Waterboarding legal when CIA used it
The Sun's editorial "Standing against torture" (Feb. 19) cites Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as saying that he believes waterboarding is torture.
First, the CIA neither conducts nor condones torture.
Second, General Hayden did not make the statement attributed to him in the editorial.
General Hayden did say in congressional testimony this month that waterboarding was used on three hardened terrorists in the CIA's detention and interrogation program.
The tactic, which has not been employed since 2003, was deemed legal by the Department of Justice when it was used.
Before the Senate and the House, General Hayden emphasized that the agency's detention and interrogation program has operated within a strict legal framework, subject to review and oversight. It has disrupted terrorist operations and saved innocent lives.
The agency's decision to employ waterboarding in the wake of the 9/11 attacks not only was lawful, but it also reflected the circumstances of the time.
General Hayden has made clear that waterboarding is not part of CIA's current program.
He also has shared with Congress his view of changes in the legal landscape over the past five years, and the need to take those changes into account should any interrogation measure not currently in use be considered.
Mark Mansfield
McLean, Va.
The writer is director of public affairs for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Time to treat meat as a public hazard?
Last weekend's recall of 143 million pounds of beef by the U.S. Department of Agriculture should provide a loud and clear wake-up call that federal inspection is not adequate to ensure a safe meat supply ("A gap in food safety," Feb. 19).
This largest meat recall in U.S. history was brought about because of an animal rights organization's undercover video showing California slaughterhouse workers using kicks, electric shock, high-pressure water hoses and a forklift to force sick or injured animals onto the killing floor.
USDA regulations prohibit sick animals from entering the food supply, because of the high risk of contamination by E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease.
About 37 million pounds of the recalled meat went to school lunch and other federal nutrition programs since October 2006, and "almost all of it is likely to have been consumed," according to a USDA official.
Parents must insist that USDA stop using the National School Lunch Program as a dumping ground for surplus meat and dairy commodities.
The rest of us must learn to treat all meat, and particularly ground beef, as a hazardous substance.
Jen Riley
Ellicott City
Factory farming is real cause of cruelty
There is more to a lack of food safety than inconsistency of inspections, as outlined in The Sun's article "A gap in food safety" (Feb. 19).
Factory farming is a thoroughly inhumane, cruel method of food production.
It involves treating living beings as objects that have no feelings and no right to live the life nature intended for them.
Furthermore, the meat from the unfortunate cattle, pigs, chickens and other creatures so treated is at best never as healthy for human consumption as the meat from animals raised in barnyards and fields, and may even pose dangers to human health because of the use of antibiotics in animal feed and other forms of contamination.
I understand that factory farming has been outlawed in some Western countries.
It should be outlawed in the United States too.
Elke Straub
Baltimore
System again fails a troubled mother
How can the state's attorney's office in good conscience charge Vernice Harris with first-degree murder ("Mother pleads not guilty in toddler's death," Feb. 20)?
Here is a woman who tried to get help -- a woman who knew she could not care for her daughter Bryanna.
The system failed both of them when Ms. Harris went to the Department of Social Services and said, in effect, "Help me" ("Disastrous try at being a mother," Feb. 8).
Now the system looks like it will fail this woman again.
Cheryl Ragsdale
Owings Mills
Mental illness rarely prompts violence
Recent news coverage of the Northern Illinois University shooting ("Clear record, unclear motive," Feb. 16) and the gruesome murder of a New York psychotherapist appears to be focusing largely on the alleged perpetrators' battles with mental illness.
In a culture that is often given to overreaction in the aftermath of tragedy, it may be helpful to point out that the kind of mental illness that leads to such acts, and indeed to any form of extreme violence, is exceedingly rare.
According to a study conducted by the World Psychiatric Association, "Mental disorders are neither necessary nor sufficient causes of violence, and it is far more likely that people with a serious mental illness will be the victim of violence."
The mentally ill face a staggering degree of stigmatization, and are all too often mistreated in society and in institutional settings.
We should be careful not to allow isolated events, horrific though they may be, to exacerbate the situation.
Louie Verrecchio
Hampstead
Angry officer merits a sterner sanction
I was dismayed by the letter writer who got satisfaction from watching the Inner Harbor skateboarder incident ("Can't suppress grin over teen's rebuke," Feb. 18).
The teenager in question, Eric Bush, never used an obscenity, and didn't try to "flout authority," as the letter writer claimed.
Officer Salvatore Rivieri should have simply moved the skaters along instead of using his badge to bully a kid.
Maybe it's not a great idea to call an officer "dude," as Eric Bush did. But is that really a crime, as Officer Rivieri made it seem to be?
Isn't it a greater crime to put a confused 14-year-old kid in a headlock and push him to the ground?
Officers like Mr. Rivieri waste the city's resources and engender mistrust of the police. He deserves a harsher punishment than suspension with pay.
Eva Metz
Towson
The writer is a sophomore at Towson High School.
Obama has earned delegates' support
I've read that three of the Maryland Democratic Party's "superdelegates," U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Rep. C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger and Gov. Martin O'Malley, committed themselves to support Sen. Hillary Clinton before the state's primary ("Suddenly, superdelegates are important," Feb. 17).
Since Sen. Barack Obama won overwhelmingly among Maryland Democrats, I hope that they will follow the expressed will of their constituents and switch their support to Mr. Obama. If the Democratic Party is truly democratic, it seems to me that this is the only logically and morally correct course.
Ronald Dobrydnio
Glen Burnie