Dear George,

I have been amazed by the mournful keening of Bush & Co., and the right-wing inflammatory radio mouths, over the loss of life in Afghanistan due to Newsweek's poorly-researched and confirmed info on a book--holy to the Muslim religion--meeting a watery fate.

How callous of that anti-administration publication to put innocent lives in harm's way! How callous it was not to realize the probability that poor reporting would result in lives being needlessly lost! Isn't that just like the liberal press--the left-leaning press?

Would it be rude of me to point out the reams of justifications for going to war in Iraq by such stalwart news outlets as The Washington Times, The Weekly_ Standard, The New York Post, The National Journal, et al? The wads of misinformation thrown out to the masses were enormous, all bent on convincing said masses that there was an imminent danger of being blown up by WMDs, which turned out to be non-existent.

Where was--and where is now to be found--any concern shown by those worthies for the close to 1,700 young American lives lost, and thousands more shattered, by this trumped-up war? To say nothing of the Iraq people--men, women and kids--slaughtered before they had a chance to experience what we were there for? With the absence of the forementioned weapons of mass destruction, our "mission" to bring the sweet taste of freedom and democracy to the country we have almost destroyed? Just think of all those who are forever deprived of this promised nectar because they are no longer inhaling and exhaling.

Did Newsweek have anything to do with that?

Barbara Rich (May 17, 2005)