LETTERS: More Responses to Mitchell Column on Suicide in Iraq

By: E&P Staff More letters today on Greg Mitchell's current "Pressing Issues" column about the suicide in Iraq of Alyssia Peterson, plus a readers takes exception to Mark Fitzgerald's "Newspaper Beat" column on cross ownership.

Online Editor David Hirschman is off, so forgive any stylistic crudities.

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Feeling 'Cross'

In arguing that the media giants will lose again their battle to repeal the FCC?s rules against ?cross ownership? of TV stations and newspapers, Mark Fitzgerald urges those news outlets to cover the debate and to inform the public about the benefits of cross ownership, which he holds as self-evident.

Yet Fitzgerald does not state his case. Nowhere in the article does he spell out these benefits, even while maligning both the original rule and the advocates of keeping it. If, as Fitzgerald argues, the major media companies have a compelling case to make to the public, but failed to do so?then it seems Fitzgerald himself is guilty of the same.

As a former Tribune employee in its most monopolized market (Hartford CT), I never saw much in the way of benefits from cross ownership. As a consumer of news, ditto. I must be missing something, and I hope Mr. Fitzgerald, and other people more sage than myself, will at last fill in this crucial gap in my education.

Edward Ericson, Jr.

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Greg Mitchell on a Death in Iraq

Sometimes people choose to kill themselves rather than participate in evil. In the Balkans wars in the mid-90's, I thought the only Serbian to come out of Bosnia with her integrity intact was the suicidal daughter of that genocidal monster, General Ratko Mladic.

America now has its own heroine: Alyssa Peterson, from Flagstaff, AZ, a 27-year-old devout Mormon who chose suicide rather than torturing prisoners.

Marc Valdez
Sacramento, CA.
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Thanks very much for writing up the story of Alyssa Peterson, the soldier who killed herself after objecting to "interrogation" techniques in Iraq. i've sent it out far and wide and hope it strikes home with people.

Mike Ferner

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Thank you for this. I don't know much about FOIA but those of you who deal with it daily seem to be doing a workmanlike job of getting past the firewalls that people in positions of authority are prone to erect.

Keep up the good work.

John Ballard
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I loved your piece about Alyssa Peterson. I am staggered that a piece this important has not been plastered all over the major media?particularly on election eve.

This should be explosive stuff. How can folks devote boatloads of ink to splitting hairs over political posturing when we have a story like this tucked away in E&P and a handful of liberal blogs? This should be headline stuff and Pulitzer fodder. This is real insight into the deeply personal side of Iraq. Where is the rest of the media?

Douglas Stivison
Editor and Publisher
The Living Pulpit
Montclair, NJ

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Hhmmm...Lets see, Alyssa was vocally against the torture. This is reason enough to think she did not kill herself. Never mind the fact that she was a freekin MORMON!!!!! Do you know many Mormons? This dog don't hunt.

As a journalist you should be looking harder for answers to this.

Thomas Marsh

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What an absolutely gut-wrenching story about the young woman who took her life after objecting to interrogation techniques. What an indictment of this administration's treatment of our young people. Unbelieveable -- and thank you for reporting on this incredible tragedy.

John Ransom

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Many families of soldiers killed in Iraq/overseas are not getting the final incident reports from the military. It is a shame that the family had to find this out from a reporter. This is a common and completely uncalled for occurence. People are trying to get closure and the military is stonewalling them. More attention should be brought to this subject.

Cathy Burrier