Letter to the Editor: Disaster priorities

To the Editor:

Melody Joy Kramer's column ("Sudoku: Foreign policy edition," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 9/21/05) is unjustified in arguing that the coverage of the revival of the antiwar movement deserves precedence over coverage of Hurricane Katrina or that the media is somehow at fault for leaving the antiwar movement off the front page.

Cindy Sheehan, as the "leadership" of the revived movement, has failed to stand up to Bush on the substance of the injustice of the Iraq war and has instead used the limelight her misfortune has granted her to hack away at Bush using cheap, partisan jabs. Case in point: It is neither logical nor appropriate to accuse Bush of murder.

Although as an Israeli I realize that death, no matter the circumstances, is a terrible tragedy, Casey Sheehan was fully aware of the risks of her son's career path when he signed up to join the Army. But the military death of a loved one should not be used as political buckshot, especially in a country where joining the military is a choice rather than a requirement.

I do not support Bush's policies. But fighting irrational right-wing rhetoric with irrational left-wing rhetoric does not help Sheehan's cause; if anything, it does a disservice to her son's death.

I wholeheartedly agree that Sudoku deserves less coverage than the Iraq war, but to say that coverage of Cindy Sheehan (which, to "look at the numbers," appears in Kramer's column four times) ought to take precedence over the greatest natural disaster in American history is pushing it.

Alexey Komissarouk

College '09

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.