Body armor doesn't kill, insurgents do

Front page headline: "Body armor blamed in U.S. Marine deaths" (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 7). Gosh, and all this time I had thought it was terrorist insurgents who were killing Marines! How naive of me.

Whoever writes headlines like this is either ignorant or terribly biased. I'm told this is part of a media campaign to make combat losses all our nation's fault, never the fault of the radical Islamic terrorists.

Wonder why the headline writer didn't simply blame George Bush; it's so much more fashionable!

Sheehan not using son for her own benefit

In response to Gary F. Anderson's Jan. 7 letter to the editor, Cindy Sheehan is not using her son's death to get attention for herself. She is using her son's death to let the world know that her son and other sons and daughters have died in Iraq as a result of President Bush's lies about Iraq.

Each and every one of those brave soldier's deaths is the result of Bush's lies.

Cindy Sheehan is an American hero for continuing her crusade to inform the public about Bush's lies and why her son and others have died because of those lies.

It's time to get out of Iraq before any more soldiers are killed because of Bush's lies.

We need city services and they cost money

As a taxpayer, I feel entitled to full city services and then some. But at what cost? The mayor has attempted to satisfy us and yet we're not satisfied. So, everyone, suck it up -- or we'll have nothing. Thank you very much.

Property tax rates must be set fairly

I find it to be nothing but a political bouncing ball to watch our mayor and our City Council address the issue of property taxes, appraisal rates, plans for relief, exemptions and so on. Why do they have to attempt to curry favor with each group of moaning taxpayers as a separate group by offering a favorable solution to each and every complainant? Are we rewarding the squeaky wheels?

Every property owner has seen a ridiculous increase. Do your jobs. Set a budget, determine what money is needed, look at your appraised values and then assess a rate that fulfills that need. No favoritism, no political balls to toss around and no windfall profit for government.

Doubt was reasonable in Manoa robbery case

Shaun Rodrigues was home sleeping (according to family members) when a Manoa home was robbed, but he's going to prison (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 10).

A few years ago, a guy was on the front pages of the newspapers. At the carwash I briefly thought it strange that everyone was scattered throughout the store because usually there's a line. A man started laughing and told me that people thought I was Byran Uyesugi, the "Xerox killer." They'd mistaken me for someone two inches shorter and 60 pounds heavier.

Deputy Prosecutor Russell Uehara said, "The victims, Dianne and Dawn Sugihara, are both intelligent, educated and honest people. They would not have convicted the wrong person."

But if Rodrigues was convicted solely on the testimony of the victims, then the "fail-safe" for the system has failed. The FBI reports that 25 percent of the time, the eyewitness identifies the wrong person, and the percentage of error increase with stress. In recent decades DNA testing identified 30-35 percent of young men convicted of rape as being wrongly identified by the rape victims. Many of these men were imprisoned more than a decade.

The Sugiharas might honestly believe that Rodrigues robbed them, but people, especially those under severe stress, make mistakes. This fact combined with Rodrigues' alibi and the mismatched fingerprint should have been enough to cast reasonable doubt.