Need help in letter to the editor

[NewJeffCT]

I got a call back last time, but no publication... here is the article in question and the start of my response to a neocon op-ed writer:

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-parker0212.artfeb12,1,6909044.story?coll=hc-headlines-oped

>>>
It appears that in her February 12 op-ed piece, Kathleen Parker used the birthday of Honest Abe Lincoln to spread a lot of untruthfulness. Hopefully, it was not purposeful. Purposeful deceit or not, I would hope the Courant will discontinue her column due to either her gross incompetence or because of her blatant use of falsehoods.

First, she said that Bill Clinton "allowed Osama bin Laden to build a worldwide army against us." This is patently false. Bin Laden was armed and aided by the Reagan Administration during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and then Bin Laden turned against the US when we failed to help Afghanistan after they drove the Soviets out. Whenever Bill Clinton tried anything aggressive against bin Laden, he was accused of "Wagging the Dog" as it was said in the 1990s.

In fact, when the Bush* Administration took over, the Clinton team informed them that the biggest threat to US security was Osama bin Laden. However, the Bush* Administration preferred to pursue the Star Wars missile defense system and withdrawing from the ABM treaty because, as one Republican analyst said, "Osama bin Laden doesn't have any missiles." The Hart-Rudman report about combating terrorism sat on a desk in the White House unread until after the tragedy of 9/11. It sounds like they were asleep at the wheel.

Then, she goes on to talk about the mass graves of Saddam Hussein. Yes, it was terrible that he killed so many people, but many of the mass graves were filled with bodies of those he killed when he was an ally of the United States with WMD that we provided to him, or they were filled with the Kurds that we encouraged to rise up and rebel against Saddam after the first Gulf War. The Kurds that we then left hung out to dry by the administration of George H. W. Bush.

>>> I'd like to find out a little more about Libya (didn't they start negotiating WMD prior to the Iraq invasion?) and, I can get the intel info myself.

Thanks

[nostamj]

1. well, the first paragraph is redundant

how about:

In her February 12 op-ed piece, Kathleen Parker used the birthday of Honest Abe Lincoln to spread lies about the Clinton administration and terrorism.

(also, 'appears' weakens your point from the get go. after that is reads solid.

remember, esp. with a LTTE, less is more. good luck!

[NewJeffCT]

2. thanks - good point

I have revised it and finished up...

In her February 12 op-ed piece, Kathleen Parker used the birthday of Honest Abe Lincoln to spread a lot of untruthfulness about Iraq and terrorism in general.

First, she said that Bill Clinton “allowed Osama bin Laden to build a worldwide army against us.” This is blatantly false. Bin Laden was armed and aided by the Reagan Administration during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and then Bin Laden turned against the US when we failed to help Afghanistan after they drove the Soviets out. Whenever Bill Clinton tried anything aggressive against bin Laden, he was accused of “Wagging the Dog” to district us from Monica Lewinsky.

In fact, when the Bush* Administration took over, the Clinton team informed them that the biggest threat to US security was Osama bin Laden. However, the Bush* Administration preferred to pursue the Star Wars missile defense system and withdrawing from the ABM treaty because, as one Republican analyst said, “Osama bin Laden doesn’t have any missiles.” The Hart-Rudman report about combating terrorism sat on a desk in the White House unread until after the tragedy of 9/11.

Then, she goes on to talk about the mass graves of Saddam Hussein. Yes, it was terrible that he killed so many people, but many of the mass graves were filled with bodies of those he killed when he was an ally of the United States, or they were filled with the Kurds that we encouraged to rise up and rebel against Saddam after the first Gulf War. The Kurds that we then left hung out to dry by the administration of George H. W. Bush. Remember, Deputy Sec. of Defense Paul Wolfowitz claimed that human rights violations alone did not justify invasion.

And, please do not get me started on the brazen abuse of intelligence perpetrated by the Bush* Administration and their Office of Special Plans. The American people and Congress saw the intelligence after the Bush* Administration removed all the caveats. In an attempt to re-write history, Bush is now claiming that the international community thought he had WMD as well. The international inspectors were in Iraq, they found no WMD. The UN and the IAEA both said that Iraq had no WMD prior to the invasion.

Despite Dick Cheney saying that our troops' time in Iraq will be measured in weeks, not months, the war on terrorism will be long and hard. Hopefully, this Fall, we will elect a new President that will get us back to fighting terrorism instead of invading countries that pose little to no threat to us.

[nostamj]

3. "untruthfulness"

wrong word.

means "the practice of lying" not the "lies" themself.

if you've read the book on O'Neill, you know that the NSC focused on Iraq from their FIRST meeting. probably a stronger argument than missle defense, esp. if the stand-down orders on investigating Iraqis is added to it.

i won't quibble anymore and again, good luck with it.

p.s. are you the same Jeff from CT that has an email in the WP AWOL Letters?

p.p.s. i am also a Jeff from CT

[NewJeffCT]

4. no

that is not me.. but, I am in CT and I did send in a letter earlier today to the WP.

[BillZBubb]

6. Great points heres an edit/revision

Jeff, your letter makes all the good points. Excuse my presumption, but I took the liberty to clip your text a little bit. Editors tend to like short/snappy letters. You may have tried to cover too much ground for one letter. I also added a few points. Feel free to use or ignore whatever you want:

On February 12, the birthday of Honest Abe Lincoln, Kathleen Parker's op-ed piece ironically contained numerous falsehoods about Iraq and terrorism.

Parker said that Bill Clinton “allowed Osama bin Laden to build a worldwide army against us.” This is untrue. Bin Laden was armed and aided by the Reagan Administration during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Bin Laden turned against the U.S. when we established military bases in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War. The several times President Clinton tried to attack bin Laden, he was accused of “Wagging the Dog” to distract attention from Monica Lewinsky.

When the current Bush administration took over, the Clinton team informed them that the biggest threat to US security was Osama bin Laden. However, Bush preferred to pursue the Star Wars missile defense system and to withdraw from the ABM treaty because, as one Republican analyst said, “Osama bin Laden doesn’t have any missiles.” The Hart-Rudman report about combating terrorism sat on a desk in the White House unread until after the tragedy of 9/11. Also, Bush administration officials were on Captitol Hill one week prior to 9-11 urging Congress to block an increase in anti-terror funding.

{***Note, I might end the letter here, since editors like short snappy letters***}

Parker also mentions the mass graves in Iraq. Yes, it is terrible that Saddam Hussein killed so many people. Sadly, most of the mass graves were filled with bodies of Kurds and Shiite's who the first President Bush encouraged to rebel. They did rebel and Bush abandoned them.

What Ms Parker didn't mention is the brazen abuse of intelligence perpetrated by George Bush. The Office of Special Plans was established to cherry pick only intelligence that supported the war policy. They ignored warnings from the real intelligence agencies. The American people and Congress saw the intelligence only after all the caveats were stripped away. Bush is now falsely claiming that the international community thought Iraq had WMD as well. Actually, the UN and the IAEA both said that Iraq probably had no WMD prior to the invasion.

Finally, despite Dick Cheney saying that our troops' time in Iraq will be measured in weeks, not months, it has become a multi-year quagmire. Hopefully, this Fall, Americans will elect a new, truthful President who will get us back to fighting real terrorists instead of invading countries that pose little or no threat to us.

[TXDemGal]

5. Try to edit it down (i.e., shorten it)

Most published letters to the editor are 200 words or less—under 150 is even better. If you want to have a stronger chance at publication, pick your strongest points and hammer those succinctly. Otherwise, you might explore whether the paper would run your piece as an op-ed. This would involve querying the editorial page editor(s) to see if they do that kind of thing.

Good luck!