Editorial confirms the facts

I want to thank you for your editorial presenting the facts about the judicial nominee situation currently occupying the floor in our Senate. (Judicial posturing not just principle," May 20). I thought you presented the information in a very clear, straightforward, unbiased manner.

I have watched much commentary about this judicial "up and down" vote on C-Span and am quite worried that the rights of the minority in the Senate are going to be squelched. The filibuster has served the Republicans and Democrats well, and I am opposed to eliminating it for the approval of judicial nominees.

I don't think President Bush or any president should have carte blanche to push his nominee for these lifetime appointments through the Senate. I applaud your willingness to present the facts.

June McBride

Hauser, ID

The Spokesman Review

Demand lower gas prices

Higher gasoline prices at the retail pump have dominated the printed and TV news recently to the point of ire on the part of the public. Many have felt used by the system and frustrated because they think they can do nothing about it.

Wrong! It's very obvious that the push of prices is primarily a political ploy, similar to the higher prices in the early '70s during the Nixon administration being blamed on "a shortage of oil". This wasproven to be a lie after the oil companies got their higher prices. (How many of us waited in line only to be allowed to squirt a few drops into our tanks!)
Very likely, the politics behind higher prices is that our illustrious star-studded U.S. predident and his cronies want to destroy one of the last remaining pristine areas on earth by drilling for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Some of us have some very strong opinions of this, similar to BNSF railroading local governments into permission to poison our previously pure drinking water supply, the Spokane aquifer.

If you want to stop lining the oil companies' pockets with your wallets at the pump, write your congresspeople!

John Brown

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

War dead caused by errors, too

So the president is upset about the Newsweek story regarding desecration of the Quran at a detention center. The resulting effect of this story was the riot that cost about 15 lives. So this was a critical error by Newsweek, which should have checked its facts for accuracy.

So who is to blame for the WMD fiasco and the resulting 1,500 plus "coalition" lives and thousands of Iraqi lives. Can this be classified as a "critical error"?

Cliff McLean

Coeur d'Alene, ID

The Spokesman Review

Why trust Bush again?

After the miserable planning Bush did with Iraq, why would we want him to develop a plan for Social Security? Or for that matter any other planning.

Tom Berg

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

Iraq invasion a costly deception

Concerning the May 6 article "Memo shows early invasion plans," and the May 13 article "Former U.N. inspector challenges Bush facts." This first article indicates that in Augusts of 2002 President Bush had decided to invade Iraq, even though he was still publicly stating that he was seeking a diplomatic solution and not made a decision to invade. This article further indicates that the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy to justify invasion.

The second article indicates that Iraq's weaponn of mass destruction were destroyed in the early 1990s, and the Bush administration was fully aware of these facts.

President Bush invaded Iraq knowing there were no weapons of mass destruction, no Iraqi funding of terrorism, no connection to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, or to bin Laden. The entire basis for the invasion of Iraq was based on fraud, lies, deceit and deception.

Now 150,000 of our troops are trapped in a quagmire of civil and religious war. This invasion of Iraq has now given 300 million fundamentalist Islamic people a new cause to fight and die for. Tens of thousands of religious fanatics are pouring into Iraq to fight this new holy war.

Mark Johnson

Nine Mile Falls, WA

The Spokesman Review