Letters to the Editor
Greater part of Canada supports U.S. on war
Canadian by birth, I was outraged to hear that Prime Minister Chretien decided not to support the United States in Iraq. How can that be? Canada is a commonwealth country like Australia and Great Britain, and both support President Bush.
Well, Chretien is a French Canadian who has chosen to ignore that Canada is connected to the commonwealth, not France.
Canadian newspapers report that western Canada does not support Chretien and as a whole is disgusted, embarrassed and angry that it had no say in this issue.
For Americans who feel Canada has betrayed them, please know that the greater part of Canada is outraged at the prime minister's decision.
Susan Hansen
School psychologists can help in Iraq war
As a school psychologist who has worked in Hawai'i and as current president of the Hawai'i Association of School Psychologists, I was gratified to see "Tell your kids about war" and "Kids want to know why America may go to war" (March 16).
Even the most resilient children, teachers and parents may benefit from the support of trained professionals who are present in the schools. The printed material and Web site of the National Association of School Psychologists, of which our group is an affiliate, are valuable resources in these stressful times.
School psychologists have specialized graduate training in both psychology and education and are developing a stronger presence in the state due to the Felix consent decree. We need public support for local programs of preparation for school psychologists and enhancement of working conditions for school psychologists trained on the Mainland who have chosen to work in Hawai'i.
As our profession becomes established in Hawai'i, we will continue to enhance healthy educational and psychological development for all children.
Gloria Ann Katz, Ed.D.
President, Hawai'i Association of School Psychologists
Homefront must also get federal protection
"War is hell," said the Civil War's Gen. Sherman of the battlefront, but it is also hell on the homefront. While we support the men and women of our armed forces, let's also get prepared to support the families and children at home.
House Speaker Calvin Say and Rep. Sylvia Luke seem to be on the right track with a war-preparedness plan. They are right to look at the most effective steps we can take locally, but also make sure the federal government takes on its appropriate share of the burden.
If airlines go out of business, if jet fuel and gasoline prices double, if tourists stay home, we must be ready to take care of increased unemployment, declining tax revenues and increased security costs. Meanwhile, money for critical public services is likely to dry up as well.
Let's make sure the new federal Homeland Security Department doesn't just build up a bureaucracy but that it specifically helps take care of the costs and needs involved here in Hawai'i.
Patrick Stanley
Abercrombie hasn't grown in wisdom
Rep. Abercrombie has shown the same lack of vision as he did more than three decades ago. Today he proclaims the president has not proven that Iraq presents a threat to the United States or is linked to 9/11.
Does anyone recall that in the '60s, as a UH professor, he was part of a mob bent on storming the ROTC building on the Manoa campus, but was faced down by now state adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Bob Lee?
Folks need to take another look when he runs for re-election.
Dennis Quigley
Hale'iwa
Millions throughout world against war
I am very concerned that the war against Iraq has not yet been discussed in Congress. President Bush's foreign policies have been so hated by foreign nations and even many Americans that millions of people in the world have been protesting against war in Iraq.
Saturday there were many huge protests against war in Iraq worldwide. There were people from many countries, religions and professions. Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark was present. He urged the Americans to impeach President Bush right now and to oust his entire administration.
I do not approve of President Bush's secrecy about his personal problems and his father's bribing people to support President Bush. The United States needs a better president.
Rose Norberg
Elie Wiesel is wrong on need to attack Iraq
Much as I admire Elie Wiesel for his work in reminding the world of the Jewish Holocaust, I nevertheless question his opinion that we need to attack Iraq with our armed forces at this time (Island Voices, March 13).
I have long been concerned that our foreign policy for the Middle East has been largely devoted to supporting Israel. Annually, we give over $3 billion to Israel. Currently, under the oppressive leadership of the militarist Ariel Sharon, we are forced to turn our eyes away while he wages open warfare on the Palestinians.
The hawks of our own U.S. Department of Defense, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, are such strong Zionists in support of Israel that they cannot distinguish the separate interests of the United States from those of Israel.
I view Mr. Wiesel in this same light.
Not until we pursue a more moderate course of action and advocate an equitable and just peaceful settlement for the Palestinians in their homeland will we be able to secure a stable and lasting peace for the entire region.
Saddam needs to be contained. But we need the backing and support from the rest of the world in our efforts.
Donald F.B. Char
'Pre-emptive war' doctrine is unjustified
The Bush administration has invented an entirely new foreign policy doctrine for America — the doctrine of the right to launch "pre-emptive war" in response to a vaguely perceived threat.
Since the beginning of the republic, the United States has fought many wars, some legitimate, some not. But almost always the government did what it could to justify each war by blaming the adversary for having struck first.
Thus the United States either waited until the other side violated international law by committing aggression, as in the case of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, or until we could invent some fictitious aggression by the enemy, as in the case of the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam, or until we could provoke the other side into striking first, as in the case of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The purpose of these tactics was of course to gain the consent of the American people for smiting the enemy, and to gain international approval and support of the American war at hand.
But now, in preparing to invade Iraq, the United States for the first time in American history is asserting the right to invade another nation even though the latter has neither attacked America nor threatened to do so, but merely because our government deems it to be "evil."
If the Bush administration, God forbid, should succeed in applying this lawless doctrine of "pre-emptive war," the U.S. for years to come will sit astride the world intimidating and dictating to most other nations, which is precisely the real ambition of the hawks in Washington.
Oliver Lee
Put bickering aside, support our troops
Now that our president has issued his ultimatum and plan of action, it's time to put all partisan bickering aside and support our troops. All anyone can now do is to hope and pray for quick, successful results.
As a Defense Department employee and spouse of a Guardsman, I understand the anxiety many are facing and am most empathetic. Whether we support the president's foreign policy or not, we must back our men and women in uniform.
I truly admire the courage of our troops. It isn't easy leaving their loved ones behind, but that is their job. Most of us aren't required to make the ultimate sacrifice in our jobs. It's easy to distance ourselves from the realities and casualties of war because we're here in Hawai'i; however, we must realize that its ill-effects will be far-reaching, as many of us have loved ones in harm's way.
Please keep our world leaders, troops and their loved ones in your prayers. God bless the U.S.A. and the rest of the world.
L. Hanohano
'Ewa Beach
Tax money must be earmarked for schools
What do Mainland public school boards of education have that Hawai'i doesn't? They have tax money earmarked for the public schools with no strings attached.
In Hawai'i, accountability is blurred and micromanagement encouraged because legislators appropriate public school money and the governor approves appropriations and its release.
Whether we have one or many boards of education does not really matter if none of them has a reliable source of funds and the freedom to use them as its members see fit. Instead of proposing that half a percentage point of a 4.5 percent excise tax be earmarked for public schools, dedicating the entire 4.5 percent tax would be a nice start toward creating an accountable public school system.
Only then will Hawai'i's school board(s) amount to more than a hill of beans with name recognition.
Richard Y. Will
Aikau's selflessness the stuff of legends
Eddie Aikau surely knew he was more likely to die trying to make Lana'i than staying with the boat, and this is telling of his character.
Such selflessness is the stuff of dreams, of legends and of humanity.
It is true that Eddie would go —and go with God he did. Vaya con Dios, Eddie, and God bless.
David B. Jackson
'Ewa Beach
Long-line fisherman's net could corral salvinia
I have a suggestion on controlling the Salvinia molesta plant. Use a long-line fisherman's net to corral the salvinia to one side of the lake to get rid of it faster.
I hope this has taught us a lesson that procrastination isn't the best policy.
G. "Kuna" Kawelo
Wai'anae
How can we stop drunk drivers?
We commend The Advertiser for its March 2 article "Deadly Waimanalo curve to get improvements" in response to Ramus Seabury's death in a head-on crash recently near Olomana Golf Links.
According to police, alcohol is a suspected factor in the crash in which a 19-year-old man apparently fell asleep at the wheel of his truck near the golf course and crashed into a vehicle driven by Mr. Seabury. Two years ago, Lorrie-Ann Wiley died near the same location after another 19-year-old, who was driving drunk, drifted across the center line and hit her head-on as she drove toward Kailua.
While the state's efforts to improve highway safety in this area are laudable, engineering projects provide only part of the solution. Stricter laws regarding drunk driving and underage drinking need to be passed, and current laws relating to minors and alcohol need to be enforced.
We need to stop these unnecessary deaths before yet another person from our community is senselessly killed. We all need to ask ourselves what we as individuals can do to prevent these tragedies. How and where do these 19-year-old impaired drivers obtain their alcohol? Who saw these young people driving and didn't stop them? Who is looking the other way or even providing the alcohol that turns these young drivers into killers on our roads?
Underage drinking is a problem that cannot be ignored. Retail establishments, parents, older siblings and other enabling adults must realize that they are contributors to the deaths on our roads and the other problems that alcohol, the No. 1 drug of choice among teens and young adults, is causing.
This year, MADD has advocated for two legislative measures it believes would help prevent underage drinking and increase the responsibility and skills of young drivers on our roads. First, Senate Bill 1234, now waiting to be heard in the House of Representatives, would make an adult who knowingly provides alcohol to a minor liable when that minor causes the death of, or injury to, a third party.
The second bill, which would have required novice young drivers to have an adult in the vehicle when they drive specific nighttime hours, failed in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill was patterned after highly successful programs in many states. MADD will continue to work with the Legislature in the next session to pass a measure that will decrease the number of deaths caused by teen drivers.
Yvonne Nelson
President, Mothers Against Drunk Driving-Hawai'i
