Defense Secretary

Don’t you think maybe someone with more military experience might be better qualified to run the Department of Defense?

I am not sure that we have ever had a defense secretary with such a minimal amount of military service leading what was the most powerful military in the world. Maybe someone who would be aware of what munitions would be required compared to what we have on hand before engaging in a war not sanctioned by Congress. Maybe someone who spent more time on military logistics than the hormone levels of the men serving in this unauthorized war.

God help us and our brave men and women serving under this questionable leadership.

Sylvia Snow, Poquoson

Air Force One

The kerfuffle over President Donald Trump deserting his press corps while secretly exiting Air Force One, amid an Iranian assassination threat, made me wonder if anyone remembers Filipino politician Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino who opposed sitting President Ferdinand Marcos? Not all threats to a political figure will happen midair. Sen. Aquino was assassinated in 1983 as he exited his plane upon arrival in the Philippines.

It is the duty of the U.S .Secret Service to ensure the safety of its protectees. It is the duty of the U.S. Air Force to ensure the safe passage of Air Force One (among other military things). Cabinet members, White House staff and the White House press corps last month aboard the “original” Air-Force-protected Air Force One flew safely and arrived safely, as did our president aboard the U.S. Secret Service “decoy” Air Force One.

I would fly any day under such protection.

Katie Holland, Virginia Beach

Healthcare

Former President Barack Obama presented and passed a flawed healthcare plan by exempting a lot of potential participants. Now it rears its head every election, as if it is the holy grail.

Both parties have had many opportunities to present new and hopefully much better plans, but have failed to do it. I don’t see Medicare for all as the solution, but the person who presents a plan that has no exemptions and includes the U.S. House and Senate in it would get my vote, because it would probably be the best plan ever. When the politicians have to vote on acceptance, it should show us their true colors. “If it’s good for thee, it’s good for me.”

Dick Jones, Virginia Beach

State of Israel

Re “Weaker connection worries Israelis,” (A8, Aug. 2): No, Itai Nixon, head of the Diaspora Department at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, Israel is not “the state of the Jewish people, not just Israelis.” Israel is the state of Israelis. It accounts for about 6 million of the world’s 15.8 million estimated Jews. Another 6 million or so live in the United States, with the rest scattered in Canada, Australia, France, Great Britain, the rest of Europe and many other countries.

For all its flaws, and these days I see more flaws than good points, I’m an American — a Jewish American, part of the Jewish people, but an American to my bones. I’ve lived in Israel, but it is not my home or my state. Israel may take me, but I don’t want it, because it has all the same flaws as the U.S. and more, concentrated in a tiny sliver of real estate. And to those who think the flaws will disappear with the current prime minister, they will not.

Call me when Israel becomes the “light unto the nations” I was taught it was in religious school. Until then, it is a nation like any other and should be treated accordingly, including by diaspora Jews.

Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill, Virginia Beach