We saved oil fields but let museums fall

I was disgusted by Donald Rumsfeld's performance on Meet the Press this past Sunday - grinning like a Cheshire cat as he talked of all the people he had killed. He was so proud that the Saddam Hussein regime was ended "forever, and forever is a long time." Yet he seemed supremely indifferent to the sacking of antiquities from the natural history museum. This also is gone forever, and forever is a long time.

Having destroyed the current regime, he felt no responsibility to prevent looting on any front. "This stuff happens," he said with a smile. This hands-off attitude was successfully communicated from the top down - soldiers refusing to help defend the museum or hospitals even when the Iraqis begged for their help. Today I heard that a museum of historical scrolls and artwork, along with all the books in the Baghdad library, have been looted or burned.

Through its own arrogance, this administration seems determined to squander all the potential good will that could have come from this war, just as they did with their clumsy response to the 9-11 attack. Not enough time to save thousands of years of accumulated history, but plenty of military resources to protect the oil wells, enough forethought to give Halliburton a billion dollars in uncontested oil contracts. When does this stupidity and greed end?

Justin Fischer
Pleasant Ridge

Let's not confuse 'might' with 'right'

As a child, I was warned not to confuse "might" with "right." Now I hear that the "rightness" of our war in Iraq has been vindicated because we overwhelmingly defeated Iraqi military forces?

Tom Doetschman
Springfield Township

Why do we keep blaming the schools?

I just want to point out something that I find funny and sad at the same time about Monday's shooting at a New Orleans school. One of the parents was quoted as saying, "How can this happen in a school? They have guards in there. They're supposed to have security." Now here is what I want to point out. Do you notice that yet again we have a parent blaming the school for this tragedy? This tragedy is the fault of the child with the gun. Not the school, not the guards, but the kid with the gun.

How sad that the real cause will be ignored and it will happen again and again.

Paul Jones
Green Township

Anti-war message lost in the confusion

With an Iraqi victory imminent, many who have supported the war have looked to war protestors with a celebratory "told ya so." They may be surprised to be greeted, not with back-peddling, but a heavy sigh of sadness. It seems the anti-war message has been totally missed.

For those who have opposed this war, the outcome is beside the point. Do the ends justify the means? Does might make right? No and no. To think so is barbaric. Victory does not make our unprovoked, preemptive attacks morally justifiable. What I don't understand is how so many people have managed to overlook these basic principles. Like a schoolyard fight, who threw the first punch? I am greatly saddened to answer: we did. I am even more saddened - even sickened - to see how few Americans care.

Davis Stanard
Mount Lookout

Left side dishes but can't take it

Each time a member of the left side of the political spectrum utters an anti-war, anti- administration comment they are said to be "exercising their Constitutional right to free speech." When there is a reaction to these comments via exercising a "Constitutional to right free expression" and CDs are not purchased, TV shows and their advertisers boycotted, or movies and concerts not attended, it is labeled McCarthyism. The logic of this situation escapes me. The only thing that makes sense is that these individuals really do feel superior to anyone who could possibly disagree with them and believe that there is a different set of rules that apply to their freedom of expression as opposed to any opposing opinion.

They, of course, have a right to express their opinion, and if this is truly the free society they say they support, so do their dissenters. If they are truly the intellectually superior beings that they want us peons to believe that that they are, they should not have to have the concept of accountability for one's actions explained. But, nevertheless, I'll give it a shot; "if you play with matches, you're going to get burned."

Fred VanPelt
Landen

Dlott's comments pushed unity back

Judge Susan Dlott's April 7 order and nasty, negative remarks about the city of Cincinnati's proposal hurt the process of healing and moves the collaborative agreement backward. Cincinnati City Council's proposal added a measure of reason to the efforts for rebuilding this city. Council and the city are genuinely interested in moving forward. Despite valiant efforts by many to raise private funds to pay legal fees of the plaintiff, the city and its taxpayers are not obligated to pay those fees; her suggestion to the contrary is offensive.

Although the plaintiffs and the city are mutually accountable for improving the situation, the progress we've seen has been almost entirely from the city. Boycott groups have never lived up to their obligations under the settlement agreement. We need constructive leaders who are accountable as part of the solution rather than obstacles in the way of progress.

Cincinnati is a great city, and all citizens should work in good faith to fight crime. Laws are the rules that govern a free society. Laws do not apply to particular Americans; they are known in advance and are to be applied equally to everyone.

Thomas E. Huenefeld
Mount Lookout