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EDITORIALS

What the Iraqis are building

Amid the post-election turmoil among parties and factions, democracy seems to be taking shape.

long it will take for a ruling coalition to take shape. None of this is wrong: There’s plenty to worry about. But a complete picture should in- clude a few other points. First, Iraq held a competitive election that puts most of its neighbors to shame. On Iraq’s borders are, among others, a despotic theocracy in Iran, a despotic monarchy in Saudia Arabia and a despotic hereditary fiefdom in Syria. In Iraq, more than 6,000 candidates vied for 325 legislative seats. They represented parties of wide ideological range. Turnout was higher, pro- portionately, than for U.S. presidential elections. The voting and counting, according to interna- tional observers, were generally free and fair. Second, the top two vote-getters were the coa- litions that rejected ethnic and sectarian politics

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Coddling drunk drivers

Maryland lawmakers weigh a break for their inebriated clients.

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ARYLAND’S GENERAL Assembly, which has coddled drunk drivers for decades, is once again busy gutting leg- islation that would end the policy of for-

giveness for those who get sloshed before getting behind the wheel. This is no great surprise given the overweening power of the alcohol industry and its lawmaker pals in Annapolis, many of whom hold day jobs that include defending drunk drivers in court. What’s more surprising is that for once, there is serious pushback from those who are seri- ous about getting tough with drunk drivers. What’s at issue this year is legislation that would require the installation of a device in the cars of convicted drunk drivers. The device, called an igni- tion interlock, would block drivers from starting their car until they blow into a mouthpiece that an- alyzes blood alchohol level to determine whether a driver is sober. If he is, the car will start (and the driver will be retested randomly as he drives); if not, the information will be stored and be acces- sible to the authorities. The devices have proven effective at cutting the number of alchohol-related accidents and deaths on the road. That has been particularly true in states such as New Mexico and Arizona, where they are mandatory for offenders whose blood al- chohol content was .08. They are less effective in cutting the carnage on highways in states such as Virginia, where they are required only for drivers who have been convicted of offenses involving blood-alcohol content twice as high — in other words, drivers who could barely stand, let alone drive. In Annapolis, legislation to extend the use of the

devices received its first blow from an amendment that would exempt more than half of all first of- fenders — those who receive sentences of proba- tion before judgment. Now the House Judiciary Committee, the graveyard of many attempts to get serious about drunken driving, is toying with fur- ther measures to weaken the bill. The bill’s backers fear that the committee’s chairman, Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George’s), will go the Virginia route, making the devices mandatory only for repeat offenders with a blood-alcohol content of .15. That would do little to change the status quo in Maryland, which gives convicted offenders with a .15 blood-alcohol con- tent the choice between having the device installed and having their license suspended. Lawmakers who defend drunk drivers for a liv-

ing, and in the legislature, worry about the harm suffered by drivers who may be “one sip over the line.” They’d do better to worry about the scores of people killed every year on the state’s roads by drunk drivers, and to require that the interlock de- vices be installed in the cars of all first-time drunk drivers.

N THE three weeks since Iraq held elec- tions, many news stories have focused on the negative or the uncertain — on the gains made by followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, for example, and on how

in favor of a more national, multi-sectarian vi- sion. Most seats were won by the Iraqiya List, which is headed by a Shiite politician, former prime minister Ayad Allawi, and which did well in Sunni areas. In second place came the State of Law slate, headed by Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki, a Shiite who decided not to join an explic- itly Shiite alliance, which ended up in third place. A Kurdish alliance placed fourth. These re- sults are a defeat for Iran’s efforts to unify Iraq’s Shiites into one bloc and then control Iraq through that bloc. The vote is at least potentially a victory for an Iraq in which members of all sects believe their voices can be heard. Finally, despite the bloodshed of the past dec- ade and Iraq’s inexperience in democratic poli- tics, all major participants have acted within the legal framework and have pledged to do so in the future. It’s worrying when Mr. Maliki says he won’t accept defeat, but he has talked about legal challenges only. On Monday, the pernicious Iranian-backed Accountability and Justice Com-

mission piped up again, seeking to purge six win- ners it considers tainted by past association with Saddam Hussein; not coincidentally, the purging could be useful to politicians who run the com- mission. But this jockeying, too, is at least taking place within a legal framework. It’s been understood from the start that the most difficult period would start now — after the votes were counted, and before a government was seated. Iraq bequeathed to this next govern- ment some of its toughest issues, such as how to divide oil revenue between the provincial and central governments and where to draw the boundary of the Kurdish region. As parties and factions jockey for control of the ministries, a lot is at stake, and accordingly bare-knuckled poli- tics will ensue. The U.S. government rightly has expressed strong support for a peaceful process while remaining absolutely neutral with regard to the outcome. U.S. engagement, both military and civilian, will remain crucial as the bargain- ing shifts into high gear.

TOM TOLES

TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Stop second-guessing the Framers

George F. Will writes in his March 28 column [“A citizenship birthright? Maybe not.”] that the 14th Amendment should not apply to the children of ille- gal immigrants born in the United States because

“in 1868 there were and never had been any illegal immigrants because no law had ever restricted im-

migration.” By that reasoning, the Second Amend- ment should not apply to semiautomatic weapons

because in 1789 there were and never had been any

semiautomatic weapons and the First Amendment should not apply to communication on the Internet, television or radio because in 1789 there were and

never had been any forms of electronic communica- tion.

Rather than second-guessing the intent (or, in this case, the words) of the Constitution and its amendments, Mr. Will should concentrate his ef- forts on upholding the Constitution when it is nei- ther convenient nor easy.

HILARY STATHES, Laurel

Tea Partyers and the ‘racist’ label

So the Tea Party movement is filled with racists and homophobes, according to Colbert I. King [“Faces we’ve seen before,” op-ed, March 27]. I’m so glad that Mr. King is watching out for those of us who are unaware of the haters hiding under the Tea Party umbrella. I thought the movement was pro- testing the government takeover of health care and the arrogance of a Congress that is deaf to its con- stituents. If Mr. King hadn’t pointed out the hate- mongering at the U.S. Capitol protests, I would have been blissfully ignorant of it — especially since I have been to one of the protests and didn’t witness any homophobic or racist outbursts. The Tea Party participants that Mr. King wrote about were simply exercising their constitutional rights to let Congress know how they felt about the health-care issue. To compare health-care legislation protests to the civil rights movement is the old apples-and-oranges argument. Opposing the government takeover of health care, with its massive increase in government bureaucracy and inherent inefficiencies, does not make me a bigot. And contrary to feeling “entitled,” as Mr. King wrote of us, we just want less government interfer- ence in our lives and the freedom to make our own choices.

ROBERT S. SATRE JR., Jeffersonton, Va.



If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, then

racism is the first charge of the intellectually lazy. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly liberal col- umnists scream “racism” at those challenging their beliefs. It is an easy way to avoid the merits of argu- ments they oppose and inadvertently dilutes legiti- mate charges of racism. We as a nation will never reach a point of civil discourse if this highly charged accusation continues to be recklessly thrown about.

SEANMCHUGH, Alexandria

A foul on Gilbert Arenas’s sentence

AIDS in the District

Some encouraging news in the middle of a raging epidemic

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HE AIDS CRISIS in the District is so acute that you’d be forgiven for greeting the third report on the state of the epidemic with all the enthusiasm you’d have for an IRS audit. But there is some good news in the 2009 Epidemiology Update from the D.C. HIV/AIDS Ad- ministration. “For the first time,” the report de- clares, “we can report that there is a decline in new AIDS cases in the District of Columbia.” The epidemic is far from abating. More than 3 percent of the population in the District was living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2008. The United Na- tions defines an epidemic as “severe” when those infected exceed 1 percent of the population “of a specific geographic area.” While the report re- leased on March 17 noted that the number of those living with HIV/AIDS was up 9.2 percent over 2007, it also says this is due to “expanded HIV test- ing as well as more complete HIV reporting due to maturation of the names-based HIV reporting sys- tem.” This expansion has led to a raft of other heartening statistics. According to the HIV/AIDS Administration’s lat-

est survey, the number of new AIDS cases diag- nosed fell 33.2 percent between 2004 and 2008. The number of people who test late, meaning

those who are diagnosed with full-blown AIDS within a year of testing HIV-positive, decreased by 9.4 percent in that same period. Meanwhile, the number of those who go from testing positive to having AIDS within a year of their initial diagnosis dropped by 19.6 percent. The overarching goal of Shannon L. Hader, chief of the HIV/AIDS Adminis- tration, is to get people into treatment and do it early. On this score, there was a 36.1 percent in- crease in those seeking medical care within three months of testing HIV-positive. And this begets more positive news. The number of District resi- dents succumbing to AIDS fell 27.7 percent be- tween 2004 and 2007. The menace of HIV/AIDS is not bound by socio- economic barriers. Combating this scourge re- quires vigilance on the part of D.C. residents and health officials. As The Post’s “Wasting Away” se- ries made painfully clear, the District had been saddled with a dysfunctional agency that failed to use millions of dollars pumped into it to deliver services adequately, efficiently and wisely. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s appointment of Dr. Hader in 2008 marked a significant and hopeful change — not only for the operation of the agency, but also for the survival of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Shame on Michael Wilbon (whom I dearly love and almost always agree with) for his March 27 col- umn, “Smile and take Arenas back.” He has no prob- lem with the judge not jailing Gilbert Arenas. Why not? Why didn’t the judge use Mr. Arenas’ court ap- pearance as an opportunity to turn “star status” to the advantage of the District and surrounding areas? Why not show the kids who buy Mr. Arenas’s jersey, wait in line for his autograph, follow the Wiz- ards, etc., that guns almost always harm you or someone around them? Even a mere 30 days in jail would have sent a strong message to the community of kids that Mr. Arenas professes to love, and such a sentence would have done little to stop his return to an NBA team (but one hopes not the Wizards) in the fall. ELLEN ISAACS, Silver Spring

Was President Bush at fault, too?

The poignant front-page story about Randy Mil-

lam, the man who demonstrated against President Obama’s health-care speech in Iowa, left me puzzled [“We have to make them listen,” March 26]. The arti- cle stated that Mr. Millam lost his job “a few years ago.” That would be during the previous administra- tion. Did Mr. Millam ever demonstrate against the former president?

ADRIANHAVILL, Reston

How to achieve a nuclear arms ban

The March 27 editorial “New START with Russia” concluded that it is a good thing that the United States will not eliminate its nuclear weapons “any- time soon.” It is, of course, uncertain when nuclear abolition will be achieved, but even ardent nuclear abolitionists do not envision unilateral U.S. disarmament. Rather, a nuclear ban treaty would have to be joined by all states before its entry into force, and surely the United States would be safer in a world with zero nuclear weapons that is sustained by the unprecedented geopolitical, legal, psychological and moral force of a unanimously joined treaty.

FREDERICK N. MATTIS, Annapolis

Unnerving views about life’s value

LOCAL OPINIONS

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Ignoring Montgomery County’s deficit culprit: illegal immigration

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and the County Council are facing serious budg- et problems that will dramatically impact the quality of life for county residents. Numerous articles, letters to the editor and statements by politicians point the budget-busting finger at the unions that represent our police, fire- fighters, teachers and other county workers. As a recently retired Montgomery police offi-

cer, I find these accusations insulting to the dedicated employees of this county. No one from Mr. Leggett on down has seriously addressed the No. 1 budget problem: an ever-increasing population of illegal immigrants that is rapidly depleting our tax dollars and services. Mr. Leg- gett and the council’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” pol- icy for illegal aliens and their families has

caused a huge influx of residents without “legal presence” in Montgomery County. While these residents can no longer get a driv-

er’s license, there are no restrictions on enroll- ing their children in schools, qualifying for in- county college tuition, obtaining medical, den- tal, mental health, prescription drug, housing, food and energy assistance, job opportunities and training, and more. Yes, there is a free lunch and a lot more in Montgomery. It’s time for Mr. Leggett and the County Coun- cil to address this major problem area of the budget. Why should dedicated employees and taxpayers of Montgomery County suffer because of the county’s ineffective approach to illegal immigration?

MIKEMANCUSO, Gaithersburg

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In his March 26 op-ed, “China’s identity crisis,” Sebastian Mallaby reported the unnerving view in Chinese tradition that not everyone’s life is equally valuable. I would like to believe that Americans are egalitarian in assigning value to human lives. David Ignatius, in his column “One that got away,” which appeared directly above Mr. Mallaby’s piece, notes without comment that “Use of lethal force al- ways needs careful controls — especially when it in- volves Americans.” Unequal care suggests unequal value. Is the implicit American view any less un- nerving than the traditional Chinese view?

MICHAEL YARMOLINSKY, Washington

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