TORTURED HYPOCRISY

As Saddam Hussein goes on trial for torture, the Bush administration has threatened to veto the Military Reauthorization Bill if it holds the McCain Amendment that absolutely clarifies that torture is not allowed.

Ever since 9-11 the Bush administration has been outsourcing torture to other countries. Terrorist suspects found in the country are secreted away to Syria or Saudi Arabia where they are tortured for information.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney believe, as Saddam Hussein does, that torture is necessary under certain circumstances, and thus they plan to make sure their loophole in the Military Reauthorization Bill is left vague.

Torture is illegal and the Bush administration needs to go on trial along with Saddam Hussein. Please call your US Representative in the next days and let him know you support the McCain Amendment. If you don’t, I can guarantee, that sooner or later, in this country or another, we too shall be under threat of torture. —Lorna Moffat | Monterey

FAIR TRADE

Permit me to weigh in on the ongoing Safeway/Trader Joe’s controversy. I am a senior citizen who has lived in this area for most of my life. I have shopped many times at both Safeway and Trader Joe’s as well as all other markets. I would vote for Trader Joe’s without hesitation.

I love their selection and their employees. Their prices are low without the need for a “club card,” which of course requires the person to allow the company to track all of one’s purchases. If you think their only purpose is to give you lower prices, get your head out of the sand!

I see where someone is put off because Trader Joe’s does not sell Tide or Cascade. They sell others of the same products. Another person states that we do not need a Trader Joe’s because we already have one in PG. She seems to forget or not care that we have a Safeway near that Trader Joe’s also.

How pathetic these people are.—D. Stevens | Monterey

NO DEMOCRACY FOR OIL

What the misguided occupants of the Bush catbird seat failed to understand is that democracy is an organic process. It has taken centuries of tortuous growth to get to its present form in the West. Democracy cannot be exported as a giant quilt to be draped over a society which has no history of democratic institutions.

Those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo will fight to keep the masses bound to the past.

Iraq has nothing but sand and oil. The ease at which the administration expected to establish bases to protect the petroleum industry backfired early on. We can thank the lords of karma that the Judas goat that has led the US into this nightmare has crossed his Rubicon with no exits for retreat. —William D. Cox, Ph.D. | Marina

BRING ‘EM HOME

I can’t help but roll my eyes every time I hear that criticizing the war in Iraq “sends the wrong signal” and “undermines the morale” of our troops.

Suppose if in 1876 some people tried to warn General George Custer to retreat from the danger at Little Big Horn. Conservatives would urge on the general while questioning the patriotism of the critics for harming the morale of “our brave young men in uniform.”

I’d much rather see our troops coming home disheartened but alive than risking their lives dodging bullets and bombs in a disastrous, unnecessary war.—Arlen Grossman | Del Rey Oaks