Letters to the Editor: June 27, 2025

World beyond war

About 10 years ago, I took on an extensive research project to learn more about America’s wars — how they came to be, the background on both sides, the cost on both sides, and, perhaps the most surprising to me, the alternatives seen in retrospect that were very possible but not chosen.

I concluded by writing what I had learned and closed the book with words that I long to have discussed now, as U.S. leadership again chooses violence and power over others as the American way.

That is not the America I choose to help create. We can do so much better!

It is time to acknowledge that:

War is destructive.

War is wasteful.

War is cruel.

War carries within it the seeds of resentment and retaliation.

War reinforces the use of violence and power over others as a basis for making decisions.

Power is not a substitute for wisdom.

Violence is not a substitute for justice.

War is unworthy of humankind.

We can build new habits if we choose to do so.

We can find alternatives. Many are here now, ready to be used.

One conflict resolved without violence builds potential for another. And another. And another.

It is time. It’s time for a world beyond war.

Kathy Beckwith

Dayton

Dangerous entanglement

During the campaign for president of the United States in 2024, Americans were warned by candidate Donald J. Trump that if opponent Kamala Harris were elected president, America would be at war in the Middle East within six months. He repeated that warning frequently.

Americans clearly don’t relish entanglement in another Middle East war, and they listened to that message when they elected him president in November 2024.

What he failed to tell us was that if we elected him president, we would be at war with Iran within five months!

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, a close friend of his, launched attacks on Iran without approval from the United States, then came to President Trump asking him to finish the job with special bunker-buster bombs only the U.S. could deliver. And Trump complied.

We are now at risk of a much wider engagement in the Middle East — an entanglement that could cost more American treasure and more American lives.

Some observers speculate Netanyahu’s influence over Donald Trump stems from compromising material the Israeli government acquired on Trump’s behavior with his friend Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious child sex trafficker. We won’t know the answer to that unless and until the full Epstein files are released.

If you don’t like what you see happening in America, from wars, to ICE kidnappings, to tariff craziness, to disparaging remarks about our closest allies, make your voice heard. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, “Always love your country, and respect your government when it deserves it.”

Phil Forve

McMinnville

Weigh consequences

Right now, the president is deciding whether or not to go to war with Iran. One thing that hasn’t been discussed as a possible consequence is the near certainty that Iran will commit acts of war here in the United States, acts that would be classified as terrorism if we weren’t at war.

Having observed Iran’s behavior going back to the mid-1970s, everything I’ve ever seen says they will do whatever it takes to strike targets here. As far back as the late ’70s, U.S. intelligence was saying a number of sleeper agents were embedded in American society waiting for the word to one day act.

The recent Ukrainian attack on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, at bases deep within Russia, is just one more example of the mayhem that can be unleashed through guerilla warfare with today’s weapons and equipment. There needs to be some very good reason for us as a nation to gamble our future and our peace here at home.

Fred Fawcett

Lafayette

Red, white and blue

In response to the disappointment in Mayor Kim Morris for choosing not to fly a pride flag this month, I have a differing view.

I believe science will someday prove there are more than two genders. And while I condemned the Stonewall raid, I don’t understand why, since we have Labor DAY, Memorial DAY, Veterans DAY and so forth, the LGBTQ community needs a MONTH. I think Bill Clinton got this one wrong.

Also, I lived in the Bay Area during the time when San Francisco City Councilor Harvey Milk was assassinated.

He was a lovely man, but I don’t think his death warranted a special flag. Why? What’s the purpose?

People seem to forget that Mayor George Moscone, a straight man, was assassinated the same day. He was not given a special flag.

Regardless of personal sexual preference, the only flag for gay and straight U.S. citizens should be the red, white and blue American flag.

Judy Hromyko

McMinnville