LETTERS

What Will It Take to Stop Rape in the Military?

To the Editor:

Re “Joint Chiefs’ Answers on Sex Crimes Dismay Senators” (news article, June 5):

On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981. From that date forward, the armed forces of the United States were colorblind. Decades ahead of the larger American society, minorities in our armed forces enjoyed the same rights as anyone else in the services.

Any officer unwilling to enforce this policy was invited to resign his commission immediately.

President Obama as commander in chief of our armed forces has it in his power to ensure that rape of our sons and daughters in the services is taken seriously — as a crime and not as a youthful indiscretion. To do so, he would not have to buck public opinion as Truman did; we’re way out ahead of him on this one.

He would merely have to show spine enough to embrace Truman’s precedent. I’m not holding my breath.

BARRY HASKELL LEVINE
Lafayette, Calif., June 5, 2013

LETTERS

The Violent Crackdown in Egypt

To the Editor:

President Obama showed both sense and spine in 2011 when he urged President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The marchers of the Arab Spring clearly carried the Egyptian people’s legitimate aspirations for a representative government. Mr. Mubarak — although a longtime ally of this country — had put himself on the wrong side of history.

Since then we have not done as well. By continuing aid, we have legitimized the coup that ousted Mohamed Morsi.

It is never convenient to confess such a mistake. But as long as we underwrite the Egyptian budget and the Egyptian military, the United States has a voice. And that voice must say that Mr. Morsi is the duly elected president of Egypt, that the coup that ousted him is illegitimate and that the dollars won’t flow until legitimate democracy is restored.

BARRY HASKELL LEVINE
Lafayette, Calif., Aug. 15, 2013

Think Twice About Egypt

Published: September 26, 2013

Connect With Us on Twitter

For Op-Ed, follow@nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow@andyrNYT.

To the Editor:

Re “Egyptian Court Shuts Down the Muslim Brotherhood and Seizes Its Assets” (news article, Sept. 24):

Decades after the fact, American citizens are still learning about the role our government played in the coups that toppled Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and Salvador Allende in Chile. We pray that Egypt’s new junta proves less murderous than the governments of the shah or Augusto Pinochet.

But this much we know already: The junta that we’ve tacitly accepted in Egypt is the most repressive government there in human memory.

Americans should consider with open eyes our own role in creating the horrors of the last century before embarking on any more experiments in regime change around the world.

BARRY HASKELL LEVINE
Lafayette, Calif., Sept. 24, 2013

Lessons From France

Published: March 12, 2012

• 
  

To the Editor:

Re “As Candidates Speak in France, the Meter Is Running” (Memo From Paris, March 8): The French have much to teach us about running a democracy.

Too many Americans have been taught that participation in our government — outside one day of voting each cycle — is limited to giving or soliciting money. But proper democracy requires that all of us engage in discussing the issues of our day.

The moment in the voting booth is only the culmination of that long process. In 2012, political discussion in the United States has been usurped by the corporate noise machine. Real issues (campaign finance reform, prosecuting torture, America’s role as cop of the world) can’t even get into the media.

This is not the America our founding fathers staked their lives on. If the French have a better idea of how to embody our shared revolutionary ideals, we should sneer less and attend more.

BARRY HASKELL LEVINE
Lafayette, Calif., March 8, 2012

: re: The Guns of August

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 10:55 AM
Subject: re: The Guns of August
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

   President Francois Hollande makes carefully outraged noises " How can we remain neutral when a civilian airliner is brought down" he asks. Mr Hollande's government of course is not neutral. Selling warships to Russia while the deaths of 189 Dutch citizens remains unexplained makes him a material supporter of State terror.

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/opinion/the-guns-of-august.html?_r=0

Subject: re: Sunni Extremists in Iraq Seize 3 Towns From Kurds and Threaten Major Dam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 4:33 PM
Subject: re: Sunni Extremists in Iraq Seize 3 Towns From Kurds and Threaten Major Dam
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

   For three years, the U.S. government has dithered, terrified of backing the wrong side while the civil war in Syria has claimed 170,000 lives.At one time, 800 distinct factions were enumerated each of whom wanted al-Assad dead for their own reasons.  It is time--not for U.S. boots on the ground--but for us to back what is right against what is monstrous.  As president Truman recognized and armed Israel in 1948, it is time that president Obama recognize and arm Kurdistan.  The Kurds have a right to self-determination as enunciated in the UN charter.  If that irks the Iranians, the Iraqis, the Syrians and the Turks so be it. Their imperial ambitions can't trump a people's right. And the Kurds will host an American airbase every bit as nice as Incirlik if it comes to that. They--unlike their neighbors--actually like us.

Barry

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/04/world/middleeast/iraq.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

: re: The C.I.A.’s Reckless Breach of Trust

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 8:06 AM
Subject: re: The C.I.A.’s Reckless Breach of Trust
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

    John Brennan is senator Feinstein's own monster. It was she who cut short sen. Wyden's questioning in the confirmation hearing, it was she that leapt to endorse Brennan before we knew what he had done and what he meant to do. If she won't now sacrifice an ox that is known to gore, she will bear its sins. 

   They should both be fired. President Obama can dismiss Brennan at will. The People of California will have to deal with senator Feinstein.

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/opinion/The-CIAs-Reckless-Breach-of-Trust.html?_r=0