Drone strikes and Pakistan; the White House on bioweapons; development in Playa Vista

Down on drones

Re “Drone plan opens new war front,” Dec. 14

Using our Predator drones to attack targets in a “sprawling city” of 850,000, The Times says, “risks rupturing Washington’s relationship with Islamabad.”

I’ll tell you very clearly: It will guarantee a rupture between my government and myself and cost the president what little shred of faith I still have in him.

The Times reports, in sterile, coldblooded terms, that our military has carried out 48 attacks by unmanned Predator and Reaper aircraft this year alone. Yet 10 is the number of supposedly high-level Taliban leaders you estimate we’ve killed.

Were the remaining targets empty buildings? Or have we already taken hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives through our cowardly actions?

Jon Williams
Goleta

International law recognizes the use of aerial attacks only for hardened military targets. The use of the drones to kill people is extrajudicial execution, which is banned by international law.

Michael Haas
Los Angeles

Biological weapons hazards

Re “Defenseless on bioweapons,” Editorial, Dec. 12

Characterizing the Obama administration’s decision to not support international monitoring of the Biological Weapons Convention as “ducking the issue” manifests a serious misunderstanding of how to reduce biological weapons threats.

Bioweapons are as serious a danger as nuclear weapons. They can be made anywhere and moved everywhere, and could be used repeatedly to cause widespread terror and death. A contagious agent would spread to the United States from wherever it’s released.

Last week, the administration set forth a detailed global strategy for countering biothreats that focuses on strengthening global public health, overseeing bioscience advances and strengthening law enforcement.

Many experts agree with the administration that installing a biological weapons monitoring system won’t work. The techniques for controlling nuclear weapons do not apply to bioweapons. For crucial international security policies, one size does not fit all.

Biological weapons are a real threat that demands a set of realistically effective policies. After eight years of dithering in this arena, the United States is at long last advocating progress.

Barry Kellman
Wilmette, Ill.
The writer is president of the International Security and Biopolicy Institute.

No fan of Bolivia’s leader

Re “Bolivia banks on Morales,” Editorial, Dec. 9

I read this editorial with interest because I recently lived in Bolivia. The Times is misguided in depicting Evo Morales as an enlightened leader whose policies led to his reelection.

Morales shamelessly used race as a wedge issue. Bolivia’s indigenous peoples make up two-thirds of the nation. He appealed to them by constantly casting Bolivians of European and mestizo descent as oppressors and non-Bolivians.

Morales announced his intention to accelerate his brand of socialism -- not “change” as the editorial puts it. His reliance on the increase in coca production to stabilize the economy and his threat to imprison his main opponent, Manfred Reyes Villa, are indicative of his agenda.

I originally supported Morales because I thought he would unite the nation like Nelson Mandela did South Africa. Instead, he has polarized it along class and race lines like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. My fear is that Bolivia will become like Zimbabwe -- totalitarian, economically bankrupt and engulfed by racial hatred.

J. Canelas
Burbank

Doubts about Lieberman

Re “Lieberman criticizes health deal,” Dec. 14

The insurance companies are certainly getting their money’s worth with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

If he’s an Independent, and the Democrats are really in the majority, I need a new dictionary.

Kurt Page
Laguna Niguel

Too bad, grads!

Re “Jobs scarce for new grads,” Dec. 14

Gee whiz, when a company contemplates a mountain of healthcare costs, onerous regulation and significant tax increases -- particularly small business, the creator of the majority of jobs over the last two decades -- it’s not too difficult to see why unemployment will remain punishingly high for young grads.

Serves ‘em right. These young (unproductive) geniuses voted in overwhelming numbers for President Obama and his coattail socialists in Congress.

You reap what you sow.

Kip Dellinger
Los Angeles

Happy holidays at Goldman Sachs

Re “Goldman scraps cash bonuses for top execs,” Dec. 11

It’s pretty fascinating that in this time of economic downturn for millions of Americans, when people are out of work and small businesses can’t get credit and the holiday season looks bleak, Goldman Sachs posts earnings of $8.5 billion in the first nine months of 2009. This turns out to be enough, according to The Times, to hand out bonuses averaging more than $700,000 for each of the company’s more than 31,000 employees.

What is even more interesting is that Goldman Sachs does this without producing anything of value. No cars, computers, clothing, etc. It just makes money from money, just like it did in the old days before its schemes fell apart. That’s why it’s so insulated from the harsh realities that beset so many Americans who work for a living.

Every day is a holiday at Goldman Sachs. Why worry about Main Street when you can take a bath in dollar bills?

Phil Brimble
Los Angeles

The view from Playa Vista

Re “Panel OKs Playa Vista finale,” Dec. 11

I don’t dispute Playa Vista’s right to provide shopping for its existing residents. We overturned the development plans for these 111 acres in the Ballona Creek flood plain because the last environmental impact report was dishonest -- as the appeals court found in agreeing with our lawsuit.

When the city planning department now says the EIR has been “fixed,” it’s like saying the Bernie Madoff affair was merely a paperwork error. They’re saying if Playa Vista fills out the proper bank withdrawal slip, they can empty out the vault that holds our quality of life -- they can pave over the last big piece of privately-owned open space left in the city.

The public’s well-being is being handed on a silver platter to super-rich Wall Street investment bankers. What are we getting in return? Nothing. This is privatizing the profits and socializing the costs. Where have we heard this before?

Rex Frankel
Westchester
The writer is director of the Ballona Ecosystem Education Project.

A son and his dog

Re “A soft spot for mean dogs,” Column One, Dec. 11

When my son needed my help and asked to move in with me in June 1999, I told him, “No dog.” I loved his pit bull, Charlie Brown, but my house couldn’t accommodate the dog.

Rob gave “his son Charlie” to a friend. Charlie got free two times and, already with a prior, was picked up and given the death sentence.

Rob argued with me. I gave in and said Charlie could move in. Alas, it was too late. Charlie had been destroyed.

Rob committed suicide last Oct. 14.

I would like to send a donation to Steve Markwell and his sanctuary for “bad dogs.” My donation will be in Rob’s and Charlie’s names.

David Powers
Laguna Beach