Appeasement won't cure crisis Israel confronts
On the very morning The Sun was advocating the election of Labor Party dove Amram Mitzna as Israel's next prime minister, a Palestinian "militant" blew up a bus in Jerusalem that mostly carried children on their way to school ("Israel's leading dove," editorial, Nov. 21). Nice timing.
And the incident underscores what The Sun never seems to grasp: that the issue in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is not about a Palestinian state but the destruction of the Jewish state.
In every recent poll, the Palestinians have overwhelmingly supported the so-called radical groups pledged to Israel's termination, including Yasser Arafat's own Fatah group, which has supplied men, weapons and funds to the battle.
Mr. Mitzna represents the failed attempt to find a responsible partner among the Palestinians with whom to bargain. But the Palestinians have made a conscious decision to wage war -- not for a state of their own, but for all of historic Palestine.
David Kross
Columbia
Israel's Amram Mitzna would offer the Palestinians essentially the same peace deal then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered in 2000. Making that same offer after Yasser Arafat has spent two years authorizing and funding terror, with no change in behavior in sight, is suicidally naive.
The Sun's position is akin to an onlooker screaming for the man on the ledge to jump.
The question is not what Israel will offer Mr. Arafat but when Mr. Arafat and his accomplices will demonstrate a sincere desire for peace with Israel, as opposed to demanding a Palestine "from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea."
If negotiations with Mr. Arafat could not achieve peace two years ago, how will appeasing terror do so now?
Laurie Abrams
Baltimore
War with Muslims is already under way
Thomas Friedman's address to Muslim leaders bravely confronts an important and politically sensitive subject, but doesn't quite get to the heart of the matter ("Memo to Muslim world: Defuse the holy bomb," Opinion * Commentary, Nov. 28).
Mr. Friedman is "worried that we are heading toward a civilizational war." Doesn't he realize this war has already started, and was declared against us even before Sept. 11? Although the United States is now officially in what is a euphemistically labeled a "war on terror," we really are in the early stages of an epic war with militant Islam.
As Mr. Friedman suggests, we shouldn't "smear Islam with a broad brush." Rather we should use a narrow and intensely bright highlighter to properly recognize our dangerous, determined and religiously driven true enemy.
Nelson L. Hyman
Randallstown
College trust offers a variety of options
Sun reporter Eileen Ambrose is correct that tuition rates are on the rise, which means that prices for the Maryland Prepaid College Trust are more expensive this year than last year ("Prepaid tuitions take a leap toward costly," Nov. 24).
However, the article leaves the impression that the only method of financing the plan is a lump sum payment of approximately $25,000 for four years of college. The fact is that the college trust offers a variety of payment options that can be spread over annual or monthly payments that can continue until the child graduates from high school.
In addition, the account holder has the option of purchasing one, two or three years of college.
These options can help make the Prepaid College Trust affordable for many more families.
Edwin Crawford
Baltimore
The writer is the chairman of the Maryland Prepaid College Trust.
Ehrlich must meet a higher standard
While it does not surprise me to see the vehemence with which Sinclair Broadcasting defends Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s questionable behavior ("Ehrlich's letters to FCC involved no impropriety," letters, Nov. 29), I have only one thing to say to Sinclair officials and to Mr. Ehrlich: A person who runs on an anti-corruption platform and besmirches the reputation of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to win an election had better be above reproach in every way.
It's time politicians and public servants realized that one needn't perform illegal acts to be immoral or shady.
Paula Baranowski
Havre de Grace
When will we see the new stickers?
I'm just wondering how long it will take for the "Don't blame me, I voted for KKT" bumper stickers to appear.
McNair Taylor
Baltimore
Fat-cat donors tie Democrats' hands
The Democrats were a party without a message in the recent elections because their tongues are tied by corporate money. They purport to be the party of labor, the environment and civil rights but are in reality the party of Monsanto, Philip Morris, Lockheed Martin and other interests.
Democrats can't attack the Republicans over Enron-type scandals because they have their hands in the same till. They can't push for national health care or any meaningful reforms because their corporate funders have them tied to the status quo, however unpopular it may be.
If they truly want to energize voters, the Democrats should take a lesson from the Green Party and refuse to take corporate money.
Leo Horrigan
Baltimore
It was Democrats who let schools rot
The writer of the letter "The poor, children are the real losers" (Nov. 16) suggested that under Republican rule the most impoverished schools in the nation will continue to rot away. What the writer appears not to comprehend is that the rotting began with the Democrats. Many voters may have felt it was time to see if the Republicans could do things differently.
Marie Lewis
Baltimore
Inspections can't stop the threat from Iraq
As a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, I urge that Iraq's "acceptance" of the latest U.N. mandate be taken with a grain of salt. Baghdad has a long-established (11 years) pattern of maneuvering and deception. Do we honestly believe inspectors will find anything Saddam Hussein does not wish them to find?
The bottom line is that the threat posed by Baghdad will still exist -- albeit under effective disguise -- even if inspections are declared a success.
That true threat will never be removed until the current Baghdad regime is overthrown. The only question is what this will cost.
But we should not be fooled as Mr. Hussein again seeks to turn world opinion to his political advantage.
Joe Hammell
Waynesboro, Pa.