Missile strike would be strong message

Some are asking, "Why use military force in Syria?"

To me the answer is obvious: to demonstrate that any country that uses weapons of mass destruction will pay an unacceptably high price. No boots on the ground, but as many hundreds of cruise missiles as needed to get the message across.

We must send North Korea and Iran a clear message that if they use WMDs or facilitate the use of WMDs by their terrorist friends, they will be destroyed. Only the Soviet Union’s belief that we would destroy it if it used nuclear weapons kept us safe in the Cold War. Now we are in a war against ideological and religious terrorists.

They might be less deterred by the thought of their extermination than the Soviets, but their assured destruction is the only card we have to play. Whichever side wins in Syria must know that they will pay an exceedingly high price if they dare to use WMDs — a high enough price that will convince, like the Soviets were convinced, North Korea and Iran that they will certainly be destroyed if they use WMDs.

Lunsford Phillips
Kailua

U.S. not very good at regime change

As we rush into a military action that risks expanding the Syrian civil war, someone should ask what the president thinks we will accomplish?

It is delusional to believe Iran will change or stop its nuclear program because we lobbed a few cruise missiles into Syria. Tehran knows it is a tougher proposition than Syria. It didn’t change its policies when we had troops along two of its borders and a fleet off its coast. We don’t have that level of presence now and we’re reducing our forces.

Perhaps regime change is the ultimate goal in Syria, but of the seven regime changes the U.S. has orchestrated in my lifetime, only one has had a definitively positive result. Our Afghanistan policies gave al-Qaida a home and Libya remains in chaos and ruin after we helped liberate it from Moammar Gadhafi. Does anyone believe we will do better in Syria?

Carl O. Schuster
Kakaako

Missile threat boosts Obama’s bona fides

This is one of the savviest political decisions of President Barack Obama’s career.

He has preserved the appearance of a muscular U.S. foreign policy and his own standing as a leader. At the same time, win or lose, he is showing the world how a democracy is supposed to work.

Personally I am against any strike against Syria. There are 2 million refugees from Syria already and I think any money we would spend on a strike ($1.4 million per missile) should be spent on the refugees living without food and sanitation.

But the political reality of the present moment calls for the approval or negation of a military strike by the U.S. on Syria.

It is a put-up-or-shut-up moment for all the presidential critics, whether hawks or doves.

Obama has shown executive prowess.

Judith Pettibone
Makiki

Wahine volleyball was on bucket list

Last year I was diagnosed with colon cancer. One of the things on my "bucket list" was to see a University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball game before departing this life. I saw that game back then and, wonderfully, I’m still here. A year later, I saw an awesome start to a new season. Play hard. Dig deep. Go ‘Bows.

Sorry, No. 1 Texas. You’ve been served and blocked and dug and spiked. Life is sweet.

Ricardo C. Custodio
Kaneohe

Keep wall between church and state

When it comes to legalizing gay marriage in Hawaii, it’s a bad idea to give clergy and churches religious exemptions.

The state should not empower religions to discriminate against some of their members.

Gays who want to marry each other should not have to face state-sanctioned discrimination.

Separation of church and state mandates each stays out of the other’s business, and the law of the land must prevail.

Greg Small
Waipahu

Don’t go too far honoring war dead

As one who has studied, lived and worked in Japan for many years, I am extremely favorable to anything that would continue to improve U.S.-Japan relationships, and I applaud the effort to understand what happened to those Japanese who died in the attack on Dec. 7, 1941 ("Japanese dead might remain buried on Oahu," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 3).

As a U.S. Marine veteran and the son of a Navy veteran who served in the Pacific in World War II, however, I find the proposal to have an exhibit with the names of the fallen Japanese at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Visitor Center a little too much.

I wonder if Japan would reciprocate and have an exhibit at Yasukuni Shrine for those who died on the Bataan death march.

Phil Lille
Kahala

UH Warriors opener very inconvenient

I went to the University of Hawaii vs. USC football season opener.

I was already warned that the parking would be a challenge. The parking lots were full two hours before kickoff. I walked more than a mile to the stadium. Parking was a disaster.

Amazingly there were only about 34,000 fans. What will parking be like if we have a full house?

One ticket cost $40 in the nosebleed section.

One beer cost $8.75, but it was good and cold.

One order of fries cost $5.25

Our team fought a courageous battle on defense, but our offense is in no way qualified to play at this level.

Stadium conditions continue to be subpar.

Hanni Hartmann
Hawaii Kai