Iraqi Triangle
"Can Iraq Be Fixed?" [August 7] is a hard question to answer.Not if we stayed 100 years could we leave behind a stable, unified, secular Iraqi democracy of cooperating Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. Everyone knows this but the alchemists in the Bush administration. The best we might hope for is that Sunni battalions in the Iraqi Army control insurgency in Sunni areas, allowing a Sunni theocracy, and Shiite battalions do the same in their districts for their theocracies. Kurds, in any case, will continue their separate way toward eventual independence, hopefully not shattering U.S.-Turkish relations.
COL. TOM DESHAZO
(U.S. Army, Ret.)
Lincoln, Neb.
Culture Club
As mentioned in "The Most Influential Song You Have Never Heard" [August 14-21], "Rocket 88" may have been about an Oldsmobile, but a song written in 1905, also about an Olds, perhaps laid the groundwork for songs of the rock era with risquÃÂÃÂÃÂé lyrics or a double meaning. Imagine a turn-of-the- century song with the line: "You can go as far as you like with me in my merry Oldsmobile." The writer of the song, "In My Merry Oldsmobile," my great-uncle, Gus Edwards, departed the highway of life in 1945, six years before "Rocket 88" started its cruise down the road to rock-and-roll history.
EVAN EDWARDS
New York
As someone who was around at the time, I don't believe Elvis Presley, as mentioned in your story, was critical to the birth of rock-and-roll. When Presley came on the scene, whites were already listening to black music by black musicians. With the success of the civil rights movement and integration, black artists received more exposure among mainstream audiences. Elvis represents a marketing, not a cultural, breakthrough.
SANDRA MALONE
Los Angeles
I enjoyed "The most Influential Song You Have Never Heard" but think you missed the piÃÂÃÂÃÂèce de rÃÂÃÂÃÂésÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂstance by not including a link to your website where we could listen to "Rocket 88."
KEN LEVIN
Novato, Calif.
Hail to Which Chief?
In examining Washington's No. 1 status in the article, "Washington? Get in Line" [August 14-21], you emphasized the differences between the Articles of Confederation and the current U.S. Constitution, rather than the more specific differences between the presidencies under these two governments. Under the Articles of Confederation, the president was elected not by the people but by the members of Congress, to simply preside over the congressional proceedings, a job equivalent to that of the modern-day speaker of the House. George Washington was the first person to serve as president as we know it today. He was the first person to hold the American executive power, creating lasting precedence in all aspects of the job, and for that he has certainly earned the unique designation of first president of the United States.
ELLEN V. LEHMAN
New York
I suggest that the so-called presidents under the Articles of Confederation were merely what we might refer to today as speakers of the Continental Congress, holding the position of head of state, but not the stature of the president of the constitutional era. Though their success is worthy of mention, the mere fact that the Articles failed and the Constitution's president rose from the ashes of the Articles, we would be remiss to grant them the status afforded presidents post-Constitution.
JOHN DUNN
Lilburn, Ga.
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