Iran is on the path to become another Vietnam
Russia attacked Ukraine nearly five years ago. Ukraine is hit with dozens of missile and drone strikes on some days. With help from its friends, Ukraine survives.
Did President Donald Trump consider this when he declared war against Iran? Iran has friends that will provide missiles and drones: China, Russia, North Korea and perhaps others. The U.S. can attack Iranian sites forever and Iran will continue to fight. And Iran will take the war elsewhere. Originally, Trump’s goal was nuclear capability and regime change. Today his war is to protect oil transport through the Strait of Hormuz. And now there is fear of electronic attacks in the U.S.
As a Vietnam veteran, I see not only a Ukraine comparison but also a Vietnam comparison. Next in Trump’s war will be boots on the ground followed by more boots on the ground. High-ranking military officers have faced retirement, likely because they hold the wrong political opinion. When is Congress going to exercise its just power to control Trump?
Robert Hibbs, Marshalltown
War robs families; the war with Iran needs to end
My granddaughter is getting married in November. Her 21-year-old grandfather was killed in Vietnam in 1968. He never knew his son or grandchildren. But he should be an 80-year-old grandpa sitting at that wedding instead of being dead for almost 59 years.
War causes death. It leaves heartbreak and loss to families for generations. Please, someone stop this war with Iran so our causalities of war don’t have to miss these special family events. We’ll have an empty chair at ours.
Dixie DeCarlo, Des Moines
Mark Zuckerberg needs to answer publicly for online harm to people like my niece
I want to thank Sen. Chuck Grassley for saying that he’d consider using his subpoena power to bring Mark Zuckerberg before Congress. Now I’m asking him to follow through.
My family knows why this matters. We lost my niece, Annalee, to online harms that our family believes trace directly back to the platforms she used every day. I’ve watched my sister turn her grief into advocacy. Annalee’s story can still change something.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on child online safety has now been postponed indefinitely, with reports that Meta and Google may send lower-level executives instead of Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai themselves. That is not enough. Zuckerberg is the one who made the calls on infinite scroll, autoplay, and the recommendation systems that shaped what our kids saw every day. He should answer for those choices himself.
This year, juries in New Mexico and California found Meta and YouTube liable for harming children. Courts have spoken. Congress should demand accountability, too.
Grassley has the subpoena power to bring Zuckerberg and Pichai before Congress. I’m asking him, as a fellow Iowan and on behalf of my niece, to see it through.
Lisa Coverdale, Lorimor
Hindsight makes it easy to lambaste Fauci
In reading Nicole Russell’s July 30 column criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, I was struck by how easy it is to judge decisions with the benefit of hindsight.
Yes, we have learned a great deal about the consequences of shutting down schools, businesses and other public spaces. Those are important lessons, and we should remember them. But we cannot know with certainty what the consequences would have been had we made different choices.
Russell notes that deaths from COVID-19 among people 19 and younger accounted for only 2% of total deaths. But that statistic reflects a period when many schools and businesses were closed, and other mitigation measures were in place. We do not know what those numbers would have looked like if everything had remained open.
Like many teachers, I wanted schools to stay open. Since children were at lower risk of severe illness, that may seem like the obvious choice. However, schools also depend on adults: teachers, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, etc. Children are also great at spreading germs. What would the impact have been on those adults (and the adults those kids would go home to) if schools had remained fully open from the beginning? And what additional strain might that have placed on already overworked and under-resourced hospitals?
We should absolutely examine the decisions made during that unprecedented and stressful time so we can respond more effectively to future public health crises. But we should also recognize the limits of what hindsight can tell us. We can measure the outcomes of the choices that were made; we cannot know with certainty what would have happened had different choices been made. Russell has the privilege of being a Monday-morning-quarterback while Fauci was dealing with a crisis in real time.
Terri Parker, Urbandale
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iran war is on the path to become another Vietnam | Opinion
Reporting by The Register’s readers, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By The Register's readers, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
