Sharia-Free Zone
BEYOND EXPRESSING my gratitude for the mettle William Kristol showed by printing the Muhammad cartoons (“Oh, the Anguish!” Feb. 20), I must point out that the effectiveness of this global censorship should clearly be evidence that the very right the left falls back on-free speech-repeatedly is that which is most at risk. We are in the midst of a real ideological struggle, and I cherish the freedom to deem the cartoons as trivial as I do caricatures of politicians. THE WEEKLY STANDARD allowed me this choice.
GREG MENEGAT
Thousand Oaks, Calif.
THANKS FOR PUBLISHING the cartoons and exposing the phoniness of those within Islam who are inciting the riots. It is a disgrace that the liberal press has cowered when they normally go out of their way to publish outrageous items insulting to other groups.
TOM BENHAM
Tallahassee, Fla.
REGARDING THE DANISH cartoon showing a bomb on the head of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad: It seems the burning and destruction of embassies and buildings as a response by some Muslims simply gives credence to the point of the cartoonist that Islam has been hijacked by extremist, violent radicals.
MORTON A. KLEIN
New York, N.Y.
Cogitating With Candor
IN “The Counterrevolution in Military Affairs” (Feb. 6), Ralph Peters provides a defining example of the quality and clarity of THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Although conservative, you nonetheless demonstrate a desire to do much more than gratuitously stroke current U.S. policy. This should show everyone, liberal and conservative, that the focus must be on the real enemy and that a positive contribution can come from any corner. The left long ago confused freedom of expression with destructive verbiage totally devoid of anything beneficial toward our side’s cause. It is akin to tackling someone wearing the same jersey.
MICHAEL S. PAPPAS
St. Louis, Mo.
RALPH PETERS avoids the elephant in the room regarding people of “intense faith.” Apparently he was fearful of addressing the relevance of what one believes to be the disposition of God toward humans and what it takes to have assurance of your God’s approval. Similarly, the example of the life of the central figure of a religion also has profound effects on the actions and attitudes of the adherents of any particular religion. Perhaps the recent riots over the Danish cartoon have made Peters reluctant to enter into that discussion, and I cannot much blame him. That said, by not making this distinction Peters has done a disservice to the very numerous people of “intense faith” who find the actions of suicide bombers indefensible.
DAVID DULAK
Omaha, Nebr.
Finding Forests
IN “Blooded by Blair” (Jan. 23) Simon Heffer writes, “Agriculture in England is suffering terribly because of such ignorance about how the countryside works, and what it is actually for.” Substitute “Forestry in the United States” for “Agriculture in England,” and you have a parallel tragedy: the mismanagement of one of our nation’s most valuable resources. The highly urbanized culture of California, for example, is unable to comprehend the significance of its own forests to the well-being of its rural economy. We export our demand for wood and paper products to Canada, Chile, New Zealand, and elsewhere, thereby compelling those countries to overutilize their resources so that we may underutilize ours. Consequently, 80 percent of our forest products are imported while our forests burn as a result of being overly dense.
TIMOTHY LA FARGE
San Francisco, Calif.
