Opinion: In today’s pages: Endorsements, unlisted numbers, fair deals
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Newsweek correspondent and author Michael Hastings knows too well that war is more than statistics:
While I was in Iraq covering the war for Newsweek for two years starting in 2005, the woman I planned to marry was murdered in Baghdad by insurgents on Jan. 17, 2007. Her name was Andi Parhamovich; she’d come to Iraq to work for the National Democratic Institute, an NGO.... We -- Andi, me, Jeff, Greg, Scott, Ferris -- all chose to go to Iraq, volunteers for our respective causes. We were under no illusions about the risks, though that’s a glib way of putting it. I don’t think anyone can fully grasp the risks until whoosh, wham, through the looking glass you crash on the way to the rehab center at Walter Reed or a funeral parlor in Ohio. Iraq often gets treated by pundits, writers and politicians -- all those thoughtful cheerleaders turned war critics -- as an intellectual exercise. It’s not.
Columnist Gregory Rodriguez reports that people will often ignore their self interest if they can get a fair deal. And New Republic assistant editor James Kirchick says South African President Thabo Mbeki shouldn’t stand by as Robert Mugabe ruins Zimbabwe.
The editorial board says no on Prop. 98, yes on Prop. 99, and asks why phone customers should have to pay to keep their numbers unlisted.
On the letters page, Long Beach’s Iris Ingram says to those who would ask Hillary Clinton to quit the race: ‘The primary season ends in June. So suck it up and stick it out.’