Your editorial on security in the US post-9/11 made me angry enough to actually write back. First of all — Osama bin Laden is/was a paid CIA operative, and his relatives work with George H.W. Bush in the Carlyle group, a defense contractor that has made millions on the US invasions. He did not orchestrate the 9/11 attacks. Marvin Bush, our president’s brother, was a principal in Securacom, a company that handled security for the WTC and United Airlines. The security contract expired on September 11. Coincidence? Wirt Walker, our president’s cousin, was CEO. Coincidence? I could continue here, citing thousands of bits of evidence, and proof of this fact. But this is not my job. It is your job. Given the technological capabilities of our defense system (military, NORAD), people have to understand that 9/11 could never have happened unless it was allowed to happen. I look to the Phoenix and expect a level of investigative, intelligent reporting that Americans cannot get from Fox News. I am totally shocked and dismayed that you would repeat the propaganda line that the government has fed to you. I cannot believe you would use terms like “Islamofascist.” How about the real fascist terrorists — the ones inside the US government? Yes the threat is real, but it does not come from the Middle East. It comes from Washington.

Nathan Ahlers
Boston

No kidding
I picked up the August 25 issue of your mag in Copley Square today because of the cover article on Paris Hilton (“America’s Next Musical Genius”). I stopped reading it three paragraphs in when I realized that you weren’t being sarcastic or ironic. Thank you: you have now rendered the term “musical genius” meaningless. The keyboard-and-drummer combo playing in Copley Square has ten times the talent Paris has. And that’s probably an understatement.

Matthew Stein
Somerville

Innocents abroad
As a loyal Phoenix reader, I was saddened to read “The Face of War,” your critique of Hezbollah. The so-called Party of God is undoubtedly a vile, anti-Semitic, and belligerent terrorist organization. However, it’s just not responsible journalism to portray the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel as one-sided, particularly when the side being blamed is situated in Lebanon, a country that, as I write these words, is being decimated by Israeli weaponry.
Hezbollah clearly initiated the crisis by kidnapping and killing several Israeli soldiers and then shelling northern Israel. But your editorial misses the point entirely: Israel’s military response has been far out of proportion to the threat posed by Hezbollah. Tragically, this has led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians. I would argue further that Israel’s actions have contributed in no small part to an escalation of the conflict, resulting in the deaths of Israel’s own innocents. By characterizing Hezbollah and Nasrallah as the only culpable parties in this war, you do a disservice to Phoenix readers and further promote the misguided notion that Israel has no alternatives to threats from its hostile neighbors but bloody revenge.

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Zak Patten
Jamaica Plain

Correction:
Regarding your article “Hunting the Wild Deaniac," a clarification is in order. Governor Mark Warner supports a ban on so-called partial birth abortions that protects the life and health of the mother. The ban that passed in Virginia did not, so the governor vetoed it on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The legislature passed it again over his veto (with a 2/3 majority in each chamber), and it became law without his signature. The courts have enjoined it from taking effect.