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Published Sun, Dec 13, 2009 02:00 AM
Modified Sun, Dec 13, 2009 10:40 AM

Self-definition

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Tags: news | opinion - mailbag

Regarding the Dec. 3 Associated Press story "Blackwater founder is bitter over leak about CIA program":

It may be necessary for you to begin defining terms you use in stories. "Leak" is not the word I would use to define information the CIA director is required to present to Congress. I understand that Blackwater's Erik Prince may not appreciate the fact that the millions of dollars paid to his firm to assassinate top al-Qaida operatives resulted only in the deaths of innocents, but it is not a "leak."

Additionally, "thrown under the bus" is another term that Prince should correctly recognize. It was not him, but rather his employees, co-workers and the American system of ethics that were so treated and will not recover.

You should not allow Prince's dictionary to become yours any more than you should allow Mike Easley to define "legal contribution," Tony Rand to define "insider trading," Mike Huckabee to define "deserving clemency" or George W. Bush to define "accomplished."

Uniform definitions may lead us to better understandings and thereby to more appropriate actions.

Lynnie Sullivan

Holly Springs

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