Media extremists obscure the positive truths in Iraq

Your Oct. 3 editorial "The Great Debate" contained serious errors of judgment and otherwise. It said: "The picture that Mr. Bush presents and sticks to does not correspond to the reality that anyone who follows events in Iraq and Afghanistan can see to be the truth." One error: He's not "Mr." -- he's President Bush.

Why do you insist on believing the media extremists? You think that the likes of Dan Rather and John Kerry wouldn't say anything to support their cause? That they understand the situation better than the president and the prime minister of Iraq?

What about the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan -- are they liars, also? When they tell their friends and family that the Iraqi and Afghan people love us, that the only people there who don't love the United States are terrorists? That the people are looking forward to their elections, that they're working hard to rid their countries of insurgents? It's just all lies and we should believe the media, right?

Just why do people try so hard to believe lies? My son called me from the Middle East and asked that exact question: Why aren't people back in the United States ever seeing the truth? Don't you think that with a united front here, the insurgents wouldn't have hope, would lay down their weapons and let the Iraqi people live in peace?

DALE EDMISTON
Slippery Rock

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Brave soldiers

Your Oct. 5 editorial "Assault in Iraq" was shameful. The idea that Iraqi and U.S. forces are pounding "insurgents" into submission so that elections may effectively be held in January makes all kinds of sense. These terrorists, criminals and lawless religious fanatics use car bombs to kill children gathered to celebrate the completion of sewage treatment plants.

The primary complaint of ordinary Iraqis against U.S. forces is our failure to provide physical security against these thugs. Three cheers for the brave soldiers -- Iraqi and American -- who are standing up to terror. Shame on you for questioning their motives out of paranoid political partisanship.

GREGORY S. HILL
Richboro

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The whole record

In response to Scott Karner's Oct. 2 letter, "Kerry's Records": Yes, John Kerry's military record has been posted on his Web site. Of course, it only contains what Mr. Kerry would like you to see. His entire military record has not been released to the press. One can only guess why.

RICH COHEN
McKeesport

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We were right

I attended numerous anti-war rallies against the impending Iraq war. In February 2003, our group of about 300 was confronted with a line of police on either side as we recrossed the Smithfield Street Bridge from the South Side. A police officer shouted, "You want Saddam Hussein to strike us with weapons of mass destruction?" I replied, "Saddam Hussein does not have weapons of mass destruction!"

The officer went quiet. Apparently, the thought had never before crossed his mind.

We now know that we protesters were right. Vilified as traitors, we turned out to be the true patriots. We advocated saving lives, money and heartache, and waiting for the evidence to come in.

John Kerry voted to authorize Bush to use force against Iraq, if necessary. But Bush didn't wait for inspections to be completed. He never built a real coalition. Nor did he get an additional U.N. sanction. A priori, based on the neoconservative Project for a New American Century agenda of pre-emptive imperialism, Bush, not Hussein, threw the inspectors out of Iraq.

Without evidence and a plan, Bush advanced the "shock and awe" campaign. Anti-war protesters were shocked and awed, and now we are all shocked and awed at this administration's arrogance and incompetence.

Insurgents now currently control much of Iraq. We have lost more than 1,000 U.S. lives. Children wade through sewage to attend schools. Iraq is a ravaged breeding ground of anti-American sentiment and militancy. As John Kerry argued, we have traded a single dictator for a multibillion-dollar chaos.

Every word that Bush used against Hussein now echoes with irony. It's long past time for regime change in the United States. As has been the case for most of George Bush's life, someone else must follow him and clean up his mess. John Kerry is the most competent and likely comer, and he is now our only hope for returning the nation and Iraq to sanity.

MICHAEL RECTENWALD
Point Breeze

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Stem-cell sense

Stem-cell research is one of the most promising developments during my 25-year career as a research scientist. There are safe ways to do therapeutic stem cell research that do not challenge ethical or religious norms. Stem cells have tremendous potential for advancing our understanding of the cells in our bodies, possibly curing or lessening the pain and burden of diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Yet, the Bush administration has prevented the American scientific community from pursuing this opportunity that could help so many families. It has boasted about federal funding for stem-cell research, yet has limited investigators to a few existing "approved" stem-cell lines which are not only genetically unstable (like cancer cells), but also have been grown in cell culture with mouse cells, both of which make them unusable for human transplantation, preventing us from investigating their potential for curing disease.

Other advanced countries of the world all permit stem-cell research; their advances are leaving the American scientific community in their dust. John Kerry has a plan to revoke the ideologically driven restrictions on stem-cell research by removing the ban on federal funding for new stem cell lines and ensuring the ethical conduct of this research by rigorous oversight. Americans deserve the opportunity to reap the potential benefits of this important area of biomedical research.

SUSANNE M. GOLLIN, Ph.D.
Highland Park

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Help flood victims

My name is Alex Watts and I am 9 years old. I have been watching the news about the floods on TV and saw the pictures in the paper. I would like to help the flood victims.

I think all the people in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas who read your paper should each donate $5 to help these people. That is not even as much as going to a movie or buying a video. If every person sent it in, it would be a lot of money that would help these people that didn't cause the problem but now can't live in their house. I will send in my $5.

ALEXANDRIA WATTS
Upper St. Clair

Editor's note: The writer is in fourth grade at Streams Elementary School.

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A positive outlook

As a Downtown property and business owner, it was wonderful to read Julius Troiani's positive vision on the redevelopment of Downtown ("Developer Sees Housing as Salvation of Downtown," Sept. 22). Maybe he'll be Pittsburgh's Donald Trump!

Thank you, Mr. Troiani, for wanting to fix this major problem. Maybe a "Troiani Plaza" or "Troiani Tower" is in our future.

Also, I keep seeing signs that say "Save our police" and "Save our firemen." What about "Save our small business"? We'll even say, "Please save our small business"!

LISA KNECHTEL
Owner
Mirrors Hair Salon
Downtown

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Without public transport, many people simply couldn't get to work

In discussions about funding for the Port Authority, it's crucial to remember that, for many people, public transportation isn't an alternative -- it's the only way to get to jobs, job training, child care, the grocery store and the doctor.

One example: In the area served by Heritage Health Foundation, many people can't afford cars. We saw firsthand the constraints that situation imposed, including the inability to comply with welfare-to-work mandates.

You can't hold a job if you can't get there. Together with the Port Authority and other partners in the Access-to-Work Task Force, we secured state and federal funding to inaugurate the 59A bus service and WorkLink van service. That funding in turn has leveraged millions of additional federal dollars that would not otherwise have flowed into the state. Each year, the 59A provides more than 400,000 rides, and WorkLink provides more than 70,000 -- most of them to get to jobs.

That's why we strongly support Senate Bill 1162/House Bill 2697, which would direct more state sales tax revenue toward public transportation without any tax increase. We applaud state Sens. Jay Costa Jr., Sean Logan and the other local legislative co-sponsors for their logic and compassion.

Let's hope their Harrisburg colleagues will realize that the state needs to step into the driver's seat, pass these bills and support the public transportation that makes it possible for so many people to work -- and live -- productively.

ROBERT M. GROM
President and CEO
Heritage Health Foundation Inc.
Braddock

First Published: October 11, 2004, 4:00 a.m.