Military Base Closures

* I voted for Barbara Boxer because during her campaign she stressed over and over again that it was time to take care of our problems here at home. After reading her plan for dealing with the military base closures (“A Five-Point Plan for Survival,” Commentary, June 30) I was elated to see that she is keeping her promise. As the co-chairwoman of the Defense Conversion Task Force, Sen. Boxer has shown her commitment to the people of California by focusing on our priorities which are, as she stated, “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

While the closure of seven military bases in California will undoubtedly be a big blow to our state’s economy and work force, Boxer has labored diligently to ensure that the conversion process will result in the creation of new industries and jobs.

KATHY POMERANTZ

Los Angeles

* Sen. Boxer’s plan for defense conversion is precisely the wrong approach, calling for more government micromanagement. This becomes obvious when, in her first recommendation, for a “conversion clearinghouse,” she proposes setting up an organization to “ . . . cut through the bureaucracy and expedite the efforts of 23 federal agencies.”

The real problem and its solution should be obvious, even to an ex-stockbroker. Congress created these bureaucracies by legislation to take care of previous problems long since solved, forgotten or declared hopeless. It should start to simplify the mess it created by streamlining government, not by creating more agencies to sort through the wreckage. What does she think the “cut spending first” cry is all about?

WILLIAM BRADSHAW

San Diego

* It is sad to see and hear the mournful cries resulting from the closure of U.S. military bases. It should be a time of rejoicing! The end of the Cold War.

Yes, it means a huge loss of jobs but that is because the leadership did not have the vision to plan properly for the conversion. The brightest and best brains were used for military research. Now, it is time for that brain trust to be a part of the conversion. Research consumer and human needs; electric cars, low-income housing, high tech for cleaning the planet, etc.

Stop giving away our ideas for others to develop. Come home to America and build our nation as we did after World War II. It is the end of the Cold War! And it is never too late. Be creative, jobs will result.

SALLY FRIDAY

North Hollywood

* With the recent military base closings, and reduction of personnel, it’s becoming evident that the Washington decision-makers have little or no idea what happened at the beginning of World War II. Let me enlighten them:

When war seemed inevitable, we drafted hundreds of thousands of young men, and then discovered we had neither the facilities nor the equipment for proper training. So we emptied the warehouses of World War I uniforms, “soup bowl” helmets and Springfield rifles. Machine-gun drills were performed with “stovepipes”! We were short of warships, cargo ships, planes, tanks, artillery, you name it. Kaiser, Chrysler, Boeing and many others performed production miracles to bring us up to speed. We trained millions of fighting men, built aircraft carriers, battleships, bombers, fighters. We invented vessels for amphibious landings. The much-maligned military-industrial complex saved our skins.

With the world even more dangerous, we can afford to gamble with our security once again by stripping down our fighting potential? Any fight trainer worth his salt would tell us to always keep our guard up.

JERRY COWLE

Pacific Palisades