Letters to the Editor – Ken Paxton, Afghanistan, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts

Internal investigation

Subject: “Report from his own office clears Paxton – document claims actions on donors were ‘lawful’,” Wednesday news.

It is noteworthy that Attorney General Ken Paxton considered it appropriate to conduct an internal investigation into the allegations made against him. It is noteworthy that he also considered it appropriate to publish it. I had to laugh out loud, but mostly disgusted!

Linda Moyers, Lucas

What a shocker

Just like the police captain in the film Casablanca, who couldn’t believe the casino was being played, I was “shocked, shocked” to learn that Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office had acquitted him of any wrongdoing.

Alan Kazdoy, Far North Dallas

Author, author!

I bet I know who wrote this report!

Ann Thornton, East Dallas

It’s not about democracy

Re: “Shine the Way to Freedom – US Democracy Spreading Efforts Are Important Even After Afghanistan,” by Brendan Miniter, Sunday Opinion.

Miniter writes that the Afghan people did not choose the Taliban, but neither did us. We entered, and in my opinion, not to spread democracy. Our 20-year occupation has spawned a government of mass corruption that the Trump administration excluded from the Withdrawal Agreement. But Miniter limits his gaze to some of his permanent images so that he can only see President Joe Biden weakening democracy. His counter-example Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate also decidedly omits the weakening of the Soviet Union by a protracted war in Afghanistan.

I would like to refer to former US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who said, “Our biggest single project, unfortunately and unintentionally, could of course have been the development of mass corruption.” And so did professional diplomat James Dobbins, who said, “We are not invading authoritarian countries to make them democratic. We are invading violent countries to make them peaceful, and we have clearly failed in Afghanistan. “

Greg Rickard, Far North Dallas

It’s about trade

Brendan Miniter’s comment is a great defense of the need to spread democracy. However, it ignores the fact that democracy only works if society sees the need for it. Democracy works in societies that do business. Ancient Athens traded and established western democracy, while its rival Sparta was agriculture and supported strong men.

It is our national interest to support trade and thereby spread democracy. Without society being part of the trading system, liberal attempts to bring democracy to Afghanistan or rural Texas will fail.

David Randolph, Plano

Imposing western standards

It was difficult to contain my frustration as I read Brendan Miniter’s comment. It was particularly annoying to read former President George W. Bush’s comments on a Deutsche Welle report about his concern for Afghan women and girls. It was his government that stumbled into a rash war in Iraq, followed by the invasion of Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden in what should have been a precise tracking mission.

These catastrophic decisions completely destabilized an already fragile Middle East, but were compounded by the Obama administration’s eight-year policy and Trump’s four-year policy. What is happening today is undoubtedly an absolute tragedy, but the question that arises is whether, in a country steeped in tribalism, Muslim extremism, and corruption, putting 2,500 Americans at risk for another 20 years really makes a difference. Will we never learn that we cannot simply use military power to impose Western standards of democracy on other cultures?

Ernie Stokely, Far North Dallas

Blame it on the Biden administration

Easy answer as to who is responsible for the disaster in Afghanistan: President Joe Biden, the State Department, the Department of Defense and our intelligence services. They had five months to prepare to leave Afghanistan, and they did not do the work that was required to plan and, certainly, carry it out. And the Taliban took full control in six days and had all the cards in hand.

Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and CIA Director William Burns should resign as this disaster lies on their guard. Biden said, “The money stops with me.” If former President Donald Trump were President and this happened, the howling would be everywhere that he would resign or be charged immediately.

Charles E. Webb, Allen

A war of folly

It is insane and ridiculous to see all the poison that President Joe Biden spat out over the exodus from Afghanistan. The same scenario would most likely have played out every time one of our presidents had withdrawn for the past 20 years. And the withdrawal should have happened years ago.

The Afghan army has proven that it would not stand up and fight for their country and handed over the artillery supplied by the US to the Taliban with seemingly no whimpering. Former President Donald Trump had lowered the US troop strength to a number the country or even Kabul airfield, which is at the center of the debacle currently taking place, could not secure.

Biden does what needs to be done. In my opinion, we must leave Afghanistan once and for all. I pray that those who have worked with the US will be evacuated safely. However, many innocent people will undoubtedly be killed under the rule of the Taliban, just as they were before America. We can’t change that even if America stayed for millennia.

Stop denigrating our President and say a prayer for the poor souls in this sad land and as you pray pray that America will never again be drawn into another war of folly.

Katherine Creech, garland

Past retirement age

The death of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts marks the end of his great drumming career. His “evening job” with a blues band made him travel the world and gave so many joy.

A lesson for all of us is that there are hardly any limits to what we can do, even as we get older, reach our retirement age and, in that case, keep working for a few more decades.

Keep drumming in heaven.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

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