Letters: Embracing Iraqi translator represents true American spirit

Mar 9, 2010 — USA Today

Embracing Iraqi translator represents true American spirit

Mini Menon - Cedar City, Utah

I would like to commend commentary writer Don Teague for his piece. It brings to light the lives of many young men and women who unintentionally get involved in war and pay a price for it too ("Is Iraq ready to be left behind?," The Forum, Thursday).

I admire the Teague family for embracing Iraqi translator Rafraf Barrak and taking her in. Kudos to them and to scores of other Americans who make the many Barraks and people like me feel at home every day.

I have lived in this great country for seven years. Yes, I do miss India and my family, but I have never once felt like an outsider here. This is the true American spirit.

No hope in Iraq

Helen Logan - Fullerton, Calif.

In his 2008 Berlin speech, then-candidate Barack Obama promised a new dawn for the Middle East by ending the United States' ugly history of imperialism in this region. This struck a chord of hope in Americans weary of the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Less than a year into his presidency, Obama used the presence of U.S. troops to enforce the rigged election of the corrupt Hamid Karzai as president of Afghanistan. Last week, Vice President Biden said democracy will bloom in Iraq due to the presence of U.S. troops who "will still be the guys who can shoot straight and go get bad guys."

Elections like the one recently held in Iraq often prove to be photo ops meant to put a positive spin on the foreign policies of presidents like Obama. Predictably, factionalized Iraq's hollow democracy will collapse. Predictably, Obama will not attribute this to the fact that democracy doesn't bloom at the end of a gun barrel.

Instead, he will blame the usual suspects: Iran, al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah.