Troops hamstrung

Gen. Stanley McChrystal was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus because of insubordination expressed by McChrystal’s staff to a Rolling Stone reporter. Although extremely poor judgment was exhibited by McChrystal and his staff in giving the interviews, it appears there is sufficient disagreement between our military in Afghanistan and the Obama administration on the conduct of the war and the strategic decisions handed down by the White House.

The rules of engagement forced on our troops in Afghanistan appear to inhibit their ability to conduct successful operations in pursuit of the Taliban and other terrorist organizations. As Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, stated in the August issue of the monthly magazine Military, our soldiers are encumbered “by bizarrely restrictive rules of engagement which make it easier for the enemy to kill them; harder for them to kill the enemy.”

President Barack Obama shifted the strategic advantage to the Taliban and their supporters when he announced to the enemy the deadline for starting the withdrawal of our troops will be July 2011. This announcement gave the Taliban a boost in morale, and the strategic knowledge that if they could hold out till the middle of next year, U.S. troops will be leaving Afghanistan. The Taliban can then be in a better position to launch attacks and try to bring down the Karzai government.

As Kelly stated, the Obama administration must “rewrite the rules of engagement and drop the deadline for troop withdrawal.”

Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.

Bipartisan efforts

In his Friday letter, Jim Fitzhugh complained that things have not changed and that President Barack Obama “may have been good at organizing community picnics and county fairs in Chicago, but a responsible CEO of America he’s not.”

I’d like to point out that, time and again, this president has reached across the aisle to “organize” bipartisan efforts to fight our nation’s problems with unemployment, a stagnant economy, outsourcing of jobs and paying for wars he inherited from a GOP president. Obama was met with nothing but passivity, false controversies, questions about his birth certificate and various other delaying tactics. GOP mouthpieces are up front and unashamed about declaring their hope that his presidency is a huge failure.

Fitzhugh should write to his congressman and senators to request that they depart from the Party of No’s policy of obstructionism, propaganda and self-enrichment, and put their shoulders to the wheel as patriots and Americans to help solve these problems.

Michael Jones, Waco

Welcome teachers

This letter is for all the teachers starting the 2010-2011 school year:

I appreciate all of your hard work and commitment to the students and parents in Texas. I know it is not an easy job. Sometimes it must seem like the odds are stacked against you. I will keep you in my prayers all year long. Remember that you do have a lot of people who support you.

Have a great and successful year.

Paul Brinkman, Lorena