Watada's challenge shows respect for law
Regarding
U.S. Army Lt. Ehren Watada's refusal to deploy to Iraq:
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law. So said Martin Luther King. So say I.
Louie Vierra
Haiku, Maui
Watada broke contract with Army, period
1st Lt. Ehren Watada should be given full anticipated consequences of federal prison punishment.
His attorney's reasons for defending him may well be valid, but nothing can be more valid than his action of breaching his originally signed contract with the U.S. Army, which is the real issue in this case ... certainly not brain-surgeon type thinking to us common folks.
Watada deserves the anticipated federal punishment forthcoming. Let him have a well-deserved rest in a federal home.
Mel Padello
Waipahu
Why focus on 3,000 U.S. troop deaths?
Oh what a great New Year's Day front page. "Happy New Year" in red at the top, then in little bigger print below it, "Star-Bulletin," but then, overwhelming it all so as to make sure nobody would miss it, was "3,000 DEAD." I hasten to add that by this time, this was not new news since the media had delighted in spreading the bad news previously. I'm sure it cheered everyone up, especially the families of those who have died. Obviously it was more attention getting than any kind of positive outlook. Of course, it is a devastating statistic, and as the widow of an Air Force veteran and the mother of a Navy veteran, both of whom were in the thick of fighting, please don't try to convince me you couldn't find some other way to greet the New Year in headlines.
How about some support for the military and acknowledgment of great things they still manage to do over there in the midst of the chaos? But, hey, that just wouldn't sell as many papers, right?
Marion Parmley
Hawaii Kai
Howell has lucid plan for dealing with Iraq
I echo the point Llewellyn Howell made in his lucid commentary on Iraq (
Star-Bulletin, Dec. 13) -- that Iraq should now be seen as three "countries" in a many-sided civil war.
A single Iraq will not be viable again regardless of U.S. and other nations' polices designed to hold it together. While the "nation state" concept might be nearly obsolete, it remains what world leaders will endorse for the foreseeable future.
In that case, let us not be timid in regularly adding new nation states when, as in the case of the very newest, East Timor, that is the only alternative to prolonged conflict, bloodshed and misery. In fact, there are hundreds of unrecognized "nation peoples," many of whom are more deserving of a seat at the world's banquet table, as represented by the United Nations, than some who are now gorging at it.
I was a journalist based in Singapore in the 1960s when that island was ejected from Malaysia. Well, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew could not hold back his tears on TV when the Malaysian leader, Tuanku Abdul Rahman, threw him out of the confederation. But look what Singapore has since become, like it or not!
Howell also reminds us that India gave birth to Pakistan, and Pakistan in turn gave birth to Bangladesh, and Yugoslavia to ... to quintuplets? All these births were bloody indeed. So it goes, it can hardly be any worse! Let's invite everyone to the feast! Carpenters, keep constructing more desks on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly! Pupus for everyone!
Keith Lorenz
Honolulu
Photo of Mokuluas recalled memories
I admire your sensitivity in the selection of photos for "Images of 2006," (
Star-Bulletin, Jan. 1) and succumb to the submittal of F.L. Morris taken in Lanikai looking out toward the Mokuluas.
This view angle was mine for 34 years. The peace in the scene reconstructed me after a hectic day at the Department of Transportation. On every full moon night in the year, Dot and I entertained friends on the seaward lanai, to watch hopefully the big moon emerge. Thank you.
E. Alvey Wright
Kaneohe
Rail plan shows how Dems abuse power
So the rail is going through,
and we must all pay for it. Everyone with increased taxes and many people by losing their businesses to make way for the new rail construction. It appears that the liberals in power in Hawaii are going to use eminent domain to steal land away from their fellow residents to build a rail system that will take the better part of several decades to build and will cost us, our children and our grandchildren billions. A decision that was made with no voter input.
If this is what happens when Democrats are in power on the local level, I am afraid of what will happen now that they control Congress in D.C.!
Shawn Lathrop
Kaneohe