To the Editor:

Re “The Times Adds an Op-Ed Columnist” (news article, Dec. 30):

It was with disappointment that I learned that The New York Times has hired William Kristol as an Op-Ed page columnist.

I subscribe to The Times and look forward to a balanced and diverse opinion page. But Mr. Kristol, who with other neocons argued for the military strikes that led this country into the debacle of Iraq, has suggested that we do the same to Iran.

I think Mr. Kristol’s opinions on our foreign policy in the Middle East are misguided and dangerous. I urge you to not give a platform to the radical fringe on either side of the political spectrum, be it liberal or conservative.

Nancy Whitmore
Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 31, 2007

To the Editor:

I am disappointed by the vociferous objections I’ve heard and read from New York Times subscribers to the hiring of the conservative columnist William Kristol.

When did we come to so fear the words and ideas of those on the “dark side” that we are unwilling to match wits with them?

The Op-Ed page should be a forum for a variety of perspectives and public debate, not a clone of the editorial page. If the 2008 election is to usher in meaningful change, liberals must understand the appeal of the conservative far-right agenda and use this to our advantage.

We would do well to heed the maxim “Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

Sheryl Jedlinski
Palatine, Ill., Dec. 31, 2007

To the Editor:

I have been a daily Times reader for nearly 40 years, beginning with my first subscription at my New England preparatory school in the 1960s.

The opinion section has always drawn me into thoughtful discussion, with distinguished columnists from William Safire to Maureen Dowd, and from Paul Krugman to David Brooks (about whom I still have doubts).

But surely something has gone wrong when The Times embraces William Kristol, one of the neocon architects of the Bush administration’s failed first-strike Iraq strategy, and an unapologetic hawk on similar aggression against Iran.

Are you serious? Or has the great tradition of The Times gone the way of most independent journalism in today’s oligarchic, self-serving society?

Denver Collins
Eugene, Ore., Dec. 30, 2007

Note from KBJ: What are progressives afraid of? If Kristol says something false, they can correct it. If he reasons invalidly, they can correct it. For the life of me, I do not understand the progressive urge (which is manifest even on college campuses) to stifle discussion. It betrays a lack of confidence in one’s critical, analytical, and argumentative abilities.