Letters to the editor

Geyer’s conspiracy theories

Georgie Anne Geyer has written of neoconservative machinations in her own writ, so it is not surprising that she reaches for the illustrious conspiracy canoodler, Seymour Hersh, for confirmation that the Pentagon is “in the midst of intensive plans to bomb Iran” (“Iran action would test military, Commentary, Thursday).

Mr. Hersh, indeed, has been publishing in the pages of the New Yorker anonymously sourced warnings of pre-emptive strikes against Iran, implausibly detailed predictions the journalist has actually recirculated from equally melodramatic scenarios he originally published (well before the Iraq invasion) warning of impending American-Israeli military strikes against the nuclear facilities of… Pakistan.

Whatever prescience one might be disposed to award to Mr. Hersh, it is undeniable that the nuclear facilities of Pakistan still stand, and, given his repeated cries of wolf, there is no warrant to believe that he will prove any more correct concerning Iran’s.

PAUL R. FREEDMAN

Falls Church

Work visas

At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez’s comment about obtaining legal status vice citizenship is a brilliant point (“Secrecy could kill immigration reform,” Page 1, Thursday). The point is so insightful that it may torpedo a section of the “secret” Kennedy comprehensive immigration plan, which calls for a path to assimilate millions of illegal immigrants, based on the traditional American immigrant experience.

However, what will the Bush administration and Congress do when much of the debate has been on immigration into the United States rather than back and forth, migration patterns between the United States and Mexico/Central America? In other words, despite three years of vocal debate on illegal immigrants coming to the United States, many policy makers are still failing to realize the some illegal immigrants are actually migrants — yes, migrants. And after they work in the United States, many migrants plan to return home.

Would a bilateral work visa program solve the amnesty vs. no amnesty deadlock?

For example, Mexico has been requesting an immigration deal with the United States for seven years. El Salvador and Romania are onboard too. The least the United States could do it grant work visas to allow workers to come here legally.

So, a big amnesty party for illegal immigrants is no solution for long standing, century old migration patterns. What some migrants are looking for is “legal status,” and this can only be possible when there is an immigration pact between the United States and migrants’ home countries.

Story Continues →