Saturday's letters: No compassion

To the editor: A recent letter reopened the debate about Iraq. Once again, the nonsense about weapons of mass destruction was stated as if George W. Bush convinced people that Iraq had them.

To the editor: A recent letter reopened the debate about Iraq. Once again, the nonsense about weapons of mass destruction was stated as if George W. Bush convinced people that Iraq had them. Well, at the time, everyone, including the Clintons, thought Saddam Hussein had WMDs. Besides, Hussein might have had them destroyed or sold to others just before he was attacked. That was never explored by the media.Hussein gassed many villages, one being Halabja, where 5,000 were killed. He gave up to $25,000 to each family of a successful suicide bomber. He tortured countless innocent people.Say what you will about Iraq, but at the end of Bush’s term, 60 million people had been liberated. Iraq was on its way to becoming a Western-friendly democracy. All Barack Obama needed to do was help its government achieve that and leave enough troops there to secure it.Liberals like to talk big about caring for others, but too many of them apparently don’t have any compassion for the freedom-seeking people of Iraq. Thanks to this one of many foreign policy failures by Obama, it is now likely that Iraq will fall under the influence of Iran and be once again overrun by terrorists.Stephen JonesHendersonville

To the editor: I would like to thank Hendersonville’s mayor and City Council for a terrific job with our Apple Festival and the Main Street project. The signs were excellent and legible and helped tourists and residents locate adequate parking. May I respectfully suggest that we now leave Main Street alone so all can enjoy our shops, museums and other attractions?As far as the fountain on Main Street, it is art and subject to taste. Would I have spent that money on the fountain? No. It could have helped hungry and unemployed people. We should not, however, insult the artist and be mean and small-minded by trying to remove the fountain.Let us avoid the bickering and selfishness that pervade our federal government. Instead of looking for ways to damage our unity and our town, why not seek the higher ground of building our community together? There will always be differences of opinion. Let’s spend time and energy more positively.Donald VerberHendersonville

To the editor: Mark Meadows, our gerrymandered congressional representative, is getting lots of attention for being the “architect of the shutdown.” For starters, he could have served us better had he considered our local economy during peak tourist season and the impact that closing national parks might have on struggling small businesses. His famous “letter” has resulted in the shutdown.While holding one’s breath until one turns blue may be a winning tactic for spoiled children, we thought we had elected an adult, even if we didn’t vote for him. Rep. Meadows, now what? Obamacare is rolling right along, signing up millions in the insurance exchanges.

The tea party Republicans have a near religious worshipful awe of our Constitution. But, as usual, the rest of us are left trying to explain how one actually changes a law per the revered document. We are met with wall-eyed, slack-jawed indifference. Rep. Meadows has shown a recklessly, breathtakingly, wasteful, irresponsible dereliction of leadership with no endgame in sight.I wonder how many who want to defund Obamacare have employer-provided health care, are on Medicare or are so rich they don’t need insurance. District 11 deserves better.Sharon MillsHendersonville