MAILBAG: Columnist fails to see both sides of war

Once again Joe Bell (WWII, Iraq War contrasts grow,” Sept. 13) does a great job of telling one side of the story as if it’s the only side of the story — his side.

The other half of the story the perennial Bush-hater leaves out about WWII is that on Dec. 6, 1941 (the day before Pearl Harbor), you could count on one hand the number of Americans who wanted to go to war against the Nazis in Europe and the imperialist Japanese in the Pacific.

Winston Churchill had been preaching for the 10 previous years that if we didn’t stop these dictatorial regimes in their infancy, the price to be paid later would be infinitely more. Winston would be proven right as his warning went unheard for the entire decade of the 1930s.

When Hitler invaded Poland and then the low-countries and finally France, it was too late for the 50 million people who then died trying to stop him. As Winston said, “All that it takes for evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing until it’s too late.”

What “Mr. Windbag,” aka Joe Bell, needs to do is take some of his own advice and try to learn from the mistakes this country has made in the past by not standing up to the Japanese and the Nazis when the price in lost lives would have been infinitely less.

That’s the whole point of what President Bush and our troops are trying to do now in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan and soon Iran — stop the madmen Osama Bin Laden and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran before they can attack us and wreak a million times the havoc they can now.

It’s called pre-empting. Just what Winston was calling for and never got in the 1930s, Mr. Bell.

Through Bush’s efforts and that of our magnificent troops and Gen. Petraeus the situation in Iraq is improving miraculously every day.

Within a few short years there will be a strong, self sufficient, vibrant democracy at work in Iraq that will be the showpiece of the Middle East and a beacon to every other Muslim dictatorship’s citizens.

When all the Middle East finally follows suit country by country and form democracies because of the Iraq example, then and only then, will there finally be peace in the Middle East and here as well.

But it will be no thanks to the Bush-haters like Bumbling Bell who can’t see 2 inches in front of his face (with or without the eye glasses he likes to tip up for us in his fake, sagacious gaze in his column picture each week).

Wake up, you blathering buffoon!

TOM WILLIAMS

Newport Beach

 For the last time, no to City Hall in the Park

I do not want the city hall behind the central library, and how many times do the people have to say this?

I voted it down, I believe twice now.

And I have had petitioners come to my door twice this summer asking for support for this location. I told them both no.

And (mid-summer 2007) I received a “letter” asking me to sign in favor of building on this site.

I want it to be a passive park, that’s it. The site was “given” to the city as open space in exchange for other development throughout the city.

How come no one remembers this? Find another site or stay put and rebuild!

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