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

Overture to Taliban Jolts Afghan Minorities

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/world/asia/27afghan.html?scp=1&sq=jolts%20afghan%20minorities&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 8:59 AM
Subject: re: Overture to Taliban Jolts Afghan Minorities
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   All Afghans are members of minority communities. At forty percent of the population, the Pashtuns are the biggest group, but that just makes them the largest minority community among many in the country.  The threat is not that minority groups will be oppressed by a majority. Rather, it is that the Taliban would again impose their particular Pashtun mores and culture on the nation.  After forty years of war, if we are to speak of a majority in Afghanistan, we should be looking at her women.

Russia Turns a Deaf Ear as Killing Cries for Justice

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/world/europe/04impunity.html?scp=1&sq=justice,%20and%20Russia%20turns&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Subject: re: Russia Turns a Deaf Ear as Killing Cries for Justice
To: letters@nytimes.com


While Americans may enjoy a moment of smug satisfaction in comparing Russian prosecutors to those of Stalin's USSR, we should spare a moment to consider the role of politics in our own DoJ.  Who is prosecuting torturers? Who is prosecuting wiretappers? Who is questioning the legality of extrajudicial executions? As long as Eric Holder's DoJ is subordinate to president Obama's political agenda, the Rule of Law is guaranteed only to the powerful.

Barry Levine

U.N. Report Highly Critical of U.S. Drone Attacks

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/world/03drones.html?scp=1&sq=American%20drone%20attacks&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Subject: re: U.N. Report Highly Critical of U.S. Drone Attacks
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    The contentious issue of who is a military target must not obscure the simpler question of who may use lethal force.  The C.I.A. agents and contractors who are firing missiles from our drones are not members of our uniformed military, and don't answer to our Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to our own laws, if they're not soldiers or sailors or marines or airmen, they're subject to civilian law. The question is whether to charge them with murder or assassination or terrorism.

Barry Levine