MONDAY'S LETTERS: Tony Snow's Future as a Columnist, Military Papers and Rumsfeld, Army Spc. Peterson

By: E&P Staff In today's letters, a reader respond to the idea of Tony Snow's future as a columnist, some question whether the military newspapers calling for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's dismissal are really reflective of the military, and some thoughts on the death of Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson.

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On Tony Snow's Possible Future as a Columnist


Thanks for devoting all that ink to a moot point. Tony Snow is a great guy who will do fine whether he returns to being a columnist or not. He has a loyal following who happen to agree with his opinion. It is rather obvious you never listened to him when he was on radio. Few liberals take the time to listen to the other side.

As for your Democratic friend John Kerry's gaffe ... who cares? This man is an idiot. He was smart enough to run for political office, but he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He has no regard for the military. His record clearly speaks for most liberals in wanting to shake more money out of our pockets and telling us that government is so damn concerned about us because we are just too stupid to think for ourselves.

And if there is clear proof a great guy like Tony will be a success when he makes it back out of the political woods, look at George Stephanopolous. There's a guy who has little talent and ABC is paying him quite handsomely for it. With Tony's talent, he ought to be a billionaire.

Roy Jones

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Military Newspapers Not Really Reflecting the Military?


Can you massage the truth much more? How are civilian-owned newspapers considered military?

Bob Skilnik



Didn't these same Gannett military newspapers do the same thing a year or two ago? And isn't it odd that all of them choose to publish on the eve of election day?

L. Lenox
Pensacola, Fla.



[The military newspapers calling for Rumsfeld's removal] are papers published for a military audience by Gannett, the publisher of USA Today. Virtually no one subscribes to them; they are largely giveaways. Military people read them for their ads, which reflect their needs and are thus useful.

The articles? No one cares. THIS article? Who knows. Lets see how many "military" people allow their names to be used to call for Rumsfeld's removal. If it's the usual anonymous sources, or people the military despise, like Weasly Clark, it will have no effect, at best.

J. Link
Belmont, Mass.

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On the Case of Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson


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



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, Calif.



The skeptic always questions the "suicide" explanation for a mysterious death. Suicide by rifle is, at a minimum, awkward, if not impossible. A follow-up on this report is certainly warranted.

D.W.Duttweiler
San Antonio, Texas