Letters to the editor

This article is an unfortunate, biased attack on President Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari held the Pakistani nation together after the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, on Dec. 27, 2007. He pacified people's rage and led the Pakistan People's Party into elections. After peacefully causing the end of Gen. Pervez Musharraf's dictatorship with the help of a broad-based coalition, Zardari won an overwhelming two-thirds victory as president, completing a restoration of democracy that few believed possible.

It has not been an easy road for Zardari. He was unjustly imprisoned for 11 years, but never convicted, under a judicial system manipulated and controlled by the forces of dictatorship. He is now leading Pakistan in a multifaceted strategy in fighting the war against terrorism, which he has described repeatedly as Pakistan's own war. Pakistan is blessed with a strong new leader who will not acquiesce to the forces that breed poverty or terrorism.

Farahnaz Ispahani

Islamabad

The writer is spokesperson for the Pakistan People's Party.

Nurses with a past

Re "Criminal past no bar to nursing in California," Oct. 5

Your article points out that there are a number of nurses with criminal records, and gives examples. Frankly, their criminal records have nothing to do with their job performance as nurses. And it is well known that we have a shortage of nurses. Their criminal records for things like drugs or alcohol and so forth should not be used to prevent them from working.

The state of California, through its excessive laws and punishments, has harassed them enough. These people are making a positive contribution to society, and that is what everyone should want and focus on.

Doug Hansen

Frazier Park

Schooled in communication

Re "Back to the drawing board for Maywood campus," Oct. 6



Your article on the proposed high school in Maywood did not include any comments from Maywood city officials or Los Angeles Unified school board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who was instrumental in stopping the building of the school next to the Pemaco Superfund site.

When we were approached by the district about the building of the new high school, we told them that this site was highly contaminated because it was next to a Superfund site and 500 feet from the 710 Freeway. Instead of listening, they went ahead and spent $5 million, and now they know what we had told them: The groundwater is contaminated.

We hope the LAUSD now will work with a community-driven process to build a new high school to relieve the overcrowding at Bell.

Felipe Aguirre

Maywood