Letters to the editor

No double standards of hate speak

Throughout my college career at Fresno State I have often looked forward to reading The Collegian—until now. I was dismayed and disappointed at the hate speak in the article, “Attacks on gay marriage flimsy” (March 29). Obviously, the author of the article is liberal minded, exuding flagrant delicto in his views of our president. He wrote, “thrillingly attractive to the kind of Democrats who hate George W. Bush.” Hate? This sounds like Ku Klux Klan language.

I am amazed at the trend in hatemongering among liberals regarding our present administration. Being a conservative Republican, I was not like-minded with President Bill Clinton—his desecration of the White House shamed me. But I never, ever said, “I hate Bill Clinton.” I thought hate language was reserved for the Aryan Brotherhood. Democrats have always prided themselves on the parlance of liberality with words like diversity and tolerance. Is “hate George W. Bush” tolerant?

Wow.

Diversity means difference. So, in all honesty liberals don’t really appreciate diversity or embrace tolerance. These are politically correct words. I have never heard such invective, nor seen such a spirit of ingratitude. Our great nation has problems, like every other nation, but I’m damned proud of my country and I am damned grateful for the privileges and freedoms she provides. Let’s keep focusing on solutions and stop the invidious blaming and disparagement!

United we stand, divided we fall.

— Holly Peacock-Hickey

U.S. not entirely innocent in some eyes

In response to your article titled “Rice says 9-11attacks weren’t preventable” (April 12): I as well as many people believe that these horrendous attacks are not preventable. The problem is that the media only presents the surface levels of the actual truth. Why would someone like Bin Laden want to attack the United States? One reason would be that the Muslims believe that two of the most holy shrine lands are in Saudi Arabia. They as well as Bin Laden believe they must protect these sacred lands. The United Sates set up bases in Saudi Arabia and continues to conduct military operations there.

The original plan was supposed to be temporary bases to help liberate Kuwait from Iraqi control in the Gulf war. Two presidents later the military is still present causing Bin Laden to feel betrayed as well as the Muslims. They want their sacred land back. Bin Laden has declared a holy war on the United States to get them out of Saudi Arabia. This could be one of the reasons why Sept. 11 happened. Maybe they wanted to show their presence here in America to make people in America understand the fear they go through every day an American jet takes off from their temporary bases in Saudi Arabia.

I do not condone the horrible Sept. 11 incident but feel that maybe we, as Americans should pressure our government to expose the truth in the media. Condoleeza Rice feeling concerned makes me feel terrified.

— Johnny Garza

Unity, not division in 9-11 hearings

First off I do not believe the Sept. 11 commission is a “partisan farce” and I might add the Bush Administration carefully hand picked the Commission.

Richard Clark has every right to apologize, he has spent decades trying to work directly and circumvent bureaucracies in the Reagan, Clinton and Bush Administrations including the CIA and FBI. He rightfully in part felt a sense of failure and loss to the victims which he served and to close friend and former Federal Bureau member worker John O’Neil. Mr. O’Neill was determined to destroy al-Qaeda long before Sept 11, in fact he quit FBI in frustration and became director of security for the World Trade Center a week before 9/11 where he had also become a victim. As it turns out according to Clark’s book “Against All Enemies” the Bush’s policy was missile defense, terrorism within our borders was given a lower priority.

I commend Mr. Clark and encourage students to read Clark’s number-one rated New York Times non-fiction book “Against all Enemies.” It is one of the most insightful books I have yet to read on the subject. To grasp the inner workings of how public policy on terrorism has faltered we need to get beyond the pundits, and political spin.

Lets get beyond falsely accusing partisanship. Our party affiliation did not matter when al-Qaeda attacked us. We are all Americans first, so let’s unite on this issue.

— Rich Sanikian