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My response to this administration's attack on our rights [

]:

CONTRACT ON AMERICA, PART II

Trashing the Constitution


LENNY KROSINSKY
ALBUQUERQUE


  IT'S NO CONSPIRACY   

Zélie Pollon [

] sounds like a very nice, conscientious journalist. Except, trying a bit too hard to make sense of Iraq for the nice soldiers she met who can't handle the truth, else they wouldn't be there, she is having trouble seeing the woods for the trees.

There's no need for any bigger conspiracy theories than the ones we already have (although, given the diabolical Cheney, those might exist). Simply, Iraq's high-quality oil fields are the second largest in the world. Yes, Iraq does sit in the middle of the Middle East-all the better to further our mercantile interests through instant democracy (note from Hamas: Thanks for the election). Bush's culture of incompetent predation, in a regime where political ideology heavily trumps reality, is enough to account for most of the consequences, ultimately, as merely unintended.


BARRY HATFIELD
SANTA FE


  MISSING FACTS       

It is always amusing to see the left wringing its hands in moral indignation at the right about the manipulation of truth in service to an agenda, and a few breaths later indulging in the same behavior.

I refer to Zélie Pollon's statement that "Lebanon is home to the 'terrorist' Hamas and a particular enemy to Israel…Lebanon was just beginning to re-emerge from the 1982 war when it was attacked last summer in the name of fighting terrorism…" Ms. Pollon obviously thinks no one else is in touch with the news and wouldn't catch the monstrous lie that underlies that statement. Firstly, Lebanon is home to Hezbollah, not Hamas, and her quotation marks notwithstanding, both organizations ARE terrorists. People who target civilians at bus stops, pizza parlors and hotel weddings are terrorists. Not only are they terrorists, but their agenda regarding Israel is well known and stated in their respective charters: total elimination.

Secondly, Lebanon wasn't attacked "in the name of terrorism," as Ms. Pollon knows quite well. Lebanon was attacked because after six years of keeping to a tacit agreement between Hezbollah and Israel about not violating the common boundary between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah, without particularly consulting the Lebanese government, crossed that border INTO ISRAEL, ambushed an Israeli patrol and kidnapped several Israeli soldiers-who are still missing.

To read Ms. Pollon's piece, one would never know that this happened-one gets the impression that it was a slow summer in July 2006, and Israel woke up one morning and decided "in the name of fighting terrorism" to put itself to huge expense and its soldiers in unnecessary danger under the vague aegis of "fighting terrorism." Hezbollah later allowed as to how it kind of misjudged how far Israel would go, and it might surprise Ms. Pollon to know there are quite a few Lebanese who still haven't forgiven Hezbollah for its irresponsibility and hubris in playing politics with their lives.

And, of course, Ms. Pollon wouldn't dream of bringing up the untidy fact of Hezbollah's alliance with poor little Syria, which occupied Lebanon for 30 years, and is still hovering on its borders waiting to get back in with "terrorist" Hezbollah's help, while Hezbollah colludes with Syria in assassinating any bothersome Lebanese anti-Syrian political leaders.

But hey, what are a few missing facts among friends? Let's pretend Lebanon's problems are all about Israel, that Hezbollah and Hamas aren't terrorist groups and that Lebanon's problems never did and don't now have anything to do with Hezbollah's determined hegemony and landlocked Syria's baleful sense of entitlement regarding Lebanon and its access to the sea, eh?

Perhaps, Ms. Pollon, you have more in common with the Bush Administration than you think when it comes to managing truths that don't fit the entirety of the nice agenda you've built.

KAAREN S. BOULLOSA
SANTA FE
Editor's Note:
Lebanon is home to Hezbollah rather than Hamas. The error was made in the editing and has been corrected online at www.sfreporter.com.


   RIGHTS FIGHT              

In any war, the first casualty is the truth!

Thank you so much for the lead article regarding the erosion and elimination of our rights under this administration [

]

I believe that this is THE preeminent issue for the upcoming presidential election. First, they lie to get us into the war in Iraq, then they use our involvement in this illegal invasion as the justification for usurping our civil liberties…growing bolder with each passing moment that we fail to impeach them. Rep. Udall, are you listening?

There is an impeachment resolution for Dick Cheney before the House, sponsored by Rep. Kucinich. Let us encourage Rep. Tom Udall to not be shy about signing on. Oh, and please let's do include George Bush too. We wouldn't want him to feel left out.

PAULA ZERFOSS
SANTA FE


   POLITICIANS BEWARE        

I wonder where Richardson's "brain" was when he signed the Voter ID Law [

]. I would like to know his reasoning. He must know what it means and what it will mean come election time. It seems Gov. Richardson spends more time telling about what wonderful things he has done in the past, but his current performance is more on the "lightweight" side and hasn't really shown us anything yet.


ASHLEY HODGELL
SANTA FE

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