Letters to the Editor – 6/17/15
ISIS or Iran?
I suggest Bob Jones (“Why Isn’t The West Fighting ISIS?”) read Patrick Buchanan’s column in the same issue of MidWeek (“Our ‘Friends’ Prefer ISIS To Iran”).
Yes, our allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia and even Israel are not concerned with ISIS. The larger threat for them is Assad’s Alawite Syria, Yemen’s Shia Houthis and Iraq’s Shia government, all allies of Iran. If the West wants to fight ISIS and Al-Qaeda, we should be supporting Assad and working with Iran. Better to supply weapons to Iran, whose troops won’t run from a fight with ISIS, than put American soldiers on the ground.
Mr. Jones should have learned the lessons of Vietnam and now Iraq: American soldiers cannot win unless the local population supports the government and is willing to fight for it.
We can delay the inevitable, but at what cost in American blood and treasure?
Peter Chisteckoff
Mililani Mauka
Lots of reasons
In response to Bob Jones asking why aren’t we fighting ISIS, here are some possible answers.
1. It’s a family fight. None of our business. Are we supposed to intervene in every fight around the world where a bunch of bad guys are mistreating the general population? They are not a direct threat to the U.S. at this time. Maybe to some oil interests, but we and Canada can pump enough to fill our needs.
2. Who would we be protecting? Not clear. If it’s the Sunni Saudis, they perform their own atrocities such as routinely cutting off the right hand for minor infractions and stoning women to death for supposed infidelity, never mind the other horrors of Sharia law. Besides which, they have the best Air Force in the region and probably the best army. Why don’t they fight their own battles? Probably because half of their population believes in the ISIS cause and would start a revolution if they tried. Maybe we should be fighting them.
3. How about the Shiites? The Shiite militias routinely invade peaceful Sunni villages, killing off the population Maybe we should attack them.
4. The fact is there was never a real Iraq. It does not exist now nor will it ever. It’s sort of like the Humpty Dumpty story of the children’s rhyme. The only people worth supporting are the Kurds. If we tried to provide them with tanks and heavy weapons, the Turks would object as they also have a large Kurdish population which they have been fighting internally for years.
5. We already are supporting the fight against ISIS indirectly. By doing this we also are supporting the militias who are funded and trained by Iran. So if we win, then Iran wins also. Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t Iran the enemy?
Circumstances make strange bedfellows.
Paul Tyksinski
Kailua
Man-made gods
Re: Carol White’s letter in response to Jay Sakashita’s column on Satan — Satan, gods, religions and religious books were all created by fallible humans.
I have to wonder if all the billions of dollars wasted on perpetuating all these religions went for health, education and welfare, what a better world it would be.
Fred Metcalf
Kalihi
The new HART
“Singapore’s Brilliant Housing Plan” (Bob Jones) doesn’t have a chance in Honolulu. The City Council just booted the mayor’s Office of Strategic Development — aka “HART” (“Homeless Are Rubbish Too”) — as they have yet to determine how they and their supporters can best profit from providing minimum wage workers with housing.
Rico Leffanta
Honolulu
A silly bill
Honolulu is on the top of the list with worst roads, bad traffic, highest rentals, most expensive place to live, etc. And people are struggling to make ends meet, myself included. While all this is happening, our elected officials are doing nothing to help their constituents to improve conditions and reduce the costs of living.
A fine example of this is the Star-Advertiser photograph of a radiantly smiling city councilman and new father, Trevor Ozawa, calling for public restrooms in business establishments to be equipped with diaper changing stations.
How is this bill going to benefit the populace? As a councilman, Ozawa should concentrate his efforts toward lowering costs, and improving living conditions for everyone. Dull minds make for inept bills.
Tony Gonzalez
Makaha
