To the Editor:
Re “An Unjust War Without Plan or Purpose,” by Phil Klay (Opinion guest essay, March 22):
My ancestors fought in the American Revolution, the Civil War, the two world wars and in Vietnam. Every American citizen should read Mr. Klay’s thoughtful essay about President Trump’s ill-conceived war on Iran.
I personally knew veterans of the three most recent wars. They were serious, prudent men, aware of history and concerned about the costs of conflict. They did not talk about their war experiences lightly. Some were hesitant to talk about them at all. War was not glorified, nor was it considered a game.
Not so today. Our leaders in Washington, with their crass memes and cruel language, glorify violence. They should be ashamed of their flippant, frivolous attitude toward war.
Janet Robinson El Cerrito, Calif.
To the Editor:
Phil Klay’s essay would have served well as the speech that might have been made in Congress during a debate about whether to vote to initiate war on Iran — a decision that under the Constitution belongs exclusively to Congress, not the president.
But President Trump stole that power — as presidents of both parties have done repeatedly since after World War II — and Congress has supinely acquiesced, turning the Constitution as it was written on its head.
If President Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to go to Congress and ask for the authority to initiate war after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, what possible excuse is there for President Trump to not do the same, especially in the absence of any attack or imminent threat of attack from Iran?
And where are the conservatives who preach interpreting the Constitution literally, according to its original words and intent?
Ira Glasser New York The writer was the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1978 to 2001.
To the Editor:
I am a U.S. Army veteran who served from 1962 to 1964 and who still retains faith in the principles of the Constitution and the chain of military command that I swore an oath to obey more than 60 years ago. I still believe that they help assure those who serve that what we are fighting for makes sense.
As a 20-year-old draftee stationed in West Germany during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, I locked and loaded a nuclear warhead with a 20-kiloton payload, roughly the same in strength as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So, hell yes, I had a full load to worry about. But I felt that the orders I followed made sense and had been delivered cleanly and clearly by well-balanced and capable commanders.
I struggle to find any such assurances today.
Stan Heuisler Baltimore
To the Editor:
I appreciate Phil Klay’s take on George Washington’s condemnation of the “wanton cruelty” and atrocities carried out by the British during the Revolutionary War, but the historical truth is that the founders were equally willing to use wanton power and destruction to achieve their goals — for example, against Native Americans.
Maj. Gen. John Sullivan, on a 1779 expedition ordered by George Washington, was given authority by Washington to attack, burn and destroy Native American settlements, including their food sources — their peach orchards and corn fields — to ensure starvation of an entire people and drive them from their lands.
Washington wrote to Sullivan: “The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.” As history has recorded, much of this annihilation was achieved.
The actions of the Trump administration in its war against Iran that Mr. Klay describes may not be a betrayal of the founders but rather something in the DNA of our country. Flowery language is all well and good, but actions speak louder than words.
William Gehris New Paltz, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Phil Klay’s essay is a tight and a coherent argument against our current war in Iran. As a veteran of the Iraq war, he recognizes the folly and hubris of our current leadership. Unfortunately, the beliefs about how and why to conduct war that Mr. Klay highlights are not widely shared.
A significant portion of Americans are on board with our cruelty and projection of power. Some even have a religious focus to buttress their support for the war. Our congressional leaders are complicit and incapable of asserting any of the authority the Constitution gives only to them.
The more troubling miscalculation is how the principle of divided government powers has failed the people, leaving us with a bellicose king who can make war both internationally and domestically.
Richard Young Eugene, Ore.
To the Editor:
Phil Klay is sadly mistaken. Almost everything he complains about in his essay on the Iran war could have easily been applied to Germany before World War II.
We don’t need a sophisticated argument for the war. We know that Iran lied about its uranium processing and received billions of dollars from the Obama administration; that Iran has unabashedly threatened to wipe Israel off the map; and that it is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Every president for decades, both Democratic and Republican, has sworn to to make sure Iran never becomes a nuclear power. To dismiss the need for military intervention after so many diplomatic efforts can only be seen as pacifism — or exhaustion. It is Mr. Klay, not President Trump, who is committing the miscalculation here — just as most of the world did in the 1930s.
Ari Weitzner New York
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.
Teach Undocumented Students
To the Editor:
Re “Miller Wants Texas to Teach Citizens Only” (news article, March 25):
Stephen Miller’s recent suggestion to Texas lawmakers that they end funding for the public education of undocumented children is extremely shortsighted.
Refusing to educate children has huge ramifications. Where will these children go if they are not in school? The streets? Gangs? Children’s failure to learn language, to read and write, and to obtain basic math and analytical skills will affect not only their ability to function on a daily basis, it will also severely affect their ability to work in the future and contribute to society.
How will these uneducated children support themselves? By committing crimes? Begging? Receiving social services?
Surely, this is not the future taxpayers want. A small investment now will pay dividends later. One need only look at the history of immigrants and know how much they have contributed and will continue to contribute. But only if they are given a chance to learn.
Lu Ann Maciulla McNabb Keswick, Va.
Energy Realities
To the Editor:
Re “Hits on Mideast Infrastructure Place World Economy in Peril” (front page, March 23):
There is no small irony in President Trump’s belatedly learning that his imperialistic ambitions and domestic political fortunes are thwarted by the vulnerability of fossil fuel supplies to shifting international political winds and geographic realities.
I’m guessing there is little chance, under these circumstances, of his rethinking his disparagement of electrical vehicles and his curtailment of renewable energy source development.
Bill McNeill Kirkland, Wash.
The post Memes and Mixed Messages in the Iran War appeared first on New York Times.
