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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2021)
Opinion 4A Tuesday, August 17, 2021 OUR VIEW History won’t let us forget T here is no way to sugarcoat the bewil- dering and abysmal departure of the United States from Afghanistan. Over the weekend, the Taliban entered the cap- ital of the nation — Kabul — eff ectively ending a more than 20-year war that killed 2,400 Amer- icans and mauled thousands more. The speed of the collapse of Afghanistan’s military against the Taliban was extraordinary and rests solely on the policymakers of the United States. Back home, the big headlines are COVID-19 and whatever partisan political fi ght is going on, but voters everywhere should at least take notice that the eff ort they funded — to the tune of $83 billion — just went down the toilet. Polls over the past few years showed Amer- icans, as a rule, don’t care about Afghanistan. Who can blame them? It is a far-off place with diffi cult sounding names for its cities and the memory that the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks were spawned in that nation has faded. Now, Afghanistan is just another developing nation everyone wants to forget. But history won’t be so kind. History won’t let everyone forget. History has a habit of coming back to haunt nations and lawmakers who decide — for whatever reason — to abandon ambitious foreign policy ventures. Never let anyone fool you. We had a chance to win in Afghanistan. Not last year, nor in the past fi ve or six years. But once there was a window, narrow for sure, to get things right. We failed. Miserably. You, the reader, and taxpayer, spent more than $80 billon to repair and prop up a nation. Your money was supposed to build a robust Afghani military to protect the nation, to ensure it was never again a haven for terrorists. That money — your money — was for nothing. There will be plenty of excuses, for sure, but in the end, the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan only marginally better than it did Vietnam. That should give everyone pause. Finally, the most poignant piece of our depar- ture is the sacrifi ce made by so many brave men and women of our armed forces in Afghanistan. They were deployed to that nation and performed admirably. They did everything that was asked of them. Their legacy deserved better than a hurried retreat and the abandonment of a nation. President Joe Biden will, unfairly or fairly, take a large share of the blame for the last chapter in our longest war and he should. Our strategy in Afghanistan failed. Now we, and future generations, will have to live with the results. EDITORIALS Unsigned editorials are the opinion of The Observer editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of The Observer. LETTERS • The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. We edit letters for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We will not publish con- sumer complaints against busi- nesses, personal attacks against private individuals or comments that can incite violence. We also discourage thank-you letters. • Letters should be no longer than 350 words and must be signed and carry the author’s name, address and phone number (for verifi - cation only). We will not publish anonymous letters. • Longer community comment col- umns, such as My Voice, must be no more than 700 words. Writers must provide a recent headshot and a one-sentence biography. Like letters to the editor, columns must refrain from complaints against businesses or personal attacks against private individ- uals. Submissions must carry the author’s name, address and phone number. • Submission does not guarantee publication, which is at the discre- tion of the editor. SEND LETTERS TO: letters@lagrandeobserver.com or via mail to Editor, 911 Jeff erson Ave., La Grande, OR 97850 LETTERS ‘Politics’ is not a dirty word Many people these days tend to think the word “politics” is a dirty word and that it is OK to cast aspersions on anyone’s ideas that may be diff erent. Actually, the word “politics” in my dictio- naries means the science or activ- ities of government. It is a way of discussing or conducting policies regarding government. Now, in the USA, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, it is the duty of every citizen to be involved in discussion regarding our government. Thus, to be loyal citizens, we ought all to be engaged in discussing the kind of country we want to live in. That brings up what we mean by discussion. Discussion is the pro- cess of sharing one’s ideas with others and listening in turn to their ideas. Discussion is not arguing or debating. It is defi nitely not using labels or pejorative terms to show disdain for someone else’s ideas. In other words, politics is a way to discuss respectfully with each other about what is needed for our country. Politics is only a dirty word when made so by the speaker. Evelyn Swart Joseph Anti-mask opinions ignore reality of situation I’ve never read anything as dis- gusting as the report of the school board meeting, where parents wanted to pull their kids out of the La Grande School system because they hate Gov. Kate Brown. After watching many docu- mentaries of Hitler during World War II, I can see little diff erence between the Nazis getting the Ger- mans to hate Jews. The purpose of which was to get Hitler accepted as a demagogue. Furthermore, Sheriff Cody Bowen and county commis- sioners kept silent, giving their tacit support to this insanity after being vaccinated themselves. I have never heard of such cowardliness since Trump didn’t join the insurrection he encouraged. I can’t get over the fact that par- ents would condemn their children to COVID-19 infection rather than protect them in the school district, merely because they hate Brown because of local propaganda sup- ported by our cowardly county offi cials. These parents spend much time believing and little time knowing, thinking their beliefs are reality. Doing so merely blinds them to the reality of the moment. I voted for Republican governors Mark Hatfi eld and Tom McCall. They must be spinning in their graves knowing what the Repub- lican Party has turned into. They, most certainly, would have done what Brown is now doing. They’re all guilty of tautological thinking, only accepting informa- tion that agrees with their beliefs. This applies to many pseudo-Chris- tians as well. I have no casual friends. My only friends are those who are willing to call BS on me when I get out of line. Stuart Croghan La Grande We must protect our sources of precious fresh water I am encouraged by yet another opinion piece (“River Democracy Act benefi ts everyone,” Aug. 5, 2021) in The Observer showing sup- port and making note of the over- whelming bipartisan desire of Ore- gonians to protect our waterways and sources of precious fresh water. I feel this act would be another step toward full realization by Ore- gonians of the need to protect our sources of fresh water and appreciate the full range of ecosystem services provided by the incredibly com- plex and vast system of drainages required by this resource. If we are able to marry this sup- port and enthusiasm with science and the developing earth observa- tion technologies, we may be able to restore natural function to many drainages that have been subjected to misguided management and abuse over the last 150 years. This will be especially important in order to meet the challenges and stress impacting our watersheds now and into the future. When I called Grande Ronde Hospital on Friday, Aug. 13, to speak with a specialist, no one was available. I was told that everyone was “upstairs with COVID patients.” Jackson County has run out of beds and they’re turning away sur- gical patients. They went from 99 cases on July 4 to 655 cases in one month — 0 to 60 in no time fl at. The National Guard is being sent to 20 hospitals across Oregon to help with logistics. The presi- dent and chief executive offi cer of St. Charles Health System in Bend thanked Gov. Brown for that help, saying that the “stress on Oregon hospitals was unprecedented.” Here’s the reality — the virus is calling the shots, not the governor. The Oregon Health Authority makes recommendations about what steps should be taken and that’s what happens next. Propa- ganda on Facebook downplaying the severity of the virus, asking people to ignore vaccination and attacking the governor is very destructive. It has cost lives and it will cost more, including young people. That’s already happened. My recommendation is simple — get off of Facebook now to keep the poison from spreading. There is no freedom without responsibility, including respon- sibility to the others around you. Anyone who doesn’t understand that should step aside. All of our community leaders, political, reli- gious, and those involved in health care, need to come forward with one voice and state clearly and pub- licly that we all need to get vacci- nated. That is the only thing that will keep this from wrecking our medical systems. Please do your part. Norm Cimon La Grande REPRESENTATIVES GOVERNOR Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court St. Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 Bobby Levy, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-376 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us SENATOR Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-415 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us STAFF SUBSCRIBEAND SAVE Subscription rates: Monthly Autopay ...............................$10.75 13 weeks.................................................$37.00 26 weeks.................................................$71.00 52 weeks ..............................................$135.00 The virus is calling the shots, not the governor CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION NEWSSTAND PRICE: $1.50 You can save up to 55% off the single-copy price with home delivery. Call 800-781-3214 to subscribe. Please support the River Democ- racy Act and ask your elected offi - cials to do the same. Chuck LeBold Union Anindependent newspaper foundedin1896 www.lagrandeobserver.com Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, Oregon 97801 Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (except postal holidays) by EO Media Group, 911 Jefferson Ave., La Grande, OR 97850 (USPS 299-260) The Observer retains ownership and copyright protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising copy, photos and news or ad illustrations. They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. COPYRIGHT © 2021 Phone: 541-963-3161 Toll free (Oregon): 1-800-781-3214 Email: news@lagrandeobserver.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: The Observer, 911 Jefferson Ave., La Grande, OR 97850 Regional publisher. ...................... Karrine Brogoitti Multimedia journalist.........................Alex Wittwer Regional circulation director .................. Kelli Craft Home delivery advisor ............... 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