Readers respond: Iraq, candidates, teacher of the year

Readers responded to the questions posed in Tuesday’s ClickBack editorial on the BDN Web site (bangordailynews.com, scroll down and click on the ClickBack logo) with the following comments. The ClickBack feature is a new way for readers to engage with the newspaper and with other readers. Some of the comments will be printed on Fridays on the OpEd page. Readers are also encouraged to suggest their own questions; are our questions too tame? Are there other issues you want to discuss? We won’t know unless you tell us.

Are the financial needs at home enough reason to withdraw from Iraq?

There is no reason in war, only in its abolition. Continued deficit spending by our government, whether it’s underwriting the wholesale murder in Iraq and Afghanistan or global corporate profiteering, is sure to have lasting and devastating impacts on our children’s children’s children.

As for when policymakers will know to bring the troops home, I’m afraid that Halliburton, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, Exxon-Mobil and all the other interests conjoined in the military-industrial-congressional complex will see to it they never know. But those who love our neighbors as ourselves have always known that it’s long overdue to bring the troops home now, to completely extricate the U.S. and all of its corporate interests out of Iraq, to stop the dehumanization of our Muslim brothers and sisters and to begin the generations-long process of reconciliation.

— Kelly Bellis, Ellsworth

Financial reasons are certainly enough to end the war, but of course the most important reason is to just get our troops home safely. We will most likely have an investment in Iraq for years to come, but if we can drastically lower the amount of money spent over there by only leaving a small force there then we’ll all be better off.

– wycevycof

I don’t believe that we should be trying to withdraw from Iraq because of financial difficulties at home. The reasons why we are in Iraq have not changed and we are coming closer and closer to being able to withdraw troops and reduce expenses in Iraq. In the end we will have another friend and ally in the Mideast (which has been having difficulties since 1947). Our continued presence in Iraq will also assist us in being a moderating factor on Iran, which is a potential hotbed of disruption to the entire area. It will cost a great deal more if we retreat, just when we have made significant progress, only to find ourselves enmeshed in another incident with another radical country next door to what could be our future potential ally.

— Charles

Should candidates for elected office be judged by the company they keep?

Sen. Barack Obama can’t police every single thing that every person on his campaign says. And unlike Sen. Hillary Clinton’s handling of the Geraldine Ferraro debacle, any time someone says something inflammatory on Obama’s campaign, they are almost immediately dismissed.

– wycevycof

None of Maine’s Teacher of the Year nominees were from schools north of Lewiston – should we be insulted? Have they been too busy?

Busy, yes, but also cynical.

Unfortunately, the relationship between most of the schools north of Lewiston and the Department of Education has deteriorated to the point that such solicitations now are generally regarded with extreme cynicism.

Correctly or incorrectly, rural schools in many areas understand themselves to be under assault by the state and see the department’s press apparatus as just another tool in the same campaign.

It’s too bad because there’s plenty of honest work to be done on both sides to steadily improve Maine’s schools and a genuine partnership could produce real results.

— Brian Hubbell, Bar Harbor

We suspect BDN readers have a lot more to say on the issues of the day – join us online and comment on the questions we pose, or pose your own. Go to www.bangordailynews.com and look for the ClickBack logo.