Letters to the Editor: Week of January 19, 2012
War criminals
To the Editor:
On a cold day in February, 2003, a group of Shelter Islanders paraded near the Town Hall to protest then-President Bush’s decision to take us to war in Iraq. There were similar demonstrations in towns and cities across America and around the world. The Shelter Island Reporter covered the local protest.
The immediate justification for our massive bombardment and invasion (dubbed “Shock and Awe”) was the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction under the control of an unfriendly dictator who was in communication with Al-Quaeda. The case for this pre-emptive attack proved to be, however, not the “slam dunk” attributed, but an unverified exaggeration of raw intelligence that proved to be entirely false, but nonetheless was inflated by the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice-Tenet propaganda machine for the purpose of stirring up American war fever and supportive world opinion. Most of our mass media, including the prestigious New York Times, bought the story lock, stock and barrel.
According to the Eisenhower Study Group at Brown University (2011) (costsofwar.org) at least 125,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the war. Many more have been wounded by bombing and fires triggered by bombing. Close to 3.5 million Iraqis out of a total population of 31.5 million remain displaced. Seventy percent lack access to clean water and 80 percent lack sanitation, conditions usually leading to epidemic cholera. And a leading pediatric physician in Baghdad estimates that 28 percent of Iraqi children suffer some degree of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
In my opinion, these statistics alone provide a powerful case for the indictment and trial of those responsible as war criminals before the International Court in the Hague. We have recently seen leaders of Cambodia, Serbia and Liberia in the dock for crimes of similar magnitude. Leaders of our country should not be exempt from prosecution, as a clear warning to those who would similarly imperil human life in the future.
The ultimate cost to America of the Iraq War is projected to be near $4 trillion, a wrecked economy due to massive debt, 4,500 dead and tens of thousands injured physically and mentally. As our military pulls out of Iraq, we leave behind a country where bombings and internecine conflict continue on a daily basis, and those who would do us and our Iraqi partners harm continue to grow in strength. The American “occupiers” have left behind an immeasurable residue of hatred, providing fertile ground for the recruitment of jihadists.
In other words, “mission accomplished.”
MEL MENDELSSOHN, Shelter Island
Poolside shrill
To the Editor:
The recent editorial about “Pools and Rules” painted a Rockwellian picture of a couple of laughing little kids gently playing in a pool. Actually, they scream and shrill at a deafening volume, loud enough to drown out the helicopter noise from above or a car alarm down the road. And they come en masse. When the morning group leaves, the second shift punches in. But yelling and screaming are what kids do when they are having fun at the beach or at a pool. And well they should. The kids are not the problem. Let’s not forget the parents who try to yell louder than the kids to tell them to stop screaming.
The quandary is where a proposed beach or pool is to be located in the first place. It is more than just inconsiderate to construct a beach or pool within close proximity of any resident. The noise is not only loud but also constant, from morning until dusk during the long days of summer. The noise will destroy your property value and make your home uninhabitable.
It was reported that a resident was concerned about whether or not she could keep her windows open in the summer if a pool was built at a nearby hotel. My new double-pane bedroom windows are about 75 feet from the Fresh Pond town landing. The town has insisted on encouraging this landing to be used as a beach, with a total indifference to the quality of life in my home.
With all windows closed tight, I can still hear the kids loudly playing on the landing. Turning the air conditioners up to high will drown out most of the screaming, er, playing kids. Forget about fresh air and cross ventilation. I wouldn’t dare use my hammock in the yard or sit on my deck on a summer day. Someone talking on a cell phone 30 feet from my open kitchen window sounds like they are in my home.
Those residents living near the hotels that are planning to become more resort oriented (as opposed to just lodging) have a chance to keep the noise to a tolerable level. We all want these hotels and other Island businesses to be profitable and sustainable. “If you build it, they will come,” and they will generate a significant amount of noise in and around a pool. State-of-the-art noise abatement techniques, albeit costly, should allow these non-conforming hotels/resorts to coexist in a residential zone. However, the benefit of any doubt about noise levels must be given the residents in a residential zone; just as a business should have the advantage in a business zone. But remember that the town’s own noise code is supposedly in full effect Island-wide and in all zones.
My wife and I never had the opportunity for a ZBA hearing or any public discussion before a beach was built next to our property. We came home one day and there it was. We had assumed that our town government would honestly adhere to the town codes and laws. Assume nothing with Supervisor Dougherty in charge. If it can happen to us, who’s next? Whatever is decided, the residents near these resort hotels will have to live with it for a very long time.
VINCENT NOVAK, Shelter Island
