Last hope.In my view, David Gergen David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) was a political consultant and presidential advisor during the Republican administrations of Nixon, Ford, and Reagan. He was also a campaign staffer for George H.W. Bush's 1980 presidential campaign. ("Listen to the Voters on Iraq," December 2006) makes the mistake of so many in constructing an erroneous either-or equation: Leave Iraq immediately = chaos Stay the course = eventual order In Vietnam, the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. was forced to flee. Did Vietnam forever dwell in damnation? No! We are now trading vigorously with that country, and it has taken its place among the nations of the world--all in a matter of about thirty years! Why do we conclude Iraq will self-destruct if we leave? On the contrary, I think the country will be forced to face and solve its own problems. Yes, it will be messy for awhile a·while adv. For a short time. Usage Note: Awhile, an adverb, is never preceded by a preposition such as for, but the two-word form a while may be preceded by a preposition. , and yes, all the neighbors, particularly Israel, will be nervous for awhile, but in the end we have to trust that the Iraqis will opt for survival over self-destruction and build a better country, now free of Saddam. MARGARET W. OSTROM Media, Pa. To David Gergen's suggested limit--we can't stay on the same path and we can't just pull out immediately--must be added the one condition that could possibly still save the situation: disavowing permanent U.S. bases in Iraq. If the administration truly cared about the Iraqi government's success, it should have made this declaration soon after the government was formed. Maliki would have become the most important figure in Iraq in the blink blink the involuntary movement of one or both eyelids of both eyes simultaneously. The frequency varies between species. Cats blink the least, with the possible exception of owls. In birds it is the lower eyelid which is moved up to meet the upper lid. of an eye, the one person everyone would have had to deal with. It may not be too late. Much of the Iraqi resistance to the United States, I believe, is rooted in its view of us as a permanent occupying power. We have been building bases that look permanent, and the Bush administration has said or hinted that it intends to keep some of them. Disavowing that idea will help deflate (file format, compression) deflate - A compression standard derived from LZ77; it is reportedly used in zip, gzip, PKZIP, and png, among others. Unlike LZW, deflate compression does not use patented compression algorithms. much of that resistance. I can't think of a single other thing that could. MARC HARRIS Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University, main campus at University Park, State College; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855, opened 1859 as Farmers' High School. at Altoona College Altoona, Pa. |
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