To the Editor:
Re “After Claiming ‘Great Progress’ in Talks, Trump Threatens More Strikes” (news article, March 31):
Our government is threatening to destroy Iran’s energy infrastructure and water systems. Let’s be honest about what that means for the millions of people who depend on them.
No electricity means hospitals go dark. No clean water means disease spreads faster than any bomb. Families — mothers, children, the elderly — face suffering on a mass scale, not because of anything they did, but because of where they were born.
International law has a name for the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure: war crimes.
In past generations, there was an America that stood against this kind of horror. That America rallied the world. That America was a beacon. But today, there is no such America to call upon — because America is the one making the threats.
Last weekend, many of us marched on No Kings Day, holding onto hope. That hope is being tested. I feel it straining — under threats of war abroad, under health care stripped away at home, under a government that speaks the language of empire while ordinary people on many continents pay the price.
I am angry. I am heartbroken. And I refuse to be silent.
Tracy Reiss Akron, Ohio
To the Editor:
One of the cornerstones of our democracy and one of the key aspects of our Constitution is the subordination of the military to the president as commander in chief. Yet we are now at another of those terrifying historical intersections where this great strength becomes a liability.
Many of us would hope that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, would be able to turn to President Trump and tell him that he would refuse to follow any order to bomb facilities that are primarily for civilian use because to do so would be a war crime.
Perhaps he has done so, but at this point we don’t know that, and we live with the shadow of a commander in chief glibly threatening power grids and desalination plants with destruction that would cause untold suffering not only for the Iranian people but for millions of others as well.
There seems to be no way around this constitutional conundrum if we wish to preserve our treasured, legitimate civilian control of military action. Yet what is the alternative if Mr. Trump gives such an order?
Dave Pasinski Fayetteville, N.Y.
Calling All Teens: Are you a teenager with something to say? The New York Times’s Learning Network invites you to write a public-facing letter about an issue that matters to you. The Open Letters Contest runs until April 8.
Education for Every Child, Citizen or Not
To the Editor:
Re “Miller Wants Texas to Teach Citizens Only” (news article, March 25):
In defining moments of U.S. history, the Supreme Court has decided landmark cases that have changed the lives of our nation’s children for generations. Two of these cases — and the futures of our children — are under attack by the Trump administration.
The court’s 1982 ruling in Plyler v. Doe established that states cannot deny children access to public K-12 schools based on immigration status. More than 80 years before Plyler, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court ensured full citizenship to any person born here, regardless of the parents’ immigration status. These rulings helped guarantee the support and services that all children need to grow, to fully integrate into their communities and to prepare for the future.
As administration officials like Stephen Miller push states to end equal education access and as the court prepares to hear the lawsuit challenging President Trump’s order to redefine birthright citizenship, we must remember that future generations depend on us to ensure they can get the resources they need to thrive.
Our leaders must stand on the right side of history and act now to protect all children’s ability to achieve their full potential.
Wendy Cervantes Washington The writer is the director for immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy.
A Too Costly War
To the Editor:
Re “Better Ways to Spend the War’s Billions,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, March 22):
Thanks to Mr. Kristof for reminding us what we could being doing with the huge amounts of money being spent on the war on Iran — a war that most Americans don’t support. With those taxpayer dollars we could be working toward ending hunger, providing health care and much more.
Readers should send this column to those who represent them in Washington. We should remind them that our votes depend on this action. We can demand that they end this unnecessary war.
Willie Dickerson Snohomish, Wash.
The post An Ominous U.S. Threat Against Iran appeared first on New York Times.
