyond. They are quickly conquering Iraq and hope to drive the Shiites out. Iran’s Shiite Grand Ayatollah has cried out to Shiite Muslims to mobilize, take up arms and fight the Sunnis.
If we are wise (which we have a poor track record of being), Americans should not get involved in this religiously motivated carnage. This is not our war! Let the Sunnis and Shiites battle it out! Perhaps the enemies of Israel may even get to destroy each other!
Pradeepta Chowdhury
Hilo
Keep Santiago
Regarding Roger Meeker’s letter to the editor in the June 13 Tribune-Herald: I too wonder why Dr. Lyric Santiago has been terminated.
My father is 91 years old and was thrilled when Dr. Santiago became his urologist a few years ago. He occasionally gets bladder stones which Dr. Santiago has been able to perform minor surgery on right here in Hilo. It would be a shame if he had to travel at his age to Oahu for this procedure.
I’m sure there are other areas where costs can be cut. Please keep Dr. Santiago. She is such a pleasure to work with and is a wonderful urologist!
J. Ingman
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Attack on ag
So now there are two lawsuits challenging our county’s new GMO law.
Because of these actions, our taxes will go to defend this ill-conceived regulation. Where was the legal advice to the County Council members before they acted on this? Did they even ask legal experts if their proposed law might run into constitutional doubts? Were they so focused on pseudo-science and hysteria that they ignored the legality issue?
That the County Council would pass a law that would negatively impact agriculture on this island is dumbfounding.
Elaine Munro
Hilo