1/07 Letters: Only barbarians destroy an enemy’s cultural treasures, as Trump has vowed

Trump’s order

Regarding “Trump’s threats draw Iran’s cultural sites into tensions,” (Jan. 6):

It’s said that when it became clear to Hitler that the war was lost, he ordered the military to destroy Paris, an order fortunately not carried out. Our president, after he has committed an act of war by assassinating an Iranian general, has threatened the destruction of Iranian cultural monuments if Iran retaliates. Only barbarians destroy the cultural treasures of their enemies.

John D. Divers, Raleigh

War protesters

The people in the streets carrying signs that say “NO WAR” need to head to Iran and give President Hassan Rouhani a kiss and a hug and tell him it’s OK to kill Americans. They should be defending the troops who make it possible for them to protest, and thanking President Trump for defending our military and embassy.

Find something more meaningful to do to with your time: support America. Go home where you are cozy and safe because others give their lives for your freedom.

Mary Lou Smith, Raleigh

Trump’s base

I wonder how President Trump’s base thinks his ill-thought assassination of a top Iranian general in Iraq would solve the crises in the Middle East.

Trump is putting our country in danger from reprisals by Iranian proxies just itching to do great harm to the United States. He has apparently never considered the fact that Iran will now continue it’s plan to build nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. Iranian citizens are now suddenly united in their hatred of the United States.

Because of the assassination in its country, Iraq is about to expel all American military. How do the fathers, mothers, wives, husbands and children of all our soldiers killed fighting for Iraqi freedom feel about that?

And still, we see Trump’s Republican puppets in Congress afraid to challenge him no matter what harm he is bringing to our democracy and the world. I pray that we can survive until November.

Barton Holtz, Pittsboro

Diversion tactic

Regardless of whether Sen. Richard Burr, Rep. G.K. Butterfield and Sen. Thom Tillis approve of the drone strike killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, they must agree it was shocking for the president of the United States to order a strike with such potentially serious repercussions while vacationing at his golf resort in Florida.

Surely my elected officials would agree that killing the top military leader of a foreign adversary would likely be viewed as an act of war.

Before taking such drastic action, Trump should have briefed Congressional leaders of both parties from Washington. This is yet another deadly example of his impulsivity and disdain for the rule of law.

On the eve of Trump’s impeachment trial, his decision smacks of a desperate diversionary tactic and a Wag the Dog scenario. God help us all.

Lynn Andrews, Durham

Gerrymandering

Regarding “In 2020, the top five NC issues” (Jan. 5 Editorial):

There is one reason North Carolina has not expanded Medicaid, funded public education, worked on climate change, shrunk the rural-urban divide, or reformed the UNC Board of Governors. It is because the N.C. legislators who failed to accomplish these worthy goals were elected by utilizing extremely gerrymandered voting districts.

Thanks to a court order, we now have new 2020 voting maps for the N.C. legislature and U.S. House that are no longer extreme partisan gerrymanders, although they were still clearly drawn with partisan intent.

For voting maps to be truly free of partisan influence, they must be drawn by an independent redistricting commission. All North Carolinians should support N.C. Common Cause and the N.C. League of Women Voters as they advocate for such a commission to draw the voting maps for 2021-2030.

Susan B. and Bob McClanahan, Chapel Hill

Pellet industry

Thank you for the series on the wood pellet industry. (“Slow Burn,” Jan. 3) The attractiveness of wood pellets is that the energy from wood pellets can be constant, as opposed to the intermittent availability of solar and wind energy.

However, biomass energy produces too much CO2 compared to coal and natural gas. Add in the full-lifecycle CO2 emissions from processing them in North Carolina and transporting them to the UK, and it’s even more climate-unfriendly. Plus, the large amount of land needed to create wood pellets may one day be needed to grow crops for our growing population.

The only reason wood pellets are financially feasible for the UK market is the fact that they are subsidized by their government.

Renewable energy sources haven’t proven to be financially or environmentally sustainable thus far. More research is needed to find ways to make them so.

John Long, Apex

This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 5:00 AM.