Brainstorm! Challenge

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Mufi envisions city working with state

Several letters to the editor have voiced concern that mayoral candidate Mufi Hannemann's platform would duplicate state government services. What he is really trying to do is maximize the use of tax money in areas like maintaining roadways, our parks, schools and recreational facilities.

Another area of concern is school campus security. A recent example of this was the potential gang fight at Farrington High School, which was quelled by the presence of police officers who were called to the campus. Hannemann's proposal is to work hand-in-hand with high-risk schools (state) by having them provide office or classroom space for Honolulu Police Department beat officers (city) to do their reports while patrolling in that area. The presence of officers on campus will be a deterrent to illegal activity.

Steven T.K. Burke
Pearl City

Much could have been done to prevent 9/11

I would like to address two questions in the April 20 letter headlined "How would critics have prevented 9/11?"

>> "What would you have done?" With all the intelligence chatter going on about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida wanting to attack America, the ongoing investigations in the FBI and other agencies, the fact that al-Qaida had attacked our people before and the much-talked-about President's Daily Brief, I would have convened meetings with all national intelligences chiefs and told them to lay everything on the line for me. Seeing all this information together probably would have prompted me to declare war on al-Qaida.

Such a declaration would have facilitated cooperation between all involved agencies, identified suspects already in country and given priority to the offensive to capture or kill bin Laden and al-Qaida.

>> "Before 9/11, could anyone have reasonably imagined that our enemies were capable of committing mass murder ...?" Yes. According to news reports, two years before 9/11, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) envisioned such an attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and practiced scenarios to determine how to respond. About five months before 9/11, NORAD asked permission to practice a scenario in which a jetliner attacked the Pentagon, but was told that the scenario was "too unreasonable."

We could have done more and we must do more in the future.

Kenneth L. Barker
Honolulu

Show gave unfair view of VA health care

ABC's "Primetime Thursday" recently featured a report on the Veterans Administration health-care system. Hidden cameras in several VA facilities unfairly put a bad light on the entire VA system.

If the people at ABC wanted to help veterans, they should have brought these disturbing situations to the VA's attention immediately instead of withholding the tapes for more than five months. The program does a disservice to the many dedicated VA health-care professionals who provide medical care to millions of veterans each year. As an example, the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System in Hawaii was recently judged one of the best medical centers in the VA system by a national organization, a direct result of the hard work, dedication and commitment of its staff.

While the situations taped by "Primetime" are disturbing and need to be corrected, they are not indicative of the outstanding work done by the nation's No. 1 health-care delivery system. Hawaii's disabled veterans are proud of our VA

Art Forcier
State commander
Disabled American Veterans Department of Hawaii

Constitution doesn't apply to Saddam

While I agree with Paul D'Argent's conclusions in his April 7 letter ("Iraq invasion violated our Bill of Rights"), he makes an illogical suggestion. In discussing our arrest of Saddam, he mentions the U.S. Constitution's requirement of probable cause and its ban on illegal searches and seizures. However, Saddam is not a U.S. citizen and therefore he was never protected by the Constitution.

The bigger question is, what are we charging Saddam with? He could not break U.S. laws since he was never a citizen and he never set foot on our soil. He could not break Iraqi law since he was the sole source of it. If we say he has broken international law, then an international tribunal is the only body with jurisdiction. And if you want to appeal to something like the Declaration of Independence, well then, the responsibility to overthrow Saddam was squarely on the Iraqi people.

Bryan Mick
Kailua

Regents are paid to make own decisions

What are the two main responsibilities of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents? They are the same as any board of directors of a corporation or board of trustees of a foundation: to establish policy and hire or fire the chief executive.

If they do not approve of the chief executive's performance, they should remove him. If they do not feel sufficiently dissatisfied, they should retain him and provide guidance.

They should not spend money to have someone else tell them whether their CEO is competent. Doing so is evidence of their incompetence to perform the job entrusted to them and they should be replaced.

Their office does not grant the right for petty squabbles or personal agendas. It is a trust conferred upon them and should be respected.

Douglas A. Russell
Honolulu

When all else fails, Republicans attack

Lenny Klompus is Gov. Linda Lingle's PR man, formerly the organizer of the Pro Bowl. He's good at what he does, which is spin, but he has no business weighing in on education reform (Letters, April 1).

His attack on Majority Leader Scott Saiki is typical of the governor's approach to this issue. When you are totally isolated and don't have a leg to stand on, when all of the experts, the teachers, the principals and the business community are against you, attack Democrats. That always seems to work.

Norma Jean Nicholl
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] Hawaii is popularly known as "The Aloha State." What might be a better slogan? To get started, think about what you might see around the islands -- rainbows, waves, sand, traffic jams, homeless orangutans ... Send your ideas by April 21 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or by mail: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Or by fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750