The Last Three Letters

As usual, no introduction necessary:

1. Editor,

What objective did President Obama give Gen. Stanley McChrystal (Obama receives conflicting advice on troop increases, September 27, A14)?

Does anyone besides me think the answer to this simple question is important before there is ANY assessment of Gen. McChrystal's request for as many as 40,000 additional troops in Afghanstan?

Recall, six months ago President Obama changed the Afghan strategy and it was President Obama who labeled the war in Afghanistan a "war of necessity". (End of first letter.)

2. Editor,

You wrote, "Iran's apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons is the gravest security challenge facing the Obama administration, and a turning point is fast approaching (Talk to Iran, but keep a Plan B, editorial, September 27)."

Apparent?!

Your denial is frightening. (End of second letter.)

3. Editor,

Maybe missed by your readers, no doubt your intention, is that President Obama is maintaining President Bush's sanctions on the military junta in Burma (Human rights: Don't go wobbly on Burma's junta, editorial, October 1).

But I do appreciate the Boston Globe coming to the realization, though at least six and one-half years too late, that systemic rape is one of the most atrocious crimes.

As most of us concerned with facts knew, the International Women's Issues office at the US State Department noted that Saddam Hussein's regime used Burmese-style rape and sexual assault as a weapon in order to achieve the following goals: "to extract information and forced confessions from detained family members; to intimidate Iraqi oppositionists by sending videotapes showing the rape of female family members; and to blackmail Iraqi men into future cooperation with the regime."

Today, thanks to President Bush, the women of Iraq are no longer being systemically raped; their families are no longer being terrorized. (End of third letter.)