Where’s Our Man in Iraq?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/opinion/06weston.html?scp=1&sq=our%20man%20in%20iraq&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Subject: re: Where’s Our Man in Iraq?
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    "Convincing the fractious spectrum of Iraqi religious and ethnic communities that the United States remains committed to fostering an enduring nonsectarian Iraq" requires more than prompt installation of our man in Baghdad. It requires reversing years of Bush policy in which we armed and empowered the sectarian militias that aspire to tear the Iraqi state apart. We did this at the expense of building the non-sectarian national organizations that Mr. Weston endorses.  As pressing as is the need for an ambassador in Iraq, the need for a coherent policy is more urgent.

Barry Levine

Obama and the Confidence Game

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/weekinreview/05baker.html?ref=todayspaper

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Subject: re: Obama and the Confidence Game
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    It is impossible that president Obama won't disappoint most of us in some way; too many disparate hopes ride on his presidency. One thing he can do to buoy our confidence is to distance himself from the crimes and cover-ups of the last administration. This means freeing any detainees from Guantanamo and other secret prisons who cannot be charged with crimes. Some of them may well proceed to assert--honestly--that they were tortured. That charge is a stain on the last administration, and not on Obama's. Americans voted for change, that that can't be satisfied while our government continues to defend the indefensible.

Barry Levine

An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig Is Back in Favor

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/dining/01pigs.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=hungarian%20pigs&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Subject: re: An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig Is Back in Favor
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  By the end of the article, we have learned that the mangalitsa pigs sampled had been fed a special diet and where twice as old at time of slaughter as the benchmark American factory-raised pigs. Why should we expect the marbling, or the flavor, or anything else to be comparable?

Barry Levine

Chinese Inmates at Guantánamo Pose a Dilemma

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/us/politics/01gitmo.html?scp=1&sq=chinese%20pose%20a%20dilemma&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Subject: re: Chinese Inmates at Guantánamo Pose a Dilemma
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   If the U.S. is to be China's jailer to her dissidents, we should do it on solid grounds. What evidence against these men has been tested in court? Merely being a foreigner in Afghanistan was enough to get one turned in for an American bounty. A trillion dollars in U.S. bonds gives Beijing a real interest in our policies, but as a sovereign nation, we must still make our own decisions on who deserves liberty.

Barry Levine

Obama Will Face a Defiant World on Foreign Visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/washington/29global.html?ref=todayspaper

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Subject: re: Obama Will Face a Defiant World on Foreign Visit
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   After eight years of Bush/Cheney, our allies respect us less and our enemies fear us less. This is not of president's Obama's making; he was elected by a population revolted by this slip in our standing. Nonetheless, this is the reality of 2009 in which he must advance his agenda. To move forward into a new era of trust and cooperation, the U.S. will have to demonstrate anew that it is trustworthy in negotiation and faithful to our treaty obligations. As long as we continue to shield those who tortured, who enabled torture, and who covered up torture--in defiance of the 1984 Protocols on Torture--our allies have no incentive to enter into any new agreements with us.

Barry Levine

Spanish Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush-Era Officials

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/world/europe/29spain.html?ref=europe

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 8:39 PM
Subject: re: Spanish Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush-Era Officials
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

 Although it took us five years, the U.S. did sign and ratify the 1984 Convention Against Torture. As you note "[c]ountries that are party to the torture convention have the authority to investigate torture cases, especially when a citizen has been abused." More importantly, we have the obligation to investigate and prosecute or extradite those who committed such crimes. It is praise-worthy that president Obama has not launched partisan attacks on the former regime. If we are to have a "government of laws, not one of men", it remains incumbent on him to enforce the law, even when it is not politically convenient.

Barry Levine

Pakistan and Afghan Taliban Close Ranks

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/world/asia/27taliban.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=carlotta%20gall&st=cse

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 8:34 AM
Subject: re: Pakistan and Afghan Taliban Close Ranks
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    As disparate factions of the Taliban seek unity, it is past time for the U.S. to examine how we could more effectively recruit support for our project. We should start by renouncing president Bush's call for "Crusade". With that one word, he alienated key allies in our effort to eliminate Al Qaeda. President Bush aggrandized his office and himself as a war-time leader, but he did it at the expense of our legitimacy in leading a broad-based coalition.

Barry Levine