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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2005)
<ri!‘' JJn rtlan h (©hseruer Page A4 luly 6, 2005 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O pinion No Winners in Kendra James Verdict Death brought pain for all involved Chief Derrick Foxworth P ortland Police C h ie f D errick F oxw orth released the fo llo w ing statem ent in regards to the June 28 civil trial verdict that sided with the officer in the M ay 2003 fa ta l shooting o f Kendra J a m e s, an u n a rm e d A fr ic a n Am erican m otorist: “ People look to jury verdicts as a win or lose situation. But in this case, there are no winners. This was a situation that resulted in a person’s death, caused division within the community and pain for all involved. “ T h e re h a v e b e e n m any changes in the Police Bureau over the last couple of years. W ith a great am ount of com m unity in volvem ent, we have restored the 40-hour officer in-service train ing and made changes to policies and procedures regarding officer- of tens o f thousands o f people and over 1,700 A m erican soldiers. It is passed tim e for our soldiers to com e home from Iraq, w here they should have never been in the first place. C. Curry N ortheast Portland Blue State Soldiers Die I was told that the senator had elected not to issue a condem nation o f R ove’s disgusting com ments. That is not acceptable. I, as well as many others, will interpret the senator’s silence as a tacit approval of the sub stance of R ove’s rem arks. Sad is the day when one o f O regon’s senators stands w ith the likes of Karl Rove instead o f the state he is supposed to represent. M ichelle N eum ann, Northwest Portland C learly Karl Rove and the party and president he represents believe it suits their political pur poses to continue to push the false notion that D em ocrats are not patriots. Perhaps som eone should remind Mr. Rove of the num ber of proud, blue-state Oregon N ational G uardsmen who have given their very lives for this country in the Iraq War. And while they are at it, they should rem ind Sen. G ordon Smith as well. W hen I contacted his office regarding this matter. We Need an Exit Plan It’s time to start responsibly com ing home from Iraq. Iraq is no closer to stability than it was a year ago. Things keep getting worse. More than 1,700 Ameri cans have been killed and more than 12,000 wounded. The U.S. occupation is fueling a growing insur gency. Our presence is exacerbating the problem. There are tens of thousands of insurgents backed by hundreds of thousands of supporters. We got into this war based on lies - the wrong way. It’s time to get out the right way. The first step is to realize that the Bush policy is out o f touch with reality. We need a real exit plan with a real timeline providing real accountability for our leaders. We need to turn control of the training of Iraqi forces and the rebuilding of Iraq to the international commu nity. And we must renounce permanent military bases in Iraq because that angers the Iraqi people. Tyler M ason, Southeast Portland A ccepting A pplications Quality Training Great Wages tio n sh ip s. "The men and women o f the Portland Police Bureau are com mitted to protecting the citizens of Portland. It is my hope that we can all work together to strengthen the police and com m unity rela tionship and focus on look for ways to reduce crime and improve neighborhood livability.” Supporting Our Troops in Iraq Bush Wasting Lives, Money George Bush Jr. and Richard Cheney lied about the reasons to attack Iraq and now G eorge Bush Jr. lies about the fighting being w orthw hile in lost lives and money. George Bush Jr., Cheney et. al. should be im peached, convicted, rem oved from office and thrown in jail for the lies that have led to the deaths involved shootings. “ I understand that there are heightened em otions in the co m m unity, but I ask people to ch an nel their frustration and energy into peaceful actions. I ask that they com e together w ith police to help us w ith our com m unity policing efforts and in the pro cess, build strong, lasting rela Find a new approach to bring them home by U .S. R ep . H arold F ord I'v e recently returned from a tw o day trip from Iraq w ith sev eral o f my colleagues, including U.S. Senator Joe Biden and one o f my R epublican colleagues in the C ongress, Kurt W eldon. It w as wonderful being with our troops and spending tim e with our U.S. m ilitary leadership on the ground, as well as the Iraqi governm ent officials, m any o f them recently elected in Janu ary. W hat is clear are a few things. O ne, our troop m oral is high. are needed to lim it the num ber o f casualties, to win stability on Iraq, to bring our men and wom en hom e to be with their fam ilies. M y ho p e is th a t P re sid e n t Bush, m uch like a football coach, goes in at halftim e, dow n by tw o touchdow ns, and realizes that a new plan and a new set o f ap proaches are needed to ensure victory. It’s my hope that he will p ro vide the re so u rc e s on the ground to our Army and M arines and other m ilitary w ho are trying their hardest to restore basic ser vices like w ater, electricity and ligence show s that Syria and Iran are playing a larger role in pro voking insurgent activity. W e need international help to address this problem as we try to close o ff their borders. N A T O and o th er co u n tries h^ve offered their help. I think it’s incum bent upon the U nited States and our President in par ticular, to step up and be w illing to accept their assistance and help guard the borders. A nd finally, I’ve asked our President, as m uch tim e and ef fort as he has spent trying to We now find ourselves at a crossroads and it’s clear that new ideas and new approaches are needed. D espite the setbacks, despite the lack o f equipm ent m any have, their fervor and intensity and en thusiasm for finishing the task is rem arkably high. W e should be thankful as A m ericans that we have those w ho are w illing to serve us. T w o, it’s clear w e are not m aking the level o f progress we need in order to leave. I think since Sept. 11, 2001 President Bush has enjoyed broad support and the benefit o f the doubt from m any A m ericans from the Pa triot Act, to our efforts in A f ghanistan, to our efforts in Iraq and even the post-w ar chaos in Iraq. W e now find ourselves at a cro ssro ad s and it’s c le a r that new ideas and new approaches the cleaning up o f sew er sys tem s. The Iraqi people have really only one tangible m easure o f our success and th a t’s the restora tion o f services, and the resum p tion o f their daily lives w hich in m any w ays is lacking. Tw o, we have to provide our troops with the training they need and m ust challenge our business com m unity and our technology com m unity to faster ways. B et ter technology will help them fight on the ground and prevent casualties on the ground, espe cially the explosions and im pro vised explosive devices (IED s) that seem to catch them off guard. And last, the President should understand, and those o f us here should understand, that our intel- privatize Social Security, if he w ould spend ju st a third o f that tim e to help rebuild relations around the globe, particularly in A frica. T his will allow us to bring not only our troops hom e faster, but allow us to win the w ar on terrorism in a w ay that will m ake future generations o f A m ericans safer and future gen erations o f our global citizens safer as well. Mr. President, I hope you lis ten. Be like the coach at halftim e and m ake the halftim e adjust ment so that we can win this w ar and win this effort and bring our troops home. U.S. Rep. Harold Ford is a Democrat from Tennessee and a member o f the Congressional black Caucus. 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