Rumsfeld’s legacy
I read the wonderfully moving tribute to Donald Rumsfeld with much surprise. He sounded like a generous, humble person.
The truth is that he was a horrible failure, a war criminal who’s legacy is defined by the disastrous Iraq War and America’s disgraceful use of torture.
He fired Hawaii’s own, Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, and fired U.S. Army Secretary Thomas White and dozens of military brass because they questioned his quest to invade Iraq. He supported the lies and the liars to make the war to remove Saddam Hussein.
His allegiance to the neo-con notions led him (and Cheney, Wolfowitz, etc) to actually believe that the Iraqis would welcome us and embrace capitalism and democracy, and everything would just be great!
Gen. Shinseki, if they were determined to invade, wanted hundreds of thousands of troops for the invasion, and when told by Rumsfeld that he could take Baghdad with 40,000 U.S. Marines, Shinseki said that’s not the point. Baghdad is a city of 8 million in a country of 30 million. What do you do the next day?
When the next day came, and Baghdad fell to chaos and looting, Rumsfeld said, “Stuff happens.”
Wiping out Saddam created a power vacuum that the Shia and Iran filled, and upset the world’s balance of power. And the invasion was a great stimulus to Muslim terrorists. ISIS was initially founded in 2004 as “al-Qaida in Iraq.”
When Rumsfeld was exposed as a liar about the weapons of mass destruction, he just said he had made “misstatements.” He was the chief architect of a policy of war and torture that has made America look very bad, and that spent $6.4 trillion of our taxpayer’s money since 9/11.
His legacy is 7,135 U.S. troops killed, at least 50,000 U.S. troops injured, countless PTSD victims and suicides, 34 million displaced, and the destruction of the United States as a leader in democracy and fairness.
Patrick Easterling
Hilo
Give them bonuses
I followed with interest how the state Legislature does not intend to override the governor’s veto on bonuses to teachers. I suspect that is because they know that, unlike tourism, they will not get the votes needed.
To me, there is something inherently misguided about the value placed on teachers in our modern society. The teacher was highly revered and rewarded in all indigenous societies. In my opinion, teachers should get those bonuses, without question.
As an educator since 1964, having taught in Pennsylvania, California, Oregon and Hawaii, I must admit bias. In those years, I have also served as curriculum specialist and teacher trainer.
I have a theory. I believe that we should hire the best preschool and kindergarten teachers available and pay them the highest salaries, even higher than high school teachers and principals.
Just think about it. These early childhood teachers could prepare their students to succeed for the next 12 years of schooling. What a concept, yes?
We might come to a point where we would not have to depend on tourism at all. Give teachers the bonus.
Carrie Kowalski
Pahoa