But what also needs to be said is that when the United Nations, with U.S. backing, voted that the land of Palestine should be split and two states should be formed, one Jewish and one "Palestinian," one side agreed and formed a government and proclaimed its independence, and one side refused.
Sorry, Mr. MacLeod, mulligans might be accepted in golf but not always in life.
Michael Risman
Santa Monica
Funding the war on drugs
Re “U.S. drug war aid slow in coming,” Dec. 4
I write to express my concern about a recent Times article regarding the Government Accountability Office's interim report on the Merida Initiative, which understates the significant success of the program.
While the GAO report is technically accurate, the use of expended funds as a measuring tool does not fully reflect on-the-ground activities involving equipment arrivals and active training programs. The report finds that about $26 million has been expended. In fact, more than 15 times that amount (about $398.6 million) has been or is being used to support active projects under the initiative.
Items not listed under the accounting category of expended funds include funds for the training of 3,000 new police investigators already on the streets and funding for five Bell 412 helicopters that will be delivered to the Mexican military in mid-December.
The Merida Initiative has achieved major progress in our shared fight against transnational crime. The trust Merida generates is also helping to transform our relationships with Mexico and Central America in other ways that advance U.S. interests.
We look forward to continuing a close, collaborative effort with the GAO over the coming months as it prepares its final report.
Roberta Jacobson
Washington
The writer is deputy assistant secretary of State for Canada, Mexico and NAFTA Issues in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State.
Questions of life and death
Re “Landlord describes attack on victim of rape-slaying,” Dec. 11
It's intriguing to note that the alleged killer of a Venice woman is being accused of a triple murder because the victim was four months pregnant.
Yet abortion is not murder?
Roland A. Pinza
Los Angeles
