The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Page: 4 of 12
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TI
OPINION
THE BAY'IDWN SUN
4
Wednesday. D<‘ceinber 14,2005 ‘
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .
Texas Views
Torture &
CIA prisons
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hawk, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), and claimed another. These include the party's 2008 presi-
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David Bloom
Managing Editor
Jane Howard Lee
retired Reporter
Danielle Lynch
News Editor
ROADSIDE
BOMBAST
Dori Gonzalez
Baytown
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FREI) HARTMAN
Publisher Emeritus
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1301 Memorial Drive, P.O. Box 90
Baytown, Texas 77522
Main: (281) 422-8302
Newsroom: (281) 425-8016
Retail: (281) 425-8036
Classified: (281) 425-8008
Circulation: (281) 425-8048
Fax: (281)427-1880
. E-mail: sunnews@baytownsun.com
Web site: www.baytownsun.com
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Wanda Garner Cash
Editor/Publisher
Jim Finley
retired Managing Editor
Doyle Barlow
Sports Editor
Government officials
State
RickPerry,
' Governor
1-800-843-5789
David Dewhurst,
Lt. Governor
1-800-441-0373
Greg Abbott,
Attorney General
1-800-252-8011
Carole Strayhorn,
Comptroller
1-800-252-5555
Jerry Patterson,
Land Com.
512-463-5001
Susan Combs,
Agriculture Com.
1-800-835-5832
Tommy Williams,
Dist. 4 Sen.
281-296-0023
Voters, security & Democrats
.4
MORTON
KONDRACKE
PRODUCTION
Wayne Oxedine, Production Mgr.
wayne.oxedine@baytownsun.Gom
MISS YOUR PAPER?
You should receive your Baytown" townsun.com.
Sun by 6 a.m. Monday through
Saturday and by 8 a.m. Sunday. If
you do not receive your paper on
time, call (281) 425-8048 by 10 a.m.
to ensure redelivery.
Kerry added that responsi-
bility for home raids should
be turned over to Iraqi secu-
rity forces, but his quote
was used by rightwingers
to recall his Vietnam-era
allegations that U.S. forces
routinely committed rape,
torture and mutilation.
Kerry advocates a more
politically popular policy
than immediate withdrawal
— a strict timetable for pullouts — but his
bottom-line message still is that the U.S. goal
should be exiting Iraq, not leaving behind a
VI1N! r Z
WRITE TO US
The Sun welcomes letters of up
to 300 words and guest columns of
up to 500 words. Guest columns
should include a photo of the
writer. We publish only original
material addressed to The Baytown
Sun bearing the writer’s signature.
An address and phone number not
for publication should be included.
All letters and guest columns are
subject to editing, and the Sun
reserves the right to refuse to pub-
lish any submission.
Send signed letters to: Wanda
Garner Cash or David Bloom, The
Baytown Sun, P.O. Box 90,
Baytown, 77522; fax them to (281)
427-1880 or e-mail sunnews@bay-
'VVUUMI I.UVI I I.
Items featured on this page are
the views of the persons identified
with each submission and do not
necessarily reflect the views of The
Baytown Sun or its advertisers.
miliW
b BROKEN!
/ <© ® \
Mario Gallegos,
Dist. 6 Sen.
713-678-8600
John Whitmire,
Dist. 15 Sen.
713-864-8701
Craig Eiland,
Dist. 23 Rep.
1-800-252-5555
281-534-4492
Wayne Smith,
Dist. 128 Rep.
1-866-423-5987
512-463-0733
Chaiies Matthews
Victor Carillo
Michael Williams
Railroad Com.
512-463-7288
To find out who rep-
resents you, visit
www.capitol.state.tx.
us/fyi/fyi.htm
HOW TO REACH US
Wanda Garner Cash, Publisher
wgcash@baytownsun.com
Sandy Denson, Business Mgr.
sandy.denson@baytownsun.com
NEWSROOM
David Bloom, Managing Editor
david.bloom@baytownsun.com
Doyle Barlow, Sports Editor
doyle.barlow@baytownsun.com
Clarissa Silva, Design Editor
clarissa.siiva@baytownsun.com
Danielle Lynch, News Editor
danielle.lynch@baytownsun.com
ADVERTISING
Angie Pagel, Advertising Director
angie.pagel@baytownsun.com
CIRCULATION
Janie Halter, Circulation Mgr.
janie.halter@baytownsun.com
"■ vcrywhcre she went on her recent
M trip to Europe, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice confronted the
same two issues: torture and secret pris-
ons.
Leaked reports from intelligence sources
suggest the United States is subjecting
terror detainees to treatment that, if not
torture or inhumane, is at the very least
cruel. Waterboarding, a technique that
induces the overwhelming fear of drown-
ing, is evidently one practice in use.
This method and others may have been
conducted on detainees in secret prisons
on European soil. Europeans are outraged.
The Bush administration is correct when
it asserts that terror detainees do not fit
neatly into the Geneva Conventions’ rules
for treatment of enemy combatants. They
do, however, clearly fall under the
Convention Against Torture, to which the
United States is also a signatory.
The official U.S. interpretation of the
convention is that it prohibits the use of
any methods inconsistent with the treat-
ment of U.S. citizens under the Fifth.
Eighth and 14th amendments.
Rice tried to soothe European criticism
by restating this official policy. The prac-
tical U.S. policy, however, is something
: else.
An internal investigation conducted by.
the CIA inspector general, leaked last
month to the New York Times, concluded
the United States was violating its torture
convention obligations.
And the last time we checked, neither
the FBI nor local police forces employ
waterboarding.
If the United States is living up to its
treaty obligations, as Rice said, then there
is no need for secret prisons, no need for
renditions and no need to keep detainees
hidden from International Red Cross and
U.N. inspectors.
The Bush administration can’t have it
both ways operating secret prisons and
rendering detainees into custody where
legal authority is fudged and also claim-
ing to respect the convention on torture.
There’s an easy way for the White
House to clear up this ambiguity. It can
drop its underhanded opposition to Sen.
John McCain’s anti-torture amendment to
the defense appropriations bill and engage
Congress and the public in a meaningful
dialogue about what the United States will
and won’t do in the war on terror.
— San Antonio Express-News
dential frontrunner. Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton (N.Y.). who previously supported the
war, but has been forced by loud criticism
■ from the left to join the Reid bloc of noncon-
structive critics.
With a few exceptions, the Democratic
. Party has put itself m the position of being
invested in U.S. defeat in Iraq. The party lead-
that it wants to be vindicated by collapse.
If Democrats believe that Bush is destined
to fail, all they would have to do is wait and
_____________;__________ — «'«--■ -’- ‘’--y aetas
‘Face the Nation” that “there’s no reason that defeatists? The only explanation is: They can’t
Kondracke is executive editor of Roll Call,
the newspaper of Capitol Hill.
Christmas Sunday
Thanks to Ms. Narciso for the
great article on church openings and
closings. I’m pastor of St. John’s
United Methodist Church, and I’ve
never considered not having services
on any Sunday morning.
What a great opportunity for fami-
lies who have come together to cele-
brate Christ’s birth to come together
to worship.
Our worship service begins at 10
a.m., so there’s plenty of time to
return home for that big Christmas
meal.
Even if turnout is low, I am mind-
ful of a 90-year-old Christian woman
who struggles to come every Sunday.
If she struggled to the church door
and found it locked, would 1 be a
faithful pastor and a good shepherd
not to be there for her . even if she
were the only one to show up?
At St. John’s, Christ is still the rea-
son for Christmas, and our doors
will certainly be open.
Merry CHRISTmas to all!
Rev. Dave Avis
Baytown
BUSH
UED?
Commit for Life
The City of Baytown is sponsoring
a community blood drive on
Thursday. The blood drive will be
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the
Baytown Community Center, 2407
Market St. The theme for the blood
drive is “Guns and Hoses.”
This is where there will be a little
competition to see who can get the
most donations in their support,
police or fire. The Blood Center will
be giving out some really nice T-
shirts to go along with the theme for
each donation.
1 am not in the police or fire
department, but 1 am a city employ-
ee and I cannot say whom I will be
supporting when I donate. The most
important thing is that everyone tries
to get by and donate.
According to the Gulf Coast
Regional Blood Center, three lives
are saved for every one donation. By
donating blood, you not only get to
show support for your local heroes,
you get to save three lives and
become a hero for those people.
The last community blood drive
was in May. The city of Baytown,
CenterPoint and the community
saved 201 lives or had 67 units col-
lected at the community center.
There are about 70,000 residents
in this community so that is one out
of every 1,000 residents that made a
donation. 1 know with the holiday
season and the amount of residents
in the spirit to help others and to
give to those in need, this blood
drive will be much better.
Don’t forget to let them know
when you make a donation if you
are supporting the police department
or the fire department. This is all in
fun and saves lives at. the same time.
I hope that the Baytown communi-
ty along with all the city employees
can really pull together and keep the
Blood Center busy all day.
Mark A. LeBlanc
Baytown
HAD „
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that a majority of her House colleagues sup-
ported his position.
Seeking to mitigate political harm Pelosi .
caused, various colleagues claimed that
Murtha was not really advocating ah immedi-
ate pullout of U.S. forces. But in a response to
Bush’s latest speech, Murtha said his alterna-
tive was “immediate re-deployment” of U.S. . .
forces. “The sooner we get out, in my estima- ers seems so hostile to Bush and his policy
tion, the better off we’d be,” he said, adding
that withdrawal could be complete in six
months.
Sen. John Kerry, meanwhile, said on CBS’ reap the political benefit. Why do they
American soldiers need to be going into the help themselves,
homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terroriz-
ing kids and women and breaking historical
customs.”
to,
7,
2.’
some fellow Democrats — Dean claimed his ics." including Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.).
■ ’’ “ ■’ advocates specific changes in Bush policy to
achieve success. Bush lately has shown will-
ingness to adopt some suggestions from this
group.
A large group, led by Senate Majority
... We just didn’t Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), is content to con-
....... i . . . centrate on Bush failures, without offering
positive recommendations. And there are two
groups advocating withdrawal one phased,
the other immediate.
A sixth group might be characterized as
“floaters” moving from one group to
7
XL
® A'
The Democratic Party once had a tradition
of strong foreign policy leadership, estab-
_ . _ .v.—--.-x-n-------u
mntry, people think their party simply can’t Harry Truman. John Kennedy and Lyndon
’ j were preparing to been put together since.
risk their lives to run and vote in historic par- Nearly the lone rem?’ ' _ .
liamentary elections, Democratic leaders were that tradition is Sen. Joe Lieberman ID-
seen pronouncing the war L « 1^, «•»,,.
urging immediate U.S. Withdrawal and accus- forcefully than Bush has, the
ing U.S. soldiers of terrorizing Iraqi women "c foil..™ m iron
and children.
Democratic National Chairman Howard
Dean, in a Texas radio interview, said, “the
idea that we're going to win this war is an
idea that unfortunately is plain wrong.”
After being attacked as defeatist by
Republican National Committee Chairman
Ken Mehlman — and for being impolitic by resolve. A small group of “constructive crit-
quote was “cherry-picked” and that he meant
“we can only win the war, which we have to
win, if we change our strategy dramatically.”
But Dean’s original statement was, “I’ve
seen this before in my life. This is the same
situation we had in Vietnam.. j
have a victory” and lost 25,000 more lives
“because we were too stubborn to recognize
what was happening.”
Last week, House Minority Leader Rep.
Nancy Pelosi personally backed the immedi-
ate withdrawal proposal of a disillusioned
Angel of God
In today’s market, everybody is
competing for people’s business.
Especially when it comes to funeral
homes.
Some funeral homes take advan-
tage of the survivor’s grief and up the
price on everything. Except for one
... Earthman’s Funeral Home.
The director’s name is Mr. Gary
Anderson. He is truly an Angel of
God. He is full of compassion and
humanity.
I can’t say enough or thank Mr.
Anderson enough for his kindness.
Once again he came to our rescue in
our time of need. For you see we
recently lost our beloved baby
nephew. He was 4 months old.
Mr. Anderson personally met with
us and kept us informed even on his
day off. He went way beyond the call
of duty. God is going to truly bless
him for his big heart.
Mr. Anderson, if you are reading
this, just know how much we appre-
ciate everything you’ve done for my
family. Thank you from the bottom of
our hearts.
American voters don’t trust Democrats on
national security, for good historical reasons
— the U.S. defeat in Vietnam, Jimmy Carter's
surprise at Soviet aggression, the party’s
1980s embrace of the nuclear freeze and its
lack of support for the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
President Bush rode a 30-point GOP advan-
tage on national security and fighting terror-
ism to re-election in 2004, but doubts about
his Iraq policy have eroded that lead to the
teens.
According to a Dec. 1 Gallup poll, voters
trust Republicans over Democrats on national
security by 48 percent to 32 percent and on
fighting terrorism 46 percent to 33 percent.
On Iraq, Democrats were preferred by 42 per- stable country.
cent to 39 percent. The Democratic Party once had a tradition
Last week, the Democrats blew it again. of strong foreign policy leadership, estab-
demonstrating why, when there's danger to the lished by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt,
country, people think their party simply can’t Harry Truman. John Kennedy and Lyndon
be relied on. Johnson. It exploded over Vietnam and hasn’t
Last week, just as Iraqis , ' ' >—. ..i—
Nearly the lone remaining representative of
in Iraq a lost cause. Conn.), who last week stated, even more
•’ ’ * t consequences of
U.S. failure in Iraq.
“The cost of defeat would be disastrous,” he
said, “in the collapse of the new Iraqi regime,
civil war in Iraq, regional wars beyond its bor-
ders, a victory for (terrorist leader Abu Musab
al) Zarqawi and Al Qaeda ...”
Democrats now divide into six basic groups
on Iraq. Lieberman is alone in defending U.S.
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 14, 2005, newspaper, December 14, 2005; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1191137/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.