Letters

Without moral stature, US cannot win war on terror

Regarding Thomas J. Raleigh's Feb. 1 Opinion piece, "US must regain moral ascendancy": For the past three weeks I have been viewing the PBS series "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State." It has been a memorable and deeply disturbing experience in trying to grasp the depths to which the German nation sank into moral depravity.

Several similarities to our own country's approach in Iraq are alarming: the exposure of prisoner abuse and torture, as well as the deceptive rationale for the war in the first place.

We are on the wrong road when we abandon our country's core values in the name of defeating our enemies. The war on terror is then waged at the cost of our moral stature.

Mr. Raleigh has stated the case better than any politician or journalist I have heard or read. With moral clarity, we can lead the world.

In spite of all our vast resources, economic and military, we cannot win without moral ascendency. Thank you for publishing such a persuasive and courageous wake-up call to America.
Bill Cheney
Houston

Regarding the Feb. 1 article "More states stir against ease of 'no fault' divorce": As a lawyer who has practiced domestic-relations law for 48 years, I decry the high divorce rate. But it is naive to believe that "no fault" divorce laws contributed to it.

Prior to "no fault" laws being enacted, in almost every one of the hundreds of cases I worked on, the marriage was broken without regard to the ease of obtaining a divorce.

With the broad interpretation of what constituted fault, almost any marriage, even a happy one, contained grounds for divorce, and no one in my experience was denied a divorce for lack of fault.

The "no fault" divorce laws enacted later merely reflect what had been going on anyway.
Fred A. Granata
Portland, Ore.

I was surprised to see your article about the ease of "no-fault" divorce. If we're going to change laws and use up column space, let's talk about solving problems associated with hostile divorces before we waste time talking about easy divorces.

I have a friend who has been trying for 18 months to get a divorce with a fair child-custody ruling, and she cannot make any progress until she can afford an attorney. She is extremely resourceful, and has sought low-cost attorney alternatives. There simply aren't any available to her.

She is now penniless, and her husband is hostile and noncooperative. She absolutely cannot get divorced, while protecting her child, without an attorney. Most educated people who hear the details of this story would be incredulous at the legal brick walls and the humiliation and poverty that this woman has had to put up with in order to placate the husband so that he doesn't hurt the child any further.

Based on this example, I think that laws should be changed so that people can legally divorce themselves from hostile spouses without being penalized by their own poverty.

This issue is so much more important than "no fault" divorce. Let's shine some light on it.
Crista Huff
Castle Rock, Colo.

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