Letters for Nov. 30, 2015

Letters for Nov. 30, 2015

Trump has faults, but could lead

I have to take exception with the letter chastising Donald Trump by John Gordon (TGI, Nov. 26). While many agree that Mr. Trump has said some stupid things and has been somewhat verbose in his characterizations, most loyal Americans agree with what he’s saying in concept. Our great country is in rapid decline under the failed policies of the Democrats. The Middle East is on fire because of their weak, ineffective and stupid decisions.

You voted for a fake foreign student, failed community organizer, failed senator who never voted, someone whose loyalties lie with the Muslim culture of his father, grandparents and significant others. Someone who doesn’t know enough about business to open a lemonade stand.

Electing one of the most successful businessmen in the world is light years ahead of “politicians” who have never made a dime outside of the government feeding trough like Obama and Hillary.

The liberals/progressives are still blaming Bush for everything because they know Obama/Hillary have almost destroyed us. One thing for sure, there would be no ISIS in business today under Bush. They would have been out of business even before Obama called them the JV team. Yes, Trump is a character, but so was Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman and many other verbose and outspoken presidents who were successful and valuable for the country. Though Trump wouldn’t be my first choice of the several incredibly skilled Republicans running for office, he’s miles ahead of the dopes that have been in charge for the past eight years.

Gordon Oswald

Kapaa

Please back up war death claims with statistics, sources

Mr. Hoeppner’s letter (TGI, Nov. 28) claims that religious wars have killed more people than any other kind of conflict. I would appreciate it if Mr. Hoeppner would publish the statistics to back up his claim.

Most war deaths, I believe, have been caused by political wars. If one adds up the political war deaths, both military and civilian, that occurred just in the 20th century alone, in wars in which 1 million or more died, the total deaths is about 150 million. World War I and World War II alone account for about 100 million deaths.

There were additional millions more deaths in the 20th century from the many political civil wars and wars of rebellion in which less than a million people died in each of the individual conflicts. None of the over 150 million war deaths in the 20th century were due to religious wars.

Mr. Hoeppner also claims that the U.S. foreign policy is the most terroristic organization in the world. Is he comparing the U.S. to some of the greatest terrorists of the 20th century such as Joseph Stalin who murdered 30 to 50 million Soviet citizens (excluding war deaths) or to the Nazi regime’s murder of 6 million Jewish civilians in World War II?

I would appreciate it if Mr. Hoeppner would publish the statistics and sources which are the basis for his claim that our present and past governments have killed millions of innocent people with air strikes and drones. This is not to be construed that I think the U.S. has never made bad decisions in going to war or in its conduct of some wars. I just don’t like unsubstantiated broad negative generalizations about our country.

Peter Nilsen

Princeville