Forum contributor Charlie Buttrey wrote to thank President Joe Biden for the safe return of a family member who was concluding his tour of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division (“Grateful the troops are coming home,” Aug. 28). He also stated that the last three presidents lacked the wisdom and political courage to bring our service members home from Afghanistan.
For the record, President Donald Trump never sent the country to war. He inherited two wars, begun during the Bush administration and continued during Obama administration. During President Trump’s administration, he withdrew thousands of troops from Iraq, Syria and finally Afghanistan.
In what I believe was an illogical move, and apparently against his own intelligence reports, President Biden chose to close down Bagram Air Base. Within hours the troops were gone, leaving equipment, munitions, a prison full of al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists, and apparently with no plan in place to evacuate the U.S. Embassy, its staff, family members or others, and no plan to get other Americans out of the country, either.
Once the Taliban received word that Bagram was closed and American troops had left, it only took days for them to overwhelm all the major cities. The Afghan forces, who’d been trained by America, vanished.
So, after interrupting his vacation, Biden called in 5,000 troops to clean up his disaster, and now 13 American service members are dead, by a suicide bomber. Everyone with relatives in the military should be thankful that they weren’t one of those slaughtered as a result of this incompetent excuse for a president.
JOHN NELSON
Wilder
I agree with the main points covered by Forum contributor Margaret D. Hurley (“Fishing is torture,” Aug. 31). Sport fishing, especially catch-and-release, is an inhumane practice and should not be glorified.
However, there was one sentence in her letter that gave me pause: “Also according to worldwide peer-reviewed scientific research in biochemistry and nutritional science, there is no need for humans to eat land and water animals and their ‘products’ to be healthy. …”
I am aware that many people eat and enjoy a plant-based or vegan diet without issue, but allergies and other dietary intolerances render such a lifestyle unreachable for many others. Non-animal-based proteins, for instance, are usually sourced from either tree nuts (a common and sometimes fatal allergen) or legumes (which I personally, among others, am unable to eat without acute gastrointestinal distress). One of the most commonly used legumes in vegan foods is soy, which is also itself a prevalent allergen.
Perhaps we as humans should look at more humane ways of obtaining animal-based foods, rather than trying to restrict everyone to a diet that is not nutritionally feasible for all.
ROSEMARY JOHNSON
Lebanon
I appreciated the recent Forum letters responding to the VtDigger story about the troubling public comments made by Rep. Brian Smith, R-Derby (“Vermont state rep: ‘I’m proud to be white’,” Aug. 21). Rep. Smith certainly has a First Amendment right to say whatever he wants, but it is troubling that an elected official apparently has very little understanding about racial issues being discussed in the U.S. these days.
When he laments that he is not “privileged” by being a white person, he is drawing on grievances expressed by many right-wing people in reaction to Black Lives Matter protests, and he apparently is part of the widespread misunderstanding of the history of critical race theory. What if he were asked, “Do you have any advantages because you were born white?” I hope he would acknowledge that it is generally more advantageous to be a white person in our society compared with being a person of color. That is certainly an American historical reality and continues to be generally true today. Ideas about white supremacy continue to add toxins to our political life.
If those who agree with Rep. Smith’s comments were asked, “Are you proud to be an American?” I am guessing they would say “Yes.” Maybe an emphatic “Yes!” But if asked if they are proud of our history of annihilating Indigenous people on this continent, bringing enslaved Africans to this country and denying full citizenship rights to people of color, what would they say? I hope they would realize that there is not much to be proud of in those realities, and maybe they would commit themselves to reducing the racism that has caused those problems.
JOHN C. MORRIS
East Corinth