A 'SURGE' TO AFGHANISTAN
Obama crushes hopes of those who elected him
I voted for Barack Obama because he promised to put an end to this war and "the mind-set that got us into war in the first place."
But watching his surreal performance Tuesday night, it became clear to me that the president has fallen prisoner to it. Central to this mind-set is the delusion that a lasting peace can be achieved through endless war.
This is a sad day for America, not only because of the needless death and destruction that this escalation will bring, but also because of the millions of young voters who are sure to be disillusioned after placing their hopes in this man who promised change.
KURT SEABERG, MINNEAPOLIS
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Let us not be fooled. NATO doesn't need 150,000 troops armed to the teeth to train Afghan forces. Al-Qaida is in Pakistan. The Pakistanis don't want NATO troops on their soil. Securing the cities will do little to put an end to the Taliban movement in the countryside.
The reason why NATO is in Afghanistan is to prevent the spread of radical, fanatical Islam into Europe.
Our country is engaged in a 21st-century crusade -- regrettably, with some justification. The outcome of the struggle is in doubt.
GEZA SIMON, MINNEAPOLIS
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John McCain is dead wrong when he insists that we should not set a timetable for ending the war in Afghanistan.
A timetable is the exact incentive needed to persuade President Hamid Karzai and his government to get off the stick and start taking action. The Afghan war is a civil war. It is not an American war to win or lose. The Afghans have to determine for themselves what their future will be. I think the strategy Obama has laid out is on the money.
JOHN NESSET, MINNEAPOLIS
A STADIUM FOR THE VIKINGS?
If you don't ante up, you'll lose your team
I recently moved to Minnesota from Michigan and am a lifelong Detroit Lions fan. A few years ago, William Clay Ford Sr., an extremely wealthy man, got partial taxpayer funding for a new stadium. Why? Because it's reality: If Detroit wouldn't do it, some other city would. And Lions fans love our team and wanted to support it. Sure, Ford could afford a new stadium, just as Wilf can, but whining wouldn't change the reality of the situation. I can't recall a stadium being built anywhere in recent memory without at least some taxpayer funding.
I hope Zygi Wilf moves the team and teaches ungrateful Minnesotans a well-deserved lesson. I'm sure when that inevitable day comes we'll see plenty of letters in these pages wondering what happened. Don't say you weren't warned!
MIKE HENDEL, COON RAPIDS
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To provide public tax support in order to help the Vikings build a new stadium while failing to provide adequate funding to Hennepin County Medical Center, public schools or police and public safety defies credulity and common sense.
I propose that for every tax dollar used to provide benefit to private enterprise, we raise an equivalent amount to support a truly "public" need. In short, if we give Zygi $100 million, we spend an equivalent amount to keep HCMC afloat or cover the shortfall in the Minneapolis Police Department's budget.
We'd better get our priorities straight.
LEIGH M. ANDERSON, MINNEAPOLIS
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I agree that a new retractable-roof stadium for the Vikings is needed, but taxpayers should not have to pay for it. I think we should invite proposals from the Las Vegas casinos to finance and build the new stadium, in exchange for naming rights and letting them put their casino in the new facility. The state can use gambling revenue to pay for it.
TERRI NOWICKI, MINNEAPOLIS
TIGER'S ACCIDENT
Why is it our business?
I don't know what the circumstances were leading up to Tiger Woods' auto accident, but I do know that it's none of my business.
KYLE CHRISTENSEN, FARMINGTON
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I sure hope Tiger Woods never comes forward and tells what really happened the other night. The speculation is far more interesting and gives conspiracy theorists a break from reworking the JFK assassination. My favorite so far is that, just like the flying balloon boy, this was staged for publicity. Adding the "other woman" to the story is a brilliant stroke and gives romantic mystery to what otherwise could be just another mundane one-car accident.
It gives us duffers some confidence knowing that, even if we can't hit a ball as well as Tiger, we can drive straighter.
EDDIE RYSHAVY, PLYMOUTH
