Letters to the Editor - AJC

Yesterday I posted two Letters to the Editor that lambasted Newsweek for their story on the US interrogators who flushed the Koran down the toilet. Today they printed my response along with many others. Mine is the first one.

Selective outrage comes from the right

Sometimes I feel as if I'm living in an alternate universe.

People are going ballistic over Newsweek's flawed article about the alleged desecration of the Quran by U.S. interrogators. They decry the fact that 17 people were killed in riots that took place as a result of that story.

Where is their outrage over the 1,700 American deaths caused by President Bush's embracing flawed intelligence? As it turns out, he lied to make the intelligence fit his purpose. The right is adept at ignoring their own liars and then shouting at the top of their voices when the other side doesn't check their facts.

JOHN Xxxxx, Marietta

Scenario sounds familiar

President Bush took this country to war, basing his decision on information he thought was credible about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Newsweek published a short article about religious desecrations at Guantanamo Bay, basing its decision on information it thought was credible.

Newsweek gave the Pentagon an opportunity to review and challenge the story, and it chose not to challenge the desecration allegation. In both scenarios, precious lives were lost --- vastly more as a result of Bush's bad information. The White House is now sharply critical of Newsweek's editors and reporters for their bad information. Something about living in glass houses and throwing stones comes to mind.

HARRELL LAWSON, Sparta

Administration guilty of hypocrisy

How many lives have been lost in an ongoing war predicated on false intelligence and political subterfuge?

While it does not exonerate Newsweek's shoddy journalism, the Bush administration's admonishment of the magazine's muckraking is the pot calling the kettle black.

What dog wags this tale?

ALEX LEVY, Atlanta

Set higher standards for government

It is ludicrous that the White House was sharply critical of Newsweek for its misguided and irresponsible article, while the Bush administration refuses to take responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of American troops, thousands of Iraqi civilians and countless civilian contractors in its misguided and irresponsible war.

It's appalling that we, the public, hold a magazine to higher standards and levels of responsibility than we hold our government.

VALERIE WATTS, Duluth

Lies, deceit led to many deaths in Iraq

The Bush administration has reached a new low in chastising Newsweek for disseminating false information that led to riots and fatalities.

Perhaps the administration should do some self-examination: Weren't they the ones who falsely claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida --- accusations that have resulted in the loss of life for thousands of Iraqi civilians and American soldiers?

If Newsweek should be running and hiding for printing a story based on hearsay (one assumes the editors thought the story was true), shouldn't this administration be resigning over the lies and deceit that led to the miserable failure that is the war in Iraq? The hypocrisy of this group of thugs is appalling.

TIM TODD, Conyers

Note: When the editor called to verify my letter he said that the first two letters he received were the only ones critical of Newsweek so he printed them both. He went on to say that he received so many more, in rebuttal, that he wasn't able to print them all. We may me a red state overall but at least we're civilized here in the Metro Atlanta area.