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San Mateo Daily Journal
WednesdayMay 11 2011 Home Local News State / National / World Sports Opinion / Letters
Diminishing our national security
May 11, 2011, 03:46 AM Letter
Editor,
Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in a stunning decision that honored the first-year U.S. president more for promise than achievement and drew both praise and skepticism around the world. But critics called the Nobel committee’s decision premature, given that Obama has achieved few tangible gains as he still grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea and now the war on Libya.
The raid has further strained ties between the United States and Pakistan. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling for a review of billions in aid to Pakistan in light of the revelation bin Laden was living inside a heavily fortified compound in a wealthy Pakistani suburb. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf criticized the United States for attacking the compound without Pakistan’s knowledge, calling it a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.
“It’s very important to use this defining moment, I think, to rally the American people and to remind the American people that we are spending trillions of dollars, billions every week, on this open-ended longest war in American history and that we have economic priorities, economic recovery, job creation priorities here in our own country that this money can be used for,” Representative Barbara Lee said.
We’ve got to remove our young men and women out of harm’s way, and we’ve got to really make sure that our presence in countries throughout the world do not create more danger and more anger toward the United States, which, you know, diminishes our national security.


Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto