Bring troops home from Afghanistan
Before plunging deeper into the Afghanistan quagmire, we should consider a lesson from our Vietnam debacle. After sacrificing 58,000 American lives and millions of Vietnamese, to stop the "dominoes" from falling into the Communist camp, we lost the war, only to discover we were better off losing the war than winning it.
After Vietnam's guerrilla forces drove American forces out of their country, the dominoes fell against each other: Communist China against Communist Russia, Communist Vietnam against China and Communist Cambodia. Blinded by our monolithic anti-communist ideology, Washington ignored the historical hostilities dividing the communist world. The bond uniting our enemies was not communism, but a common enemy -- America; and when that bond shattered, their divisions surfaced with a vengeance.
How many more lives, American and Arab, will we sacrifice before learning that winning or losing in Afghanistan has little relevance to crushing al-Qaida when those terrorists can attack Americans from many other places in the globe? More effective, should President Obama act as an honest broker for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, removing a major source of anti-American hostility in the Middle East, he would land a far more powerful blow than sending more Americans into the bloody quicksands of Afghanistan.
postcard printingEdward Cuddy
Kenmore
***
More soldiers needed if we want to win war
I simply have one question regarding the Obama administration.
If, as the president says, "we are at war with al-Qaida," then why are we trying to fight that war on the cheap? As I recall, Gen. Stanley McChrystal requested an additional 45,000 troops in his battleplans for the war in Afghanistan. The president gave him 30,000.
Would we think that Ralph Wilson was really trying to win a football game if he suited up only four players a game?
Jake Jacobs
Cheektowaga
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Boy Scouts has been positive force for many
2010 is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. The organization's positive impact on the lives of boys in Western New York and across the country is remarkable and worthy of praise and respect, particularly at this time.
Instead, The News chose to reprint an article in the Jan. 10 paper titled, "Scouts Honor," which was written for the Los Angeles Times. This kind of negative and one-sided journalism has no place on the proud centennial of the Scouts, if ever. In addition, much of the content was erroneous, including the membership requirements in the last paragraph, which were just plain wrong.
The News owes the Scouts who delivered its papers over the years a better shake than this. Please rectify the wrong you have done by presenting a fair assessment of the contribution that scouting has made to the quality of life in our community for the last century.
Donald I. Dussing Jr.
Cartier Replica WatchesEast Amherst
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Criticism of Ford, Rumsfeld was odd
As the father of a future Eagle Scout, I began reading with interest the Jan. 10 opinion piece by Charles Fleming on the Boy Scouts' 100-yea
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