Editor, Times-Union: Stuart Bowen told the BBC that Iraq was facing a second insurgency of corruption and mismanagement. He said Iraqi government corruption could amount to $4 billion a year, over 10 percent of the national income, with some money going to the insurgency. Many government workers also lack the skills to manage funds, Mr. Bowen said.
"This money that's stolen doesn't merely enrich criminals," Mr Bowen said. "(It) frequently goes out to fund criminal militias or insurgents. That means lost lives for US troops."
Meanwhile corruption in the U.S. has cost trillions. Young men, do you really believe it's worth dying for? The worst enemies are right here at home and most are bureaucrats.
Tom Metzger, via e-mail Warsaw
Political Letters
Editor, Times-Union: Our granddaughter is 3 years old. She is at that stage where she bombards us with "why" questions. It challenges us to come up with answers for every question. It makes us think about issues we might not have otherwise given much thought to. In the end it winds up being a good experience.
I'm well passed 3, but I have some "why" questions for you. Why do you cut off political letters to the editor before election day? Why do we "common folk" lose our chance to speak our opinions when you are able to show your preference? I am referring to your running of the Souder piece just days before the election when you ran the Hayhurst piece a week earlier. Why couldn't they have been run at the same time?
Finally, why was Cathy Folk's letter allowed to run under the guise of a paid political ad? It was clearly one person's opinion and should not have been allowed, according to your rules for the rest of us. I looked at some of the other paid ads and they were promoting the qualifications of the candidates, rather than trashing their opponents. In the words of many of my past students, "it's not fair." Her comments brought to mind many more "why" questions I have for you, but I'll save them for a later time.
As our 3-year-old granddaughter anxiously awaits the answers to each of her questions, I, too, look forward to hearing your answers.
Paul Sibray, via e-mail Silver Lake Editor's Note: The moratorium on letters regarding local elections was instituted decades ago to give candidates a chance to respond to claims readers make on our letters page. The policy also was crafted to keep candidates from running their campaigns on our letters page, since the purpose of the letters page is a forum for reader opinion. Since most local campaigns are run near the election, the letters moratorium forces candidates to run their campaigns through paid political advertising, which, we believe, is the proper forum. Cathy Folk, having missed the letters deadline, placed a paid political advertisement. The Souder/Hayhurst stories the letter writer references were news stories, not opinion pieces. Neither story expressed a preference. The timing of candidate profiles are dictated by candidates' schedules and availability.
