Iran deal is best hope for peace
No compromise negotiation results in either side getting what it would like. Complaints about the recent negotiation with Iran do not understand that simple idea. U.S. negotiators are among the world’s most experienced and knowledgeable. The alternative to the arrived-at compromise is not a disarmed Iran, but one left free to continue an atomic program. The only alternative for us was to disarm Iran by force, and another war in the Middle East is not an acceptable alternative. Columnist Thomas Sowell (“Iran nuclear deal is epic catastrophe-in-waiting,” Opinion, July 22) does not understand this and would have us go to war. We got the best settlement possible in a peaceful world.
DONALD E. GALLUP, ATLANTA
Sheriffs obstruct meaningful reform
I think it is appalling that state Rep. Alex Atwood views House Bill 233, the Georgia Uniform Civil Forfeiture Procedure Act, as the best Georgia’s elected leadership can do for its citizens (“Civil forfeiture reform at last,” Opinion, July 17). Is a uniform report that state agencies must complete really the only step forward? If so, that is pathetic. What Rep. Atwood’s piece did not say was Georgia sheriffs are exempt from efforts to rein in their abuses.
Since only state law enforcement agencies are bound by the new law, not sheriffs, the forced removal of personal property on the side of the road from the whim of a Georgia sheriff will continue. This is why the Georgia Sheriff’s Association allowed this bill to pass while defeating all other bills that might have made a real difference. As a Georgia taxpaying citizen and past police officer, I view the Sheriff’s Association as extremely bad actors and am truly disappointed no one at the Georgia Legislature could pass real reform.
PATTY DURAND, ATLANTA
Selective blaming of Southern culture
A Muslim person kills a bunch of soldiers in Chattanooga, and he is a “home-grown extremist.” The president and the press go out of their way to take attention away from the fact he was a Muslim — “that peaceful religion” — and it is totally wrong to even say, “Those Muslims seem to kill a lot of people.” But a white kid kills people in a black church in South Carolina, and it’s a reflection of all whites in the South and of the evil of the Confederate battle flag and all of Southern history, and the Civil War and the 300,000 men who died should be forgotten because they were evil and deserved to die.
DAVID STEVENS, ATLANTA
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