To the Editor:
David Brooks (“Clear, Hold and Duct Tape,” column, Dec. 1) coolly treats the current debacle and President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan as if it were an interesting problem in military tactics whose outcome it will be instructive to observe.
Bob Herbert, on the other hand (“A Tragic Mistake,” column, Dec. 1), in resonance with the plight of United States soldiers and citizens, reminds us of the actual and terrible cost of this misconceived war and of the shameful duplicity of politicians who know better but who fear or refuse to appear “weak.”
How telling and how tragic. As if it were foretold in stone, America is once more being carried forward by the seemingly intractable nature of human character.
Hugh Seidman
New York, Dec. 1, 2009
To the Editor:
Thank you, Bob Herbert, for continuing to highlight the morally bankrupt war policy of the Obama administration as it prepares to send ever more young American soldiers off to die in our useless wars.
I believed President Obama’s pledge to end the wars, and I campaigned heavily for him because I hated seeing so much death and destruction done in my name as an American citizen. I am now sickened to see him continuing the ridiculous policies of the Bush-Cheney administration and wonder: when will we as a nation say that enough is enough?
David Moreton
Los Angeles, Dec. 1, 2009
Note from KBJ: How long before President Obama is called "warmonger" and "war criminal"? Why is he being treated so gently, as compared to President Bush? Oh, wait; I know. If he were held to the same standard and treated the same way, it would be racist.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 