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From the\BF\
By Richard Elrick
r.elnckt@verizon.net
One quagmire after
another
The insanity of the violence now gripping
Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza givesclear evidence
to the moral and foreign policy bankruptcy
that characterizes the American and Israeli
strategyin the Middle East.
Following George Bush'slead in Iraq, the
Israeli government,leaving diplomacy aside,
has launched a massive and disproportion-
ate use of force against Lebanon, it saysis in
retaliation for the abduction of three soldiers
and the launching of what started as several
Katyusha and Qassam rockets into Israel.
What has now become very apparent is
that Israel, in fact, used the rocket launch-
ings and abductions as a pretense to under-
take a savage effort to eliminate Hezbollah
from the south of Lebanon, and in Gaza to
try and force the downfall of the democrati-
cally elected Hamas-led Palestinian govern-
ment.
While no one can dispute the right of Israel
to defend itself, Israel, and every country, has
a fundamental obligation to undertake its
defense, and its response to attack in a man-
ner that is designed to limit the deaths of
innocent civilians.Israel has done quite the
opposite. Moreover, and from a much more
practicalperspective, Israel's^discriminate
and vicious assaults on the civil infrastruc-
ture of Palestine and Lebanon, and our own
brutal occupation of Iraq, have only served to
enhance the popularity of the most extreme
elements of the Islamist fundamentalist
groups.
Before Israel mounted its offensive into
Lebanon there was considerable criticism of
Hezbollah. But now with the forced evacu-
ation of half a million Lebanese from their
homes and the destruction of whole neigh-
borhoods in Beirut and the resulting deaths
of hundreds of innocent women and children
(go to www.fromisraeltolebanon.orgto see
the graphic proof), public support for the
fundamentalist group has risen sharply.
What is truly absurd in allthis is to hear
the Israeli and American governments calling
on the PalestinianAuthority and the govern-
ment of Lebanon to reign in their radicals at
the same time Israel is doing everything it
can to destroy their capacity to maintain any
semblance of civil order.Indeed, it's abun-
dantly clear at this point that as a result of
U.S.and Israeli policies, the big winners have
turned out to be the most radical elements
in Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq, whilethose who
have lost the most are the moderates.
One of the things that has been particu-
larly frustrating and harmful to the eventual
goal of resolving the Israeli-Arab dispute, has
been how unequivocal the American sup-
port for Israel hasbeen.There are invariably
two-or more sides to every story.And that is
certainly true is this case.
While, understandably,the great majority
of Americans have sided with Israel, it is im-
portant to understand that Israel is to a large
degree responsible for the attacks that have
been launched against her.While the Hezbol-
lah have undertaken attacks that have killed
civilians, Israel, no less, has maintained poli-
cies and committed acts that any civilized
nation should consider unacceptable.
On three separate occasions, on June
9, June 13and June 20, Israel attempted
extrajudicial assassinations against alleged
terrorists that resulted is the deaths of 12
innocent Palestinian civilians (mostly women
and children), and the injury to dozens more.
While most every credible Middle East expert
acknowledges that the onlylikely solution in
the region is for the creation of a Palestinian
state, Israel has done everythingit could to
stop that from becoming a reality.It builds
illegal settlements; controls the incredibly
valuable fresh water; divides up the Palestin-
ian territory,and then tortures,jails or assas-
sinates anyone who tries to resist.
What Israel has done to the Palestinians is
in many ways not dissimilar to what South
Africa did withits Apartheid system.
The violence must stop, and diplomacy
must be brought in to replace it. The Bush
administration has an obligation to get
involved in a serious way and to bring as
much pressure as possible against Israel to
force it to accept a cease-fire.That should be
followed by a mutual prisoner exchange, and
then ultimately Israel must understand that
in order for there to be any hope of resolu-
tion to thisquagmire, it must except that
there has to be negotiations with the demo-
cratically elected Hamas government, and a
willingnessto undertake talkswith both Iran
and Syria.
The Israelis and the Bush aclministration
should realize that the alternative, a con-
tinuation of the violence, and the attempted
destruction of Hezbollah won't make Israel
or the region any more safe or stable, but will
instead only serve to increase the number of
recruits willingto join the ranks of Hezbollah.
1 FTTFK
Ix1 1LiU
Let's study our lire
services
As one who has lived on both sides
of town,Ihave nothing but the high-
est regard for our fire departments
and for those who work for them
and oversee them. Certainly no one
wishes to see the quality of their
services diminished. However, as a
taxpayer I am interested in reduc-
ing cost and eliminatingduplication
wherever it can be achieved without
affecting services.
Iwould hope that the Town Council
wouldnow vote infavor of anindepen-
dent study to determineifour current
system of five different fire depart-
mentsisoptimal,orcouldbeimproved
upon. Contraryto PaulGauvin'smost
recent column, I am one grass roots
citizen who feels such a study is a
matter of the highest priority.
Jim Hinkle
Cummaquid
An open letter to the Cape
Cod community
Onbehalf of the HyannisSalvation
Army and the Cape Cod Council of
Churches,wewanttothank everyone
for their prayers and support to help
the homeless. v
The Cape Cod Council of Churches
has been so important and sup-
portive to the Salvation Army's
Overnights of Hospitality Program,
whichprovidesemergency housingin
more than 40 participating churches
on Cape Cod. The Council istryingto
raise enough money sothat asecond
Bridgeport Apartment Complex can
be bought or built for our brothers
and sisters in need.
Bridgeport I. an eight-apartment
complexon Gifford Street,Falmouth,
has been a huge success. It is now
timefor us,the Cape Cod Community
to build, Bridgeport 2. Let's build it
for the homeless and for God. Let us
be the Hands of God and build this
House of Love.
In our efforts to raise money from
the HousingwithLove Walk,we were
$2,000 under our hopes and prayers.
Donations of any size would be so
prayerfully appreciated.
Donations canbe sent to: Cape Cod
Council of Churches, PO. Bdx 258,
Hyannis.MA 02601. Please earmark
check: Bridgeport
Alan Burt
Overnights Coordinator
Hyannis, Salvation Army
CONTINUED 0$ PAGE A:8
Fromthe/Mr
Digging for answers
By Steve Tefft
stevetefft@yahoo.com
Questions and observations about the Big Dig's big
disaster:
Boston's Sumner and Callahan tunnels are a com-
bined 117 years old. The Holland and Lincoln tunnels,
connecting Manhattan and New Jersey, are 140 years
old. That's 257 years of service without one death at-
tributed to poorly built structures. It took the Big Dig's
tunnels all of 17 combined years of operation to rack up
their first construction-related fatality. What went into
building the older structures that obviously did not go
into the newer? Is modern engineering that bad? Were
the old ways better? Or is Massachusetts so riddled
with corruption that the most important consideration
these days is not "how safe?" but "how much?"
Who signed off on this mess? Who inspected things
like epoxied bolts holding up 3-ton pieces of concrete
and checked the "pass" box on the inspection sheets?
Shoddy construction is, unfortunately, not all that
unusual. But inspections are done to catch things like
shoddy construction. Whose signatures are on the
inspection sheets? Are there even inspection sheets to
review? Have they mysteriously disappeared? Or do
they simply not exist?
Speaking of not existing, count me among those who
find it very hard to believe the official explanation for
the lack of security camera video detailing the July 13
accident. We're told that the security cameras inside the
1-90 connector had to be manually activated to record
accidents. Think about that: a Big Dig flunky supposed-
ly sits there 24/7 with his finger on the "record" button,
waiting for an accident to occur... at which time he's to
hit the button and record something that's already hap-
pened. How absurd. We're also told that the tunnel was
outfitted with VHS cameras because digital recording
"wasn't the norm" when the video system was installed.
But 8-hour videotapes were certainly around, and they
need changing only three times a day for the system to
be recording all the time. Call me a conspiratorialist, but
I'm not buying the explanation.
I think some of the public vitriol aimed at Mass Pike
honcho Matt Amorello is misdirected. Yes, he should
resign.Yes, he's a career politician who probably wasn't
the best choice for the job. And yes, he's an easy target.
But Amorello arrived long after the last poorly-de-
signed bolt structure was ineptly applied. There's no
blood on his hands. He was in over his head from the
start. Every plot needs a villain, and Amorello is the
easiest choice for the role in this situation ... but he's
far from the only Big Dig figure who should take blame.
Was the Big Dig even necessary? Was all the spend-
ing, digging, constructing, spending, repairing and
spending needed to achieve the project's ostensible
goal of decreasing traffic through Boston?
The parts of the project that made the most sense
to me were the Ted Williams Tunnel and (ironically)
the 1-90 connector. Any improvements that take
Logan-bound traffic out of the Boston labyrinth
and send it straight to the airport are smart, worthy
projects , and the city is better for them. But the rest
of the Big Dig -most notably the South Station/Free-
dom/Tip O'Neill/Whatever Tunnel - doesn't pass the
"need" test. All the tunnel has done is plunge the old
Central Artery's traffic underground without speed-
ing it up very much. The Zakim Bridge? It's nice to
look at and has pretty blue lights at night, but has it
helped improve traffic?
Regardless of what the Big Dig is and isn't, we're all
stuck with it; stuck with its gargantuan cost overruns,
stuck with its apparently third-rate level of construc-
tion, stuck with the permanent loss of public faith in
the project and its managers. We can only hope that
the problems are fixable, or else Milena Del Valle may
end up being the canary in the coal mine ... or in the
tunnel.
RETROSPECTIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES
ON THE MOVE-With our recent move stillfresh, it seemed a good time to look
backat thefirst buildingspecificallydesignedandconstructedfor a Patriotoffice,
in1873, underthe ownership of F.B.Goss and George Richards, the Patriot built
itsofficeandprintingplantneartheBarnstableVillagedepotonRailroadAvenue,
seenhere about1880.The locationalsohadthe advantage of beingnear thePine
Street residence of Goss. The building still stands in town, but was relocated
to South Street in Hyannis some years ago, and is across the street from the
SteamshipAuthority's mainentrance.
ACROSS TIME 6PLACE
New panel hopes to
find key to fabled
Hyannis gridlock
¦
By Paul Cauvin i
pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com
j d \ne
upon a time the New York
lip/ City administration called
\*
S upon an expert who lived 50
miles away for help in alleviating
the city 's horrendous traffic prob-
lem.
After studying the situation
for 35 minutes, the expert opined
that the city should make all of its
streets one-way north. "Then,"he
concluded , "it will be Connecticut's
problem. "
This tongue-in-cheek fairy-tale
comes to mind whenever Barnstable
officials ponder the airport traffic
circle and the gridlock that occurs
there during certain hours all year
-and more frequently in the sum-
mertime, when the livin' is easy but
the drivin' isn't.
The expert who advised the Big
Apple would likely recommend that
Hyannis make its streets one-way
east, thus driving the problem into
Yarmouth.
As if the Hyannis traffic situa-
tion hasn't been studied enough,
the town again has embarked on a
fresh state-sponsored initiative, the
Hyannis Access Study Task Force. It
has the intricate task of improving
"overall transportation mobility for
residents, businesses and visitors
while minimizing impacts to neigh-
borhoods and communities."
A logical person would determine
the surest way to minimize traffic
problems is to minimize traffic, yes?
One does not do that by advocating
continued growth in areas already
choked by bottlenecks such as
Hyannis, particularly at the airport
rotary. But the game here is to defy
logic, hence, smart growth.
Even if the town could run an-
other east-west road along the
airport property on Route 28 from
the rotary, a blockage would still
exist at the Yarmouth town line
and at traffic lights along the other
ways fed from the rotary, including
Barnstable Road, which is a curb-
cut-happy, no-set-back path to the
Main Street/waterfront that eludes a
satisfactory fix without massive land
takings.
Anyone who drives home from
Boston regularly knows what hap-
pens when the three-lane Route 3
South narrows to two lanes - slow-
downs that no amount of cursing
will ameliorate.
One would like to have faith the
combined state-town think tank
represented by the Hyannis access
panel has a higher authority's bless-
ing to perform miracles, but if the
past is prologue, no such wizardry is
silhouetted in light at the end of the
tunnel.
There was the idea to construct a
divider on Barnstable Road adja-
cent to the TJ Maxx/Staples plaza
CONTINUED ON PAGE A:8
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