Don’t be fools

The Republicans, led by President Bush, whipped Americans into a frenzy of fear following 9/11, leading to a disastrous ground war in Iraq. Many Americans were fooled into war by the use of the manufactured evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Bush’s Iraq War opened a cancerous wound that has spilled its malignant disciples of terrorism throughout the Middle East. Once again, many Republican candidates are acting with the same knee-jerk fear-mongering response following the California terror attacks by calling for American ground troops in Syria and Iraq. The most recent Republican debate proved that a number of the leading candidates lack the required temperament and knowledge to be Commander in Chief. Donald Trump’s blustering about killing the families of terrorists, Ted Cruz’s call for carpet-bombing and Chris Christie’s threats to shoot down Russian planes is simplistic and dangerous nonsense. They lack the basic knowledge and experience to be taken seriously. If Americans allow the GOP warmongers to use fear to fool us into another ground war without a thorough national dialogue, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Rick Smith
-Urbandale

One last touchdown for Brown
I thought Rick Brown’s farewell in The Des Moines Register was quite worthy of the circumstances. The Kirk Ferentz anecdote in particular was choice. But the piece did beg a glaring question: How come no Rose Bowl for a well-deserved grand exit? Now we know why (Civic Skinny, Dec. 17.) Between Randy Peterson’s gruesome pratfall in the line of duty and Brown’s swift kick out the door after a career of distinguished service, it’s been a tough month for what Peachy sportswriter Maury White liked to call “ink-stained ragamuffins” in this town. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Brown. I wish they’d left you in for one last touchdown.

Mike Wellman
-Des Moines

Fight Islam with respect?
Rick Smith advises Republicans to avoid pejoratives such as “radical Islam” and to emulate George W. Bush’s groveling “Religion of Peace” moniker to avoid more unpleasantness from the followers of the “Prophet.”  One could agree that “radical” is misleading. More to the point would be the adjective “orthodox” when Muslims engage in honor killings, stoning adulterers, hurling homosexuals off rooftops, beheading Christians — some as young as 5 — burning alive or drowning infidels in cages, following the unwritten atrocity of clitorectomy performed on little girls as young as 4, euthanizing Down Syndrome children or using them as suicide bombers, nailing horseshoes to the feet of Christians and forcing them to walk to their slaughter as was done by the Muslim Turks to Armenian Christians just 100 years ago.

We could also recall the 14th century slaughter of 5 percent of the world’s population by the Mongol Tamerlane, done in compliance with the Koran’s 100-plus commandments to violence and the killing of infidels. Or what about 1,200 years of the Muslim slave trade? No imprecations from the Koran there, either. And more importantly, where are the Muslim-led efforts to stamp out these obscenities?

Let’s ask the liberal-left democracies of Europe if they’re happy with the Muslims they have so generously welcomed. Are the Swedes pleased with the 1,000 percent increase in rapes since Muslims moved north?  How about the Brits, the French, the Belgians and Dutch, the Germans and the Hungarians? If the writer wants respect for Islam, try living in a Muslim country and practicing your own religion. Move to the Molenbeek sector of Brussels, the Rive Droite “no-go zones” of Paris, or even Dearborn, Michigan, and let us know if your enthusiasm for the “Religion of Peace” has waned a touch.

Before you go, ask yourself: What happened to the Jews and Christians who inhabited the holy lands — for centuries in the case of Christians and millennia for the Jews — before Islam arrived? Where are they now, and why are they gone? There is no way to ascertain which Muslims agree or disagree with the violent mandates of the Koran. Terrorists won’t be honest about their intentions, so our only sane course of action is to wait until Islam is reformed before allowing them into our midst. We have no obligation to let any ethnicity into the U.S. — least of all Islam.

John Burns
-West Des Moines