Charter Thanks
To the Editor:
Thanks to the Flyer for positively reporting the outcome of the curriculum change for Star Academy (City Reporter, July 22nd issue). I am very pleased with the decision and look forward to increased student achievement as a result of the full support (well, almost full support) from the MCS board of directors.
Dr. Kia L. Young, Principal
Star Academy, Memphis
Bush and War, Redux
To the Editor:
David Kay, the former Bush-appointed chief weapons inspector in Iraq, recently said that Bush “should have been able to tell before the war that the evidence did not exist” for an imminent threat from Iraqi WMD and that it “was not something that required a war.” Bush has been passing the buck to the CIA; Kay isn’t buying that.
Bush’s blunder in Iraq has cost 900 Americans their lives so far, with almost 6,000 Americans injured, according to the Pentagon. Our troops are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for us, and all they ask in return is that we put their lives in harm’s way only when it is absolutely necessary.
Remember when starting a war was an extreme and immoral act? It still is.
Doug Long
Marion, Arkansas
To the Editor:
President Bush, given a copy of the 9/11 Commission’s report in a White House photo-op, thanked the commissioners for doing a “really good job” and said the panel made “very sound, solid recommendations.”
Let’s not forget, however, that Bush originally opposed the formation of the commission. He changed his mind only after relentless pressure from loved ones of 9/11 victims. Then he opposed the commission’s request for additional time to complete its final report. He opposed the public testimony of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, but he flip-flopped and gave approval with the condition that no other adviser be allowed to testify.
Bush originally would agree to only one hour of his own testimony — and that only before the chairman and co-chairman of the commission. He flip-flopped when critics asked how he could spend several hours attending a NASCAR event but only one hour for important testimony on 9/11. Then Bush agreed to appear, but only in private, only with the vice president at his side, only if what he said was not under oath, only if there was no video or audio recording, and only if no notes were taken by commission members.
Bush’s actions sought to block this commission from seeking the truth at every point about what was known and done about terrorism leading up to
9/11. Yet now he praises their report.
It is unfortunately this president’s standard operating procedure: He says one thing in a public photo-op yet does the opposite when the cameras are turned off.
Alan L. Light
Iowa City, Iowa
To the Editor:
Last week, President Bush told an audience in Iowa that he wanted to be “the peace president.” Is this the same George W. Bush who has spent the last three years telling us he was “a war president”? And Bush has the nerve to accuse John Kerry of flip-flopping!
George B. Lewis
Memphis
To the Editor:
To all you Bush haters who still can’t get over the fact that Al Gore lost straight-up to Bush: Get a life! And while you’re at it, you might want to consider not voting for Democrats, who worship at the altar of the NEA, which is more interested in indoctrinating your kids and teaching them how to use condoms instead of how to read a butterfly ballot!
Scott Leath
Oakland, Tennessee
To the Editor:
John Kerry and John Edwards say they are protecting American workers from foreign competition. But The Washington Times recently reported that while Kerry was in Detroit attending the National Urban League Conference, he insulted that city’s American autoworkers by issuing a press passwitha Rolls-Royce 100EX emblazoned upon it.Prices for that car start at $324,000.
I assume the blue-collar auto-industry workers just loved that.
Joe Mercer
Memphis
