‘Baathist Propaganda at CUNY’

Yes, academic left-wing bias is a problem, even when a governing board majority is somewhat centrist. I have no problem with memorializing innocent civilians slain in the war against terror, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinian territories, or anywhere else [“Baathist Propaganda at CUNY,” Editorial, December 5, 2005].

However, I do appreciate intellectual honesty, and the purveyors of the City University of New York exhibit are anything but. They know full well that Americans, British, Israelis, and most Westerners take care to avoid civilian casualties. The savage regimes and insurgents we are fighting exact their survival through mass murder and torture of their subjects and compatriots.

Is there any doubt that the Western nations have the tools to expeditiously exterminate the enemy? There is none, but they know that they would knowingly take a high number of civilian casualties as well.

Yes, our humanity places us at a disadvantage. But fight we must in this war of civilizations. The Jihadists, Salafis, and the other murderers have come to Iraq, and we must kill them there – or they will come to us.

I await an exhibit under the aegis of Professor Batchen which will also memorialize the tens of thousands murdered in this generation by the PLO, Al Qaeda, Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, PFLP, Hezbollah, and other fine creations of the Islamic world whose epicenter – Saudi Arabia – remains complicit every step of the way. Do not the victims of Saddam Hussein’s minions murdered in his human meat grinder merit a memoriam?

JEFFREY S. WIESENFELD
Trustee
The City University of New York

‘The Real Menace’

Your editorial “The Real Menace,” while making salient points, misses several [December 2, 2005].First, while New York Police Department officers have the same rights as the general public to view criminal trials, the calm, quiet, civilized mob scene of police officers at the arraignment of accused murderer/attempted murderer Allan Cameron was unnecessary and pointless. Mr. Cameron has pleaded not guilty, and is entitled to a presumption of innocence.

Second, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president, Patrick Lynch, has contributed beautifully to the hysteria by telling the cameras tearfully and angrily, in one of his best Academy Award winning performances, of the brotherhood of police officers.

If Mr. Lynch were interested in justice, he would call for calm, caution against being caught up in the hysteria of the moment, and urge his officers not to judge before all the facts are in.

Mr. Lynch would also point out that if he is guilty, Mr. Cameron apparently had no idea both his victims were police officers. Mr. Cameron may well be guilty – in which case it’s sad. But he may not be guilty – in which case, his treatment by Mr. Lynch and every officer at his arraignment is borderline criminal.

I’m not diminishing the tragedy of a police officer’s death; I’m not offering an opinion as to Mr. Cameron’s guilt, and I’m not diminishing the tragedy of murder by handgun. I’m merely stating that it would be nice if everyone remembered Mr. Cameron’s right to a presumption of innocence, the same right any police officer accused of a crime enjoys.

I’m stating that NYPD officers are not God, judge, and jury. I’m also stating that it would be nice if the NYPD were to become as upset and emotional every time a civilian/”ordinary” citizen is murdered. It does not diminish the long held perception that police officers see it as “us against the world.”

NATHAN F. WEINER
Bronx

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