Lee Lucas writes that aggressive policies of Israel, with U.S. support, is at the root of many Mideast problems.
To the Editor:
There is inconsistency being applied to Iran when it is compared to Israel. Why is Israel allowed to have nuclear weapons while Iran is not?
For decades, the American government never publicly acknowledged Israel had nuclear weapons. The media actually helped keep it a secret. Israel's nuclear weapons have never been questioned publicly by the U.S. State Department.
MORE: Opinion: Who are world's nuclear scofflaws?
How can we be sure that Israel wouldn't use a nuclear weapon? How would we react if they did? If I look at how the Israelis treat the Palestinians, I must conclude that the current Israeli regime has an aggressive nature.
It's this aggressive nature that has caused the calamity in Syria. It was Israel and America that wanted Syrian leader Bashar Assad gone, just as they wanted Libya's Muammar Gaddafi gone. Just as the United States helped the anti-Gaddafi rebels in Libya, we helped the anti-Assad rebels in Syria with money and arms. This support ended up going to ISIS, because there is no other rebel force, something a general has said to to Congress.
I get it that Israel hates Assad because he sides with Hezbollah. But I say Assad is better than ISIS and having all these refugees invading Europe. Every time America intervenes in the Middle East, we end up with blood-thirsty terrorists as the rulers and a massive refugee crisis.
It seems that Israeli foreign policy has become American foreign policy. This will bring more refugees to the West and destroy our values.
Lee Lucas
Gibbstown
Columnist Hinton sees Black Lives Matter as too benign
To the Editor:
In his Sept. 27 column, Milton Hinton went to great lengths to promote "Black Lives Matter" adherents as nothing more than a benign, peace-loving protest group.
At first, I was sympathetic to his remarks, but then he became political and intimated that various Republican politicians had described Black Lives Matter followers as terrorists. I decided to research what other facts Hinton had twisted or ignored.
An Internet search led to a video of a group of marchers at the Minnesota State Fair. They proudly displayed a large banner proclaiming they were part of the Black Lives Matter group. Unfortunately for Hinton's claim that the group "had not condoned violence against police officers," these protesters were chanting, "Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon."
Honest people, without political or racist agendas, would conclude that if you call for frying cops like bacon, you are indeed condoning violence against police officers - and that makes you part of a hate group.
It is telling that Hinton's column ignored this video which clearly discredits his narrative. Further on in his column, Hinton dismisses any discussion of black-on-black crime relative to police shootings of blacks as "a feeble attempt at deflection and not pertinent." Imagine him consoling a bereaved black family victimized by black-on black crime by telling them that their loss is "not pertinent."
Hinton has a penchant for misinterpreting the statements of people he disagrees with, ignoring facts that hamper his agenda and deciding which conversations are allowed. It is not exactly a path to a meaningful discussion. But then, Hinton clearly prefers demagoguery to discourse.
Scott Beyer
Williamstown
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