TODAY'S LETTERS: 'NYT' Columnists Debate and Non-Combat Deaths in Iraq

By: E&P Staff Readers wrote in today about a dueling positions on The New York Times op-ed page and non-combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Columnists War Continues at 'NYT' -- As Brooks, Krugman, Herbert Do Battle

You did a good job describing the ?war? over the Reagan charge with your column.

But you left out the most damning evidence that the anti-Reagan side is right. It was Lee Atwater?s admission that the use of the phrase ?states? rights? was intended to serve a racially motivated purpose. Lee Atwatrer would have known, and this makes David Brooks position utterly wrong.

From Herbert: "To see Reagan?s appearance at the Neshoba County Fair in its proper context, it has to be placed between the murders of the civil rights workers that preceded it and the acknowledgment by the Republican strategist Lee Atwater that the use of code words like 'states? rights' in place of blatantly bigoted rhetoric was crucial to the success of the G.O.P.?s Southern strategy."

Randy Mayeux
Dallas, Texas


Someone is stupid enough to take Krugman seriously on?anything? That is surprising.

Has Krugman EVER written anything bad about a Democrat or good about a Republican? I mean?EVER??

M. Redden
Wilmington, N.C.


Remember Reagan's decision (long after he was elected) to lay a wreath at the graves of fallen SS soldiers??
That was also an outrage.

YOUR ARTICLE WAS JUST WONDERFUL. I COULDN'T HELP BUT ADD THAT LITTLE TIDBIT.

Harriet Helman
Ronkonkoma, N.Y.


A woman at a McCain event calls Hillary the ?B? word, the room applauds, McCain laughs and answers her question without commenting on the slur.

Just like back in 2004, when Cheney used the Senate floor to tell an opponent to go f__k himself, the party that drapes itself in the Bible, the party that says it represents God and decency, can?t resist being foul-mouthed.

And to think we have an entire year of God and decency in front of us. If God is listening, may he or she save us from Republicans.

Robert C. Doyle

Who Will Probe 'Noncombat' Deaths in Iraq?

The author and respondents made one error in the report , we are NOT sending healthy people to Iraq. I know of two (how is it possible that I know the two if there are not more) Insulin Dependent Diabetics serving in Iraq. When I was on active duty becoming an insulin dependent diabetic was an instant out. The military couldn't afford to have people whose lives depended on a medication to keep them alive.

Not only is a diabetic serving in a combat area dangerous for the diabetic but for everyone around them. Stress is a known cause of fluctuations in the glucose level. Anyone whose been around insulin dependent diabetics knows that when their blood sugar drops their behavior can be quite erratic. Some diabetics are unable to detect the changes in their bodies when their glucose levels drop.

Besides the diabetics, we are sending previously injured and still in pain troops back to Iraq. I know from my time at Ft. Irwin (the National Training Center) that many Reserve and National Guard troops are not in good condition. They have heart conditions, high blood pressure and many other problems that go unnoticed without regular health care.

They have wrecked the Army I once loved and was proud to be a member of.

Anne Philiben LTC US ARmy (ret.)

The Vaccine Healthcare Center Network was concerned enough to build a clinic at the U.S. base hospital in Landstuhl, Germany where medevac'ed soldiers are first sent.

The Vaccine Healthcare Centers are a congressionally-mandated group of centers where soldiers reporting injuries due to military vaccinations can receive appropriate evaluations and treatment. (The military gives all deploying soldiers anthrax and smallpox vaccinations, which are known to cause serious adverse effects in many soldiers.) However, after construction the Landstuhl center never opened.

See the GAO report on all this here

Meryl Nass, Md.
Mount Desert Island Hospital
Bar Harbor, Maine