The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 8

Page 8A Tuesday, June 16, 2015 The Anniston Star EDITORIAL The Anniston Star is the duty of a newspaper to become the attorney for the most defenseless among its Col. Harry M. Ayers, President and Publisher, 1910-1964 H. BRANDT AYERS P.A. SANGUINETTI Chairman and Publisher President ROBERT JACKSON SCOTT E.

CALHOUN VP for Operations and Sales VP for Finance BOB DAVIS Editor Publisher Important task for Jeb Bush IN OUR OPINION HOTBLAST Musings from The editorial board Report on torture suggests CIA disobeyed its rule on human experimentation. Online at annistonstar.com/HotBlast SPEAK OUT IN THEIR OPINION A hat tip to JSU next time we see combat, the Marine Corps is going to learn the hard way what happens when you bring a knife to a Marine sniper criticism of the failure to adopt a new sniper rifle in the past 14 years. Source: WashingtonPost.com established in 1883 was first newspaper. It merged with The Evening Star in 1912 to form Consolidated Publishing publishers of A home-owned newspaper The Anniston Star (24600) is published daily by Consolidated Publishing 4305 McClellan Anniston, AL 36206. Periodical postage paid at Anniston, AL.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE ANNISTON STAR, P.O. Box 189, Anniston, AL 36202. Delivery by carrier $13.50 per month. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Send letters to: P.O. Box 189, Anniston, AL 36202 Email: Letters should be no longer than 200 words.

They must be signed and are subject to editing for length, clarity, content and taste. Writers must include a phone number for confirmation purposes. Please limit letter submissions to once every 30 days. WASHINGTON feel bad if confused about what the United States is trying to accomplish in Iraq. President Obama seem to know, either or else he say.

Days after admitting that yet have a complete for training Iraqi government forces which are supposed to ultimately defeat the Islamic State Obama is sending an additional 450 troops to execute this unstrategized mission. That will raise the number of U.S. military personnel in Iraq to about 3,500. But what, realistically, is their goal? And how are they supposed to achieve it? It is understandable that the president might feel pressed to do something in response to the Islamic recent battlefield gains including the rout of disorganized Iraqi forces in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. But Obama imposed such tight restrictions on the activities of American soldiers that only the sunniest optimist would believe this increase can make a military difference.

U.S. troops will not be allowed near the front lines, where their presence, according to critics, could stiffen the resolve of an Iraqi army that often chooses to flee rather than fight. There will be no American forward air controllers, who could direct U.S. airstrikes with far greater precision. There will be no use of deadly Apache attack helicopters in support of Iraqi ground operations.

In essence, sending the 450 new troops is less a military move than a political gesture. After the fall of Ramadi, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi desperately needed a signal of U.S. support. In that strictly limited sense, I suppose, mission accomplished. Sort of.

With the added personnel, U.S. commanders will start by establishing a fifth site for training Iraqi forces. The new camp will be in Anbar, the heartland of Sunni minority, where American advisers will try to somehow inspire loyalty to the Shiite-dominated central government in Baghdad. Given the sectarian brutality of the Shiite militias that fight alongside the regular army, many Anbar tribal leaders have come to see the Islamic State as the lesser of two evils. A few hundred extra U.S.

soldiers, confined to their posts, are not going to turn the tide in this war. They represent just a baby step but in a direction Obama obviously want to go. When the American airstrikes failed to halt the Islamic State in its tracks, it take a clairvoyant to predict a future of gradual escalation and mission creep. Obama has stubbornly resisted, however. I believe he simply does not want his legacy to include embroiling the United States in another big, tragic, expensive, open-ended Middle East war.

I blame him. Do you? Critics of policies propose relatively modest steps that sound reasonable: Speed up the training. Intensify the bombing, using American spotters. Provide more arms. Let U.S.

advisers stand shoulder to shoulder with Iraqi officers on the front lines. But none of this deals with the central problem, which is that too many Iraqis place sectarian, ethnic and regional loyalties ahead of their allegiance to the nation. If the ideal of a unified, pacified, pluralistic Iraq is more important to us than it is to the Iraqis, even the 10,000 additional U.S. troops proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, cannot possibly make a difference.

hesitancy suggests a deep skepticism about what, at this point, must be considered his war. That would explain why he keeps announcing we have no strategy. Maybe one does exist but the president think it will work. Or perhaps Obama is playing for time. Maybe he has decided to do just enough to keep the Iraqi government from collapsing, while giving his generals every chance to make their far-fetched training program work.

The problem is that in any war, the enemy gets a vote. And nothing, so far, has altered the fact that ISIS is far more in control of events than the president. Eugene Robinson writes for The Washington Post. Email: washpost.com. Eugene Robinson Presidential reticence on Iraq or now, same-sex couples exist in an uncomfortable legal limbo as they wait on this expected Supreme Court gay-marriage ruling.

The wheels of progress are indeed slow. Our brief stint with marital equality earlier this year allowed for a smattering of gay and lesbian couples to legally marry. (At least 15 wed in Calhoun County, according to Star research.) But gay marriage currently legal in Alabama, and despite the court-issued marriage licenses, the rights of enjoined same-sex couples are far from fully protected. With that, we give a much-deserved hat tip to Jacksonville State Alumni House, where Keith Mahan and Noah Carter, who were married in February, last weekend held their wedding reception. exhaustive legal fight against gay marriage, fueled by Chief Justice Roy Moore, transformed Alabama earlier this year into the new same-sex battleground.

The trappings were all there: Bible Belt state, Republican-controlled state government, strong public sentiment for traditional marriage. SU, a public university funded in large part by public funds, could have denied Carter and Mahan the use of its Alumni House. Instead, the university displayed an attitude needed more widely throughout the state an attitude of acceptance and equality. were actually excited about Noah Carter told The Star. Good for them.

PHILLIP TUTOR Commentary Editor DENNIS DUNN Operations Manager BEN CUNNINGHAM Managing Editor Dana Summers is editorial cartoonist for the Orlando Sentinel. Re favored language of U.S. (Speak Out, June 10): I read with much bemusement T.J. letter regarding Star publisher H. Brandt June 7 column.

Summers asked, in the name of ghost compelled you to write time for free Mr. Summers, did you read the entire column? Did you take a reflective moment to give any thought to the words on the paper before you? It does not appear so. Perhaps you were confused at the moment and integrated The Anniston Star with your latest copy of The Daily Planet. Be that as it may, in the midst of your bashing, and I imagine your trembling with fear and condemnation of what you deem you stated, U.S. is on the fast track to to hell in a thanks to the far-left liberals and You portray liberals and Democrats as some atrocious nemesis to freedom.

Finally, you reach the high-water mark of your letter by asking Ayers, we become the land of Charles I have some more, or can we become the land of Kennedy, not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your I find it most interesting that you would end your with a quote from a liberal Democrat named John F. Kennedy (below). What say ye, Mr. Summers? D.T. Reach Munford Re say they want widening of Gap Mountain (News article, June 12): We met June 5 with the Calhoun County engineer and safety was not mentioned in connection, but the $180,000 was.

The county engineer came out June 8. He mentioned a price tag of $180,000 again for widening the road 18 inches, but safety was not mentioned. The question was asked about the purpose of the expansion and the answer was to accommodate chicken trucks. Then the engineer told the rest of the public it was $60,000 and the reason was for safety. I took it nothing else was included in the $60,000 except the extension.

We are not against widening the road, but the scale of it. Since we have been left in the dark about so many things, we do not know how the expansion is going to run. It could involve taking down trees more than 50 years old. My lake is spring fed, what effect will that have on my lake? What are the plans about my lake? Exactly how wide will the extension be? How much of Gap Mountain Road will be widened from Alabama 9 to the bridge, from the bridge to the end of the pavement, or from Alabama 9 to the end of the payment at the top of the hill? Faye Roberts Jacksonville Need info from county Confused over criticisms of liberal Democrats ommon Core needs a spokesman, a passionate and credible defender who clears up the vast misconceptions about what it is and is not. a little history.

Public school advocates and governors created the educational standards known as Common Core in 2009. The goal is to have grade-levels mean approximately the same from state to state. For instance, the basic knowledge of a third-grader in Iowa should be the same as a third-grader in Alabama. The 44 states that have endorsed Common Core can implement the very broad set of objectives in a variety of ways often under different names. For example, policy is called Career and College Ready Standards.

The problem is that a policy with national goals that are implemented state-by-state lacks a proponent with a national stage. Oh, the Obama administration embraced Common Core, but that endorsement has, if anything, forced many Republicans to turn against a policy that many Republican governors initially endorsed. Here is a task for Jeb Bush, son and brother of former U.S. presidents, former governor of Florida and, as of Monday, a formally declared candidate for the 2016 race for president. Bush may be best known for his advocacy of reforms in public schooling.

hardly a perfect record, but we are heartened that he was an early promoter of Common Core and remains so today. hile standing on Republican presidential debate stages over the next year, Bush will likely be asked to defend his embrace of Common Core. our wish that he do so in a manner that explains the benefits of the policy while turning down the extremist rhetoric against the program..