Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 289, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 18, 2013 Page: 4 of 24
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4A
Saturday, May 18, 2013
OPINION
Denton Record-Chronicle
Denton Record-Chronicle
Published by Denton Publishing Co.,
a subsidiary of A.H. Belo Corporation
Founded from weekly newspapers,
the Denton Chronicle, established in 1882,
and the Denton Record, established in 1897.
Published daily as the Denton
Record-Chronicle since Aug. 3,1903.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Bill Patterson
Publisher and CEO
Dawn Cobb
Managing Editor
Matthew Zabel
City Editor
Les Cockrell
Region Editor
Mark Finley
News Editor
PAST PUBLISHERS
William C. “Will” Edwards
1903-1927
Robert J. “Bob” Edwards
1927-1945
Riley Cross
1945-1970
Vivian Cross
1970-1986
Fred Patterson
1986-1999
Editorials published in the Denton Record-Chronicle
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Editorial
World War II
project a boon
ome people may think that Denton native Mark
Humphreys’ plan to take his Harley-Davidson
motorcycle on a yearlong road trip across the
United States to document interviews with World War
II veterans sounds like one long vacation.
People who believe that have probably never con-
ducted an interview. We know what Humphreys is
proposing will be a tough job, but considering his cho-
sen subject, it’s a job that needs doing — and the soon-
er the better.
Members of the Greatest Generation are rapidly
fading from prominence. About 16 million U.S. sol-
diers served in World War II and according to the
2010 census, about 2.3 million World War II veterans
are still alive.
However, according to statistics released by the U.S.
Department of Veteran Affairs last month, a little more
than 600 World War II veterans die each day.
A lot of history goes with them. As Humphreys said
recently, many of the veterans die without ever telling
their stories, and that’s a shame.
Humphreys, 44, and a 1997 University of North
Texas graduate, retired from the military this year after
serving for 27 years.
He’s calling his endeavor the GI Generation Project
and plans on collecting about 150 interviews by the
time he’s finished.
“The stories they have to tell keep me on the edge of
my seat,” he said. “It’s exciting because you have a
speaking history book right in front of you.”
Humphreys said he is contacting the American
Legion and veterans services in each state, setting up
interviews.
He started his project on Jan. 1 by interviewing
World War II veterans while he was still on active duty
in Tampa, Fla.
Now retired, Humphrey said he has plans to go on
to Fort Benning, Ga., where he has scheduled inter-
views and a tour of the Army Infantry School and Mu-
seum before continuing to California and Hawaii.
“I spent 27 years serving this country and I never
got a chance to see the country I fought for,” he said. “I
get to travel and also collect stories that could be lost
forever.”
Humphreys said he is trying to capture the stories
of men and women who probably can’t be found in a
history book, and that’s intriguing.
“We all know the big story about the war, but I
think the small details are important, too,” he told us.
We agree, and we wish Humphreys the best of luck
with his project.
Humphreys said he will end his tour at the end of
the year and make each of the videos and stories he
collects available to the public. He will keep a blog
diary on his website, www.gigenerationproject.org.
A recent excerpt includes the following: “Today, I
had the great opportunity and pleasure to interview
Mr. George W. Franklin at his home in Sanger, Texas.
George is the father of Gene Franklin who was my
high school coach and principal at Slidell High School
and the one who helped arrange this interview. (Sli-
dell, Texas not Louisiana) I was honored to hear this
86 year old Texan and WWII Navy veteran recount his
early life growing up in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas,
Texas with an older brother and his parents who
worked raising and selling produce. George grew up,
like all of those I have interviewed for the GI Genera-
tion Project, struggling for food and basic necessities
as the nation tried to dig itself out of the Great Depres-
sion.”
A week ago, about 20 World War II veterans were
recognized in the Texas Senate to commemorate Victo-
ry in Europe Day, or VE Day.
There are plenty of other World War II veterans out
there who deserve recognition, and we need to make
sure they know they are appreciated before it’s too late.
The world may never see another generation as
great as theirs.
This day in history: May 18
Today is Saturday, May In 1642, the Canadian city
18, the 138th day of 2013. of Montreal was founded by
There are 227 days left in the French colonists,
year. — The Associated Press
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Political games divisive
n its face, the murder of Americans
■ ■ in Libya, including our ambassa-
dor, has absolutely nothing to do
with the inappropriate relationship for-
mer President Bill Clinton had with a
White House intern. But politically, that’s
another story.
The Republicans had a powerful weap-
on against President Clinton. But they
couldn’t stop themselves. It wasn’t just
wrong; it wasn’t just
bad or even egregious
judgment. They
turned it into an im-
peachable offense and
ended up looking
worse than the presi-
dent. Washington
overkill, fueled by the
bloodthirsty quest for
bodies, ultimately
provoked the public’s
revulsion at such
gamesmanship. The president ended up
the victim.
In those terms, Benghazi is deja vu all
over again.
No one doubts that something went
terribly wrong in Libya. Mistakes were
made. Security was, obviously, woefully
inadequate. Those issues have been fully
investigated — by no less distinguished a
team than former Ambassador Thomas
Pickering and former Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen,
who led an independent review board.
No, the issue in Washington is not what
went wrong with Libya. The issue is who
tampered with Susan Rice’s talking points
before she went on the Sunday talk shows.
Who downplayed the “terrorism” part,
and did they do so to make the White
House look better? Was there politics go-
ing on in the editing of the talking points?
Do they gamble in Casablanca?
Yes, they do. And according to e-mails
the president says were handed over
months ago, e-mails the Republicans are
claiming to be the “smoking gun” that will
lead to the president’s impeachment and
Hillary Clinton’s downfall, it appears that
many hands took the pen to those talking
points before Rice went on television.
So, do Republicans really plan to im-
peach the president and destroy Hillary
Clinton over who tampered with the talk-
ing points? Apparently, they think they
can.
Recently, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.,
formally asked (demanded) that Picker-
ing and Mullen sit for interviews with in-
vestigators from his committee. Pickering
responded that he welcomes the opportu-
nity to testify, but pointed out the obvious:
He and Mullen had been charged with in-
vestigating security and safety at diplo-
matic posts (real issues), not with looking
into who tampered with the talking
points. The two matters are “not even con-
nectable, as far as I can see.”
That’s because he can see straight.
Both Republicans and Democrats
urged humanitarian intervention in Lib-
ya. When it appeared that humanitarian
intervention triggered terrorism against
Americans, that policy should have been
subject to careful scrutiny. There are, al-
most certainly, many lessons to be
learned. Pickering and Mullen and Hilla-
ry Clinton herself have already testified as
to these issues. If further investigation of
them is warranted, so be it.
But it is an insult to those who died,
and to all of those who are dealing with
real problems in this country, to turn this
into a Monica Lewinsky-like spectacle fo-
cused, this time, not on a blue dress but on
the use of a figurative red pen.
So Rice was put on television to “spin”
the news. Isn’t that what everyone does on
those shows?
Maybe I’m angry because I have too
many friends struggling through hard
times economically, with their health or
their kids or their work, too many friends
worried about real stuff, hoping there is
some way the government can make
things better, to have the patience for
games I once found amusing to watch.
Maybe I’m angry because all that these
games accomplish — and the polls bear
this out — is dividing us into our usual
camps, right down the line, meaning that
absolutely nothing gets accomplished,
and people hate politics even more than
they did before.
But in the end, I’m sure of this much:
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are
not going to be destroyed by the talking
points.
SUSAN ESTRICH’S column is dis-
tributed by Creators Syndicate Inc.
Letters to the editor
Scream all you want
For decades, we have been preached to
that the United States must one day be
“energy independent.” Approaching that
date, major plans abound to export much
of our natural gas in the form of liquid
(LNG).
Excuses abound that we have more
than we need, that companies can get
more bang for the buck overseas, the free
market and all that. And “all that” may be
true for the moment.
Estimates are, by experts in the energy
field, that our oil supply may last another
50 years. Experts estimate that our natu-
ral gas may last 100 years. With more gad-
gets to fuel and population explosions, all
they can do is estimate.
Now, you and I will have passed away
by then. But one day your grandkids or
great-grandkids will be on their knees
praying to the “energy god” for more fuel,
and it probably won’t be dropped like
manna.
Let the powers export our natural re-
source, but if you care about your grand-
kids, make the powers pay. “Departure
taxes” are not new. They have been im-
SUBMISSIONS
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letters for length. Letters should be typed or
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Send to: drc@dentonrc.com.
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Letters to the editor
P.0. Box 369
Denton, TX 76202
posed when certain items have left our
state or country. Let the market reign, but
impose departure taxes to support our
state, balance budgets and support energy
research.
Scream all you want to about free en-
terprise. When we’re all fracked out, and
half our natural gas has been exported,
one day you’ll wake up saying, “Holy Saint
Catfish, what have we done?”
Oh, by the way, I do invest in the oil and
gas industry.
Jim Stodola,
Denton
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your commentary and your actions.
Kerry got
very little
from Russia
Trudy
Rubin
^^■hose who oppose greater U.S. in-
volvement in Syria were no doubt
I relieved at the announcement that
Moscow and Washington want to convene
an international conference to end the
country’s civil war. They shouldn’t be.
Secretary of State John Kerry’s an-
nouncement contains no hint of a diplo-
matic breakthrough. Indeed, diplomacy
stands no chance unless President Obama
first does what he has long avoided: takes
the lead in helping the Syrian opposition
break the military
stalemate on the
ground.
Take a look at what
actually happened re-
cently in Moscow.
Kerry and his Russian
counterpart, Foreign
Minister Sergei Lav-
rov, said they would
bring representatives
of the Syrian govern-
ment and opposition
together to determine how to implement a
plan for a political transition, based on a
June 2012 agreement reached by the five
permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
But this accord has gone nowhere over
the last year for compelling reasons. Nei-
ther Bashar al-Assad nor Moscow nor, for
the most part, the opposition has shown
any interest in it. And even when opposi-
tion leaders were willing to talk, Assad re-
sponded with atrocities, and Moscow did
zip.
Did anything change in Moscow? Not
much. True, Kerry publicly dropped the
U.S. demand that “Assad must go,” which
had been regarded as a precondition for
talks. That gesture, however, won’t make
the difference: The reason Assad has
spurned the Geneva road map goes much
deeper than that.
The Geneva document calls for a tran-
sitional government to be formed by mu-
tual consent in negotiations between the
government and opposition. That transi-
tional government would exercise full ex-
ecutive power until a new government is
elected.
Of course, opposition negotiators
would never agree to a transitional gov-
ernment that includes Assad or his inner
circle. But no one can imagine Assad vol-
untarily giving up power.
Fred Hof, a former State Department
adviser who helped negotiate the Geneva
document, says Assad realized its terms
amounted to “a death sentence” for his
family’s rule in Syria. Russia realized this,
too, and consequently backed Assad’s re-
jection of the initiative, even trying to re-
negotiate key passages.
Early this year, a top Syrian opposition
leader, Moaz al-Khatib, offered to talk
with government figures less tainted than
Assad’s inner circle, and suggested that
Moscow help organize such a meeting.
French President Francois Hollande
asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to
facilitate, and thought he’d received a pos-
itive answer. But Putin did nothing.
There was little sign in Moscow recent-
ly that Putin had grown more enthusiastic
about jettisoning Assad. Many journalists
focused on Foreign Minister Lavrov’s
statement that Russia is “not interested in
the fate of certain persons, [but] in the
fate of Syria itself.”
However, Lavrov has said similar
things before. He probably means that,
should Assad’s inner circle choose to oust
him, Russia wouldn’t oppose it. But that is
highly unlikely, since members of the in-
ner circle are so tightly connected to Assad
that if he goes, they know they will be next.
More telling, when it comes to Russian
thinking, is the fact that Putin kept Kerry
waiting for three hours, and that intelli-
gence reports surfaced just after Kerry left
that Russia was completing a sale of so-
phisticated surface-to-air missiles to Syr-
ia.
Moreover, all signs indicate that Assad
still believes he can outlast the opposition,
especially since Obama is so clearly un-
willing to help it in a meaningful way.
Hof believes Assad’s suspected limited
use of chemical weapons was meant to sig-
nal to any waverers in his security circle
that Obama would not honor his declared
“red line.” “He wanted to reassure his sup-
porters that the West would not inter-
vene,” the former diplomat told me.
Hof also believes there will be no diplo-
matic breakthrough unless the military
balance shifts: Only if Russia believes its
proxy could lose might Putin decide the
time has come to pressure Assad. I agree.
Changing the balance would not re-
quire U.S. boots on the ground, nor should
it involve U.S. planes and missiles. But it
would require additional military aid from
the United States and its allies and a far
greater U.S. role — led from the top — in
ensuring that aid is channeled solely
through the opposition’s new Supreme
Military Council.
Trudy Rubin is a columnist and edi-
torial-board member for the Philadelphia
Inquirer.
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Cobb, Dawn. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 289, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 18, 2013, newspaper, May 18, 2013; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1102526/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .