Dear Editor:
I would like to offer an apology to readers of my Sept. 9
column, in which I asserted a geographical inaccuracy.
Dear Editor:
I would like to offer an apology to readers of my Sept. 9 column, in which I asserted a geographical inaccuracy.
I strongly implied that the city of Rawalpindi is in India; tragically, it is not. Although it once was, sometime in the late 1940’s when I was apparently inattentive, it was determined that part of northern India should become a new country called Pakistan, and darned if the placement of the border didn’t put Rawalpindi firmly within it, so that its citizens are now under the benevolent dictatorship of our good friend General Musharraf.
Some may consider this error trivial, but when it comes to hard and fast facts like where places are in the world I believe it is important to correct such mistakes promptly.
We can’t very well gripe about the learning deficiencies of our children and go off on the public schools when adults are out there making ignorant statements like Rawalpindi is in India when it isn’t.
Oh, I could commence a cover-up, I suppose — stonewall a Senate committee, shred some documents, encourage perjury among my subordinates, perhaps even claim Pakistan has weapons of mass destruction which required our forces to move Rawalpindi to a safer country, but on balance I’d rather just admit that I blew it – shoulda double-checked a map. Sorry.
Robert B. Mitchell, Morgan Hill
Submitted Tuesday, March 9 to ed****@****ic.com
