When discussing Saddam, 9/11, get the facts straight

When discussing Saddam, 9/11, get the facts straight
EDITOR:
This is in response to the July 15 letter "It's time for President Bush to depart Fantasy Land." First, I think you need to read up on information before you write; it makes you look ignorant. You are very misinformed.
I'd like for you to show all of these readers where exactly President Bush said that Saddam and 9/11 are connected. Nowhere has Bush connected the two. He did say, and I quote from CBSnews.com, "There's no question that Saddam Hussein had Al-Qaida ties." But he also said, "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the Sept. 11" attacks. Is that clear enough for you to read?
Now I'll show you what the 9/11 commission and the recently released Senate investigation said. The New York Times reported, "The Senate report found that the agency was reluctant to underestimate Mr. Hussein or his ties to terrorists. The pressure at the agency was especially intense on issues related to whether Iraq had ties to Al-Qaida. The report concluded that the agency reported accurately about such ties, based on its limited information."
Now I will remind you that the Clinton administration, including Sen. Kerry, gutted the CIA in the '90s, so that's where the limited information came from.
This is also from the 9/11 commission: "Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the defeat of the Taliban, Al-Qaida's funding has decreased significantly." This goes against your conclusion that we're not safer after the war.
Please be more informed when you're debating a point and not listen to just one cable news outlet.
BRAD BECK
Boardman
Another voice speaks outon problem of litter in Valley
EDITOR:
It was very refreshing to read Matt Ditchey's letter to the editor July 12, "Watching the grass crew offered insights to our woes."
For 16 years, I have been almost alone in voicing my dismay at all the litter and trash thrown on I-680 and other rights of way in and around Youngstown. Even in our neighborhoods, our suburbanites look at me as if I am a man from Mars when I stop the car and pick up a 20 oz. pop bottle that has been lodged against a neighbor's curb for four weeks and the neighbor is too lazy to bend over and keep the curbing clean in front of his own house in the suburbs.
City and township officials scoff at spending money to keep our neighborhoods clean of litter and crap thrown from cars (by adolescents on weekend nights -- probably the offspring of some of our local police and politicians).
Park a cruiser on ramps and start arresting some of this scum, and when word gets out the police are serious about litter, the scum bags will stop littering.
Police are lax and so are judges on the issue of litter.
Haul litterbugs into court, fine them and stick their noses in the crap they tossed from their car, then make them clean up all ramps on I-680.
Then you'll begin to see a change.
In addition to litter, just look at our county roads with curbing in Boardman. As of today (7/12/04) there is still winter grit and gravel from the salt trucks that have not been cleaned and swept since last summer. Southern Boulevard, Mathews Road, Indianola, South Avenue and Lake Park Road all have litter and gravel 6 inches deep waiting to be cleaned and swept. Catch basins are all clogged with weeds, gravel and litter and unable to receive floodwater because of lack of street sweeping and catch basin cleaning by the Mahoning County Engineer's Office. I have called the engineer's office repeatedly and even wrote a letter to Engineer Richard Marsico. No response.
With the anniversary of the great Boardman flood approaching Aug. 9, I am sure all Mahoning County residents in Boardman are comforted to know that most county roads in Boardman still await street sweeping and catch basin cleaning.
Even though the Mahoning County Engineer's Office is not funded by the sales tax, can you see why Mahoning County residents vote no on additional sales taxes?
SCOTT BURIN
Boardman