Premature evacuation
Ted Rall can remind us that he told us so as our victory in Iraq seems ever more pyrrhic with each passing day and dead GI. But his vision loses its clarity when he advocates immediate withdrawal from Iraq ["What went wrong," AfterThought, September 9].
It would be unconscionable to leave Iraq with no government in place. Without a strong government, there would almost certainly be a bloodbath in that country that Saddam Hussein held together with an iron hand. Neighboring nations might get drawn in. The whole region could erupt in violence, and wasn’t that what our preemptive war was supposed to prevent?
Whether it was a good or bad idea for the United States to inject itself into the heart of the volatile Middle East, it is a decision we will have to live (or die) with for some time to come.
J.A. Barker
Charlottesville
Emma revealed
After she appeared in The Rant twice [August 26, September 9], we, the roommates of Emma the Jogger, felt that a face should be given to the name. We wanted the archetype of Charlottesvillian heroics to be pictured after being mentioned twice in your paper [see photo, right]. Note the shameless product placement. Emma the Jogger loves helping people and reading C-VILLE, and you can quote us.
PS: I’m a New Yorker and I don’t honk. Quote that too.
PPS: We live at that infamous intersection [Rugby Road and University Circle] and don’t appreciate the honking.
Anna Iasmine Kirkorian
and Catherine Irwin
Charlottesville
Corrections
In last week’s review of the Tom Tom Club’s Starr Hill show, the accompanying photo misidentified one of the performers as bassist Tina Weymouth. The photo was actually of band member Victoria Clamp.
A sidebar in last week’s "The art of noise" cover story made reference to "the robotic music perfectly complimenting the emotionless expression of a handsome, shirtless, tousle-haired young man…" in the doorway of Fashion Square Mall’s Abercrombie & Fitch store. The music did not, in fact, personally offer warm regards to the poster. Instead, it complemented the picture’s soulless state of being.
In last week’s Fishbowl story "The barber of C’ville," the price of a haircut at Staples Barber Shop was incorrectly listed as $13. The correct price is $11.