Readers write: Letters to the editor, Oct. 23, 2015

I’m not a math expert, but I feel comfortable suggesting an alternative “Darwinian” accounting method, contrary to Mr. Williams’ basic math, wherein 100 preschoolers — not racist rednecks — must defer an early start on maximizing their vast human potential because one underperforming adult is authorized by society to become a financial black hole, sucking up endless financial resources.

Mr. Williams also invokes the good Samaritan concept to justify burdening the country with massive health-care costs. Meanwhile, on an adjoining page of the same paper, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew worries that a minuscule additional expense — a few billions in a $4 trillion budget — can cause the mighty U.S. government to falter and default on its $18 trillion debt. Imagine the widespread pain and suffering, including wars, associated with the disorder from that event!

I believe the best recipe for success requires balancing deficit spending good Samaritanism with its cost-conscious antithesis: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”

— Larry Slone

Homer

Gen. Taft (Letters, Oct. 21) owes Lauren Rosenthal an apology for his incorrect statement about Attu casualties in her fine article about plans to clean up hazardous waste on the island (Oct. 20). She is right and he is wrong. Apparently he did not do his research and compared apples with oranges and ignored force ratios.

The cost of retaking Attu in terms of the ratio of forces engaged was exceeded only by that of Iwo Jima, according to Page 295 of “Guarding the United States and Its Outpost,” Clearing the Aleutians, The Western Hemisphere, published by Office of the Chief of Military History, Washington, D.C., 1964.

Also lost to general knowledge is the fact Attu was the first major amphibious operation in the Pacific following the taking of Guadalcanal and nearby islands, and the first Japanese-occupied American soil to be retaken. It was also the first Army island amphibious operation of the war and the first encounter with an all-out banzai charge by the Japanese where they chose death over the dishonor of surrender. Only 29 survived the 19-day, second most bloody battle of the Pacific.

The Battle of Attu, occurring early in the war, has been obscured by the later epic battles of World War II.

— John Haile Cloe

retired military historian

colonel, U.S. Army Reserves (ret.)