Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Who determines indigence?

"County says it's too poor to defend the poor" is a front page headline in The New York Times on April 15. Sounds like Lane County.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1983 decided that poor people accused of serious crimes are entitled to legal representation paid for by state and local governments. State and local governments pay $3.19 to $11.70 per capita for indigent defense; state and local spending is estimated at $3 billion.

The Register-Guard and the New York Times write about the need to provide competent and experienced lawyers with resources adequate to defend the poor, but have not written about who determines if the accused is poor enough to be entitled to a taxpayer provided lawyer. More importantly, how is it determined that the accused is poor enough?

How about some public service coverage?

EDWARD F. WILSON

Eugene

Events not following script

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggests that looting in Iraq is part of the price of freedom. So the looting of factories, banks, government buildings, schools, palaces and even hospitals is tolerated. But American troops guard the oil ministry and the oil fields. No looters allowed, thank you.

George W. Bush and his crew say we are not in Iraq for the oil; we are in Iraq to capture or kill Saddam Hussein and to reveal to the world his weapons of mass destruction. But if Saddam proves to be as difficult to locate as Osama bin Laden (remember him?) and if the weapons of mass destruction turn out to be agricultural chemicals, well - we'll take the oil, thank you.

And what should we do about fires in the oil fields? To whom should we assign that job without competitive bidding? Maybe a subsidiary of Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old company, could do the job. For up to $7 billion, we'll let the company have a shot at it, thank you.

Now, if none of this is playing out quite like it was presented a few weeks ago, just hush yourself, darlin', and read George Orwell's "Animal Farm." Then you'll understand how the pigs can walk on their hind legs, and Rumsfeld can make them fly.

AUDINE KELLY

Florence

Long way to go in Iraq

I applaud the April 10 Register-Guard editorial correctly pointing out that we are nowhere near victory in Iraq - unless our only goal was to eliminate Saddam Hussein.

If this war was about bringing democracy to the Iraqi people, we haven't even begun that project. If it was about removing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, we haven't found any. If it was about reducing the threat of terrorism, we've done nothing, except perhaps to fan the flames of Muslim fundamentalism. If it was about stabilizing the region, now there is increased instability. And if it was about bringing the world together to address threats to our security, we've clearly done the opposite.

If this war was about ensuring that Iraqis are fed, clothed, healthy and secure, hundreds of thousands are still in serious jeopardy. Only if the war was about removing Saddam from power - and literally nothing else - did recent events signal victory. We have a long way to go - and let us hope, for the sake of the Iraqi people, that we do a better job of finishing the job than we are doing in Afghanistan.

RITA RADOSTITZ

Eugene

LETTERS LOG

Letters received in past week: 198

Letters published: 67

What's on readers' minds: The U.S. war in Iraq continues to dominate the Mailbag flow. During the past week, we received 92 letters about the war. Roughly five out of every six letters opposed President Bush's decision to take pre-emptive military action against Saddam Hussein's regime or the administration's plans for postwar Iraq. Other topics included a Lincoln County jury's decision to deliver a death sentence to Christian Longo for the murders of his wife and three children, the state's budget crisis and an April 6 viewpoint by William Motter arguing that teachers' pay and benefits are the cause of the public school system's financial woes.