Letters to the editor – 2/18/15

Wrong on Tulsi

Bob Jones’ recent column criticizes Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s views on foreign policy because he assumes that Tulsi’s experience in Iraq was as a “mainly-on-base military policewoman.” How sad that Mr. Jones’ conclusion does not reflect the wider experience in Iraq of Rep. Gabbard.

I know Tulsi. She twice deployed to Iraq with the 29th Brigade Combat Team, first as Spc. Gabbard, an enlisted soldier with the Medical Company of the Brigade. The 29th BCT was assigned to secure a sector of the Sunni Triangle, a more volatile part of Iraq. She, along with the soldiers of the 29th, didn’t spend all their time inside the wire and witnessed the horrific Muslim-on-Muslim violence and carnage in the name of Allah.

Tulsi showed great leadership potential, so I asked her to complete Officer Candidate School and serve as a commissioned officer in the Hawaii Army National Guard. She did that, graduating top in her class just in time to rejoin the 29th for its second deployment to Iraq.

As the commander of the Brigade’s Military Police Unit, she was required to coordinate the safe transit of 29th BCT units with Iraqi and Kuwaiti police units, adding to her experience with Muslims in the Middle East.

I would say Tulsi experienced America’s foreign policy at the 100- and 1,000-foot level while President Obama and Secretary Kerry ply their trade at 30,000 feet. Capt. Gabbard is a smart soldier, and I agree with her assessment of extremist and fanatical Islam.

Robert G.F. Lee
Major General, U.S. Army (Ret) Adjutant General

NCAA vs. HART

If only we could convince the NCAA to investigate HART’s operations and the City Council and Legislature’s reasons for their stands on big-money decisions, we might then get to the bottom of this graft and get there quickly.

We cannot extend the rail tax any longer than its present sunset date of 2022.

Mary J. Culvyhouse
Kaneohe

Heaven on Earth

I know Jay Sakashita will get a lot of mail on his column “Serials Killers You’ll Meet In Heaven.” But as a United Church of Christ pastor (serving as interim at Lihue Christian Church on Kauai), I am in his corner. I know it is hard for some followers of Jesus to separate his truths from what the church later interpreted to be a different version of his basic tenet: That God is most interested in the compassion and the shining of the “light” that Jesus brings to those heavy-ladened. It is a gospel of hope that inspires us to reach for a higher plateau in life and in our interactions with our fellow beings.

Blessings,

Tom Fujita
Lihue Christian Church