To the editor: Find ways around war

Do drone attacks bring about stability or cause more hatred.


Sun, 19 Jan 2020 05:00:00 GMT

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The airstrike and killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani is a sign of U.S. failure of diplomacy. The President said the attack was necessary to protect American personnel from harm by Iran’s elite Quds force.

Do drone attacks and bombing help bring about stability in Iran and the Middle East, or do they cause more hatred of the United States? Is it a sign of weakness to reach out to the enemy to find common ground?

This would be more desirable than war. I adhere to the words of America’s great general Dwight D. Eisenhower: “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, futility, its stupidity.”

JOHN LAUDICK

West Toledo

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Lake Erie’s fate

On Jan. 28, the citizens of Toledo will find out exactly how meaningful their vote was when a judge rules on Drewes Farm Partnership LLC. vs. City of Toledo.

We cannot ignore that 61 percent of voters supported the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in the special election in February. We cannot forget that Senior U.S. District Judge James Carr acknowledged (“Judge: what is Ohio actually doing to help reduce Lake Erie’s algae burden?” Sept. 24) that he was frustrated by the lack of evidence to prove that what the state is doing now will actually work. We cannot forget that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce wrote the language for the state budget bill to remove the ability of citizens to defend their ecosystems.

But the biggest thing that we cannot forget is that this is bigger than Toledo. Australia, Mexico, Philippines, Sweden, and dozens of communities across the country are taking action. The Lake Erie Bill of Rights and Toledo landed in the national spotlight for a global Rights of Nature movement. We cannot ignore that. Will the next court that rules?

CRYSTAL JANKOWSKI

West Toledo

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