Letters: Sep. 12, 2005

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TIME's selection showed that Hispanics are a diverse and vibrant group. But listing 25 influential Latinas and Latinos who are still proving their worth involved much guesswork. Perhaps it would have been better to name prominent people who already have a lifelong record of accomplishment. Latinas and Latinos have an established tradition of community building in the U.S. We have been here longer than most other Americans realize.

DENNIS R. HIDALGO ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY ADELPHI UNIVERSITY Garden City, N.Y.

A Mother vs. the President

Although I am not related to anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan [Aug. 22], I am ashamed that she shares my family name. Of course, I support her right to voice her opinions, but I seriously question her motives. I too am a parent who lost a son serving in our military. Also, I'm a U.S. military veteran. But I certainly do not believe President George W. Bush should speak to me personally to justify his decisions about the Iraq war. I believe Sheehan was anti-Republican and anti-Bush long before her son chose to join the service. In fact, I think that her son's death is being used to further her personal beliefs and, perhaps, to achieve her 15 minutes of fame.

TOM SHEEHAN Houston

Kudos to Sheehan for her bravery. The U.S. has just two choices in this war: pull out now and have Iraq immediately dissolve into civil war, or withdraw later on and have Iraq immediately dissolve into civil war.

ANN M. BLACK Cincinnati, Ohio

When my brother died in Iraq, we accepted his death with grace and reverence for his service. Sheehan's conduct is embarrassing and dishonorable. The media portray her as a hero, a David vs. a Goliath. I see a weak woman who has sacrificed her son's honor in favor of indulging her pain and furthering her own political agenda. When Sheehan accuses the President of killing her son while she gives a pass to the Iraqi insurgent who actually ambushed him, she disgraces those of us who have carried on with honor. What a shame that Sheehan has become famous for doing so.

TIM LYNCH Mechanicsburg, Pa.

How does Bush, who calls himself a "compassionate conservative," ignore a grieving mother who has made the ultimate sacrifice for a cause the President has championed? I cannot picture Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton treating Cindy Sheehan that way if she had lost a son in a conflict on his watch. We deserve better in a Commander in Chief during wartime. Cindy Sheehan deserves better. And U.S. serviceman Casey Sheehan deserved better.

JOHN PURIFOY Knoxville, Tenn.

I was horrified to read the statement of California widow Jennifer Harting that Sheehan is "dishonoring her son by depicting America so negatively." That kind of thinking gives the government carte blanche to do whatever it wants, knowing that people will follow like sheep. "My country, right or wrong" is a great idea--if you're running a totalitarian regime. In a pluralistic democracy, we need the Cindy Sheehans to speak up and honor their fallen children by telling the truth as they see it.

TAMAR WYSCHOGROD Morristown, N.J.

Iraq's Nervous Neighbor