Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

‘Police Disperse Demonstrators at Aid-Exchange’
Today, we face “the most difficult humanitarian crisis ever” – in the words of a senior United Nations official. It is taking place in Pakistan and India now [“Police Disperse Demonstrators at Aid-Exchange With India,” Foreign Desk, November 8, 2005]. Yet the international community and the U.S. have failed to provide sufficient relief dollars for an earthquake that displaced three times as many as the Indian Ocean tsunami. With the Himalayan winter less than three weeks away, and rugged terrain a major obstacle for aid workers, each hour is costing lives.
Already the quake has left 86,000 dead and 74,000 injured, and the 3 million survivors, many children or elderly, are in desperate need of shelter, food, and medical assistance. Yet we lack the resources to supply thousands of winterized tents and medical supplies, fund relief workers and send more helicopters to reach the stranded in remote locations.
To prevent further loss of life and suffering, this funding gap needs to be bridged as soon as possible. Unfortunately, worldwide donors have so far contributed $98.5 million and pledged an additional $38 million, or 25% of the $550 million that the United Nations will need for immediate relief.
OMAR KARIM
Manhattan
‘Hillary Clinton’s China’
Don’t kid yourself about the junior senator from New York [“Hillary Clinton’s China,” Editorial, Page 1, November 11, 2005]. She is being disingenuous again.To put it kindly, I guess she saw an opening to revisit her abortion policy stance as the president prepared for his trip to China.
It is hypocritical, at best, to speak out against the pressure to terminate a pregnancy in China while her otherwise long-lived mantra, as exhibited in her 2000 New York Senate race, was, “There are forces … that would try to turn back the clock. We must be vigilant.”
Her statement to the American Bar Association that the decision (about abortion) belongs to “women and their families” is curious. What about her continued support for late-term abortions? No talk about that.
The senator’s continued support for the war may be the one place where she and her handlers have failed to orchestrate adequately. Wait till she gets closer to the 2008 presidential campaign. The hawk will try to chameleonize (my word) into a dove.
NANCY BARELL
Registered Democrat
Manhattan
‘Run on National Security’
One wonders upon what basis Jim Geraghty urges Republicans to run on the theme of national security. Was it not the Republican-controlled Congress that fashioned the ludicrous formula for distributing so-called “Homeland Security” funds, the major criteria for which seems to have been whether or not the funds were going to a predominantly Republican state [“Run on National Security,” Opinion, November 10, 2005]?
Perhaps Republicans in Wyoming and Utah can proudly point to their shiny new fire trucks and SWAT vehicles as evidence that their connections to Washington have earned them the votes of their constituents, but, on a national level, Republicans should hang their heads in shame over this unprecedented smoke-and-mirrors pork-barrel giveaway.
The “reform” of the formula, instituted earlier this year after complaints from high-risk states and cities, will fool only those who get their news from television rather than from newspapers and thus do not learn that the amount of money distributed based upon risk was reduced so as to allow vast sums to continue flowing to middle-of-nowhere regions that happen to be reliably Republican while continuing to underfund truly vulnerable areas and strategic points of entry, such as ports through which weapons of mass destruction may be easily shipped into the continental U.S.
I cannot but feel disappointment that The New York Sun, usually a bastion of common sense, is encouraging the continuance of this disgraceful public relations scheme, rather than a strategy that embraces true reform and a real effort to secure the homeland.
ROBERT RENZULLI
Manhattan
‘Pardon Libby’
Police and federal investigators sometimes use disinformation on a suspect to see what that person knows or doesn’t know. Administration officials may have been using this technique when investigating the motivations of Kerry-supporter Joseph Wilson, and special investigator Patrick Fitzgerald should consider this. The war in Iraq is the issue, even if Mr. Fitzgerald is nonpartisan and non-political [“Pardon Libby,” Editorial, Page 1, October 31, 2005].
The Senate Intelligence Committee found the reports by Mr. Wilson inadequate and incorrect, there also being conflicting reports between the CIA and the State Department. Even the Clinton administration was being confused. This is the political context.
The New York Sun’s front-page editorial unfortunately assumes that Mr. Libby and other administration officials are guilty, whereas, under the circumstance they were acting like cops.
ROBERT J. BONSIGNORE
Brooklyn
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