Taliban Exploit Openings in Neglected Province

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/world/asia/30baghlan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=taliban%20exploit%20openings&st=cse

- Hide quoted text -

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 11:21 AM
Subject: re: Taliban Exploit Openings in Neglected Province
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Ms. Rubin's article makes clear what has been unspoken for seven years. The Pashtun minority in Pul-i-karmi--as in Afghanistan as a whole--means to impose their rule on all Afghans. That should be no more acceptable in Afghanistan (where Pashtun constitute a large minority) than it was in South Africa (where Whites constitute a small minority). As a Western-educated and democratically-inclined Pashtun, Hamid Karzai sits in the middle of this conflict. It's more than any one man can resolve, but  someone's got to lead, and he has the microphone.

Barry Levine

Envoy Says Corruption Helps Taliban Win Recruits

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/world/asia/29diplo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=corruption%20helps%20taliban&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 12:18 PM
Subject: re: Envoy Says Corruption Helps Taliban Win Recruits
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  Before we send another body or another bullet to Afghanistan, we need to know more clearly what ambassador Holbrooke means by "adequate precautions to cut down on the misuse of billions of dollars in American aid".  Every day that the U.S. is perceived by Afghans to be supporting a corrupt regime moves us farther from credibility, farther from security and farther from peace. We lost in Vietnam pouring our resources into propping up a corrupt and unloved government there.  It would be unjust to ambassador Holbrooke to  conclude from his bland dismissal that he treats corruption lightly. It would be a graver injustice to our armed forces to spend their efforts and their blood in a futile effort to prop up yet another corrupt U.S. puppet.

Barry Levine

Getting Lost in the Fog of War

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/opinion/27exum.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=andrew%20exum&st=cse


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine
Date: Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Subject: re: Getting Lost in the Fog of War
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
 Mr. Exum proceeds from a false premise--that our government has the
right to keep secrets from us--and arrives at an accusation that
WikiLeaks is abusing the power of the Press. We rejected that premise
when we threw off the British empire 234years ago.  The American
system asserts that it is we the people who have a right (through our
free press) to the information needed to make decisions about ruling
ourselves. Government secrets (e.g. troop movements) are the
exceptions to this right, and must be narrowly circumscribed. A system
of government could be built on Mr. Exum's premise, but it would be
un-American.
Barry Levine

World Court Rules Kosovo Declaration Was Legal

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/world/europe/23kosovo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=kosovo's%20declaration%20of%20independence%20is%20within%20law&st=cse


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine
Date: Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 2:48 PM
Subject: re: World Court Rules Kosovo Declaration Was Legal
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
  Those of us who still aspire to being governed by the rule of law
and not the rule of men must be disappointed that Kosovo is treated
"as a special case that should not serve as a precedent".  When we
signed the charter of the United Nations, we entered a treaty calling
for "national self-determination of peoples". That applies no less to
Tibetans, Chechen and Palestinians than to Kosovars, Algerians and
Jews.
Barry Levine

Sadr Calls for New Iraqi Government

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/world/middleeast/20iraq.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=anti-U.S.%20cleric%20emerges%20to%20urge%20formation&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine
Date: Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 10:02 AM
Subject: re: Sadr Calls for New Iraqi Government
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
   Moktada al-Sadr's anti-American activities are freighted with
politics. Whether he will be judged a freedom fighter or a terrorist
will be decided by history. Murder however is another matter. Any
Iraqi government that lacks the balls to try him for the killing of
Abdul-Majid al-Khoei cannot legitimately govern Iraq.  If al-Sadr's
militia buys him immunity from the law, the U.S. has merely replaced
the tyranny of Saddam Hussein with a new age of warlordism.
Barry Levine

The Pundit Delusion

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/opinion/19krugman.html?scp=1&sq=pundit%20delusion&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 4:35 PM
Subject: re: The Pundit Delusion
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Professor Krugman will be forgiven for pretending that economics alone drive the world and the election. Others of president Obama's backers remember than when we voted for him, we repudiated Bush era assaults on constitutional guarantees and human decency.  As long as president Obama's Department of Justice doesn't prosecute--and actively covers up--warrantless wiretaps and torture, the people who voted for him once will be left to wonder what party it is that he heads.

Barry Levine

A New Pumping Device Brings Hope for Cheney

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/us/politics/15brfs-CHENEYRECEIV_BRF.html?scp=2&sq=cheney&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 3:31 PM
Subject: re: A New Pumping Device Brings Hope for Cheney
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Surely in this case "bracelets or other identifications to alert emergency room doctors as to why [Dick Cheney has] no pulse" would  be redundant. No one who has lived through the last decade expects Dick Cheney to betray any evidence of a human heart.

Barry Levine

The Avandia Saga Continues

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/opinion/15thu1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=avandia%20saga%20continues&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 12:29 AM
Subject: re: The Avandia Saga Continues
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   As you observe "GlaxoSmithKline...can't be trusted to report adverse clinical results fairly". One can go further. It is no more reasonable to expect any drugmaker to report adverse clinical results fairly than it would be to expect a restauranteur to phone in bacterial contamination in his kitchen.   Just as we sent inspectors into kitchens with thermometers and swabs, we need to turn the Phase III Clinical trials over to the FDA. When the drugmaker is satisfied with the Phase II trials, the protocols and the money should be turned over to the FDA to conduct the Phase III trial. Until we do this, we will replay this saga endlessly.

Barry Levine