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News in Brief Published on 09/05/2009
Readers' Letters and Opinionsletters@dailystar.com.lbThe Daily Star is pleased to provide a forum for debate on a range of subjects, from local cultural activities to international politics.
Dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of letters fall into the editor's mailbox daily. In order to keep the letters timely, The Daily Star generally produces a special letters section. When the influx of letters is particularly large, extra space is made available accordingly.
If you would like to submit a letter for publication, please remember to include your full name (first and last) and address, including city. The Daily Star typically only publishes letters under 400 words, and these are subject to editing. The Daily Star will not acknowledge unsolicited submissions
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Imagine what a different world it would be if the US and other nations took the trillion dollars they now spend every year on arms and armies and spent it on food, shelter, health, education and programs that bring life and well-being, rather than death and devastation! Fully half of that amount is spent by the United States, which sells billions of dollars of weaponry to the rest of the world so that they can be guilty of similar waste!
Cutting down on war and weaponry would be a great stimulus package, not only for the economy but for peace! It's not going to happen in the US anytime soon, of course. The weapons makers and the military are just too powerful, and if the president and lawmakers were to try to cut back on military spending, there'd be howls of protest that the US is going soft, that it can't stand up to terrorists, and all the other malarkey that the warmongers and weapons makers are so fond of dishing out.
History certainly shows that, but the US has never been very interested in history, and it seems it's destined to repeat the mistakes that other great nations have made.

Ted Rudow III, MA
Menlo Park, United States
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