‘Spitzer’s Latest Cash Grab’ 
In a recent editorial, The New York Sun criticized state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for settling a major anti-trust case with two department store chains and two manufacturers of tableware [“Spitzer’s Latest Cash Grab,” August 12, 2004]. 
The Sun suggested that the settlement was flawed for two reasons: First, there was no recovery for consumers. Second, there was no admission of guilt by the companies that were involved. With regard to the first point, the Sun misunderstands the nature of the anti-competitive behavior uncovered by our office. What we found was that the two department store chains – Federated and May – had conspired with the manufacturers to restrict a third national retailer from selling upscale tableware. 
While this conduct clearly restricted competition and consumer choice, it was not feasible to determine the impact on prices that consumers paid. As a result, our office could not seek specific recovery for consumers. Instead, we sought to fine the companies for their behavior, and by law, the fines our office received had to be returned to the state treasury. 
With regard to the second point, our office always strives to obtain the best settlement terms possible. However, the reality is that many companies simply will not settle if forced to admit guilt. Our choice in such situations is either protracted litigation or a settlement in which the parties neither admit nor deny guilt. 
In this particular case, our office was able to reach a settlement that halted anti-competitive practices and levied fines that we believe will serve as a strong deterrent to others in the industry who might contemplate similar anti-competitive actions. It is disappointing that the Sun did not see the obvious benefits of the settlement. 
MARITERE ARCE Press Officer New York State Department of Law Manhattan 
<hr>
‘No Defense’ 
Crowds of people entered Martin Luther King Jr. High School on the Upper West Side on August 26 to attend a “war crimes tribunal” billed by PeopleJudgeBush.org as taking place at the same time that the “U.S. military in Iraq has begun to carry out a new war crime against the people of Najaf and against the sacred shrine of Imam Ali located in that city” [“No Defense,” Steven Menashi, Opinion, August 27, 2004]. 
This event was advertised to expose “crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity,” but it is curious that these people who are putting President Bush and his administration “on trial for war crimes” do not see that they themselves are enemies of peace and civility. 
To condemn the American military engagement in Najaf as a war crime is to show total lack of understanding of the issues. Why was the shrine used as a hide-out for Muqtada al-Sadr and his followers for three weeks? 
If this place were truly holy to these people, why would they endanger it by using it as a military fortress? American soldiers died and were wounded because of the respect shown to the shrine. 
It is reminiscent of Yasser Arafat and his terrorist gangs who hid in the churches of Bethlehem and Beit Jala, knowing that Israel’s army would not harm the churches. 
The lengthy program of People-JudgeBush.org advertised that on August 28 there was a performance scheduled by musical band straight from Palestine. I ask, where is that place? And on Thursday, September 2, there is a demonstration scheduled in solidarity with the “people of Palestine…and others who are resisting U.S. occupation.” Again, where is that place? And what kind of “occupation” is America exercising? 
The PeopleJudgeBush.org “criminal indictment” against the president and his entire administration includes America’s support for “Israel’s illegal occupation, brutalization and expanding settlement of Palestine…” This is blasphemous. 
The organizers must study their history. Israel is neither an “occupier” nor “brutal” nor expanding the settlement of “Palestine.” The League of Nations Mandate for the Palestine of 1922 designated Judea, Samaria, and Gaza as areas that Britain was to develop as the homeland for the Jews. 
Israel lost these areas in 1948 when it was attacked by the Arab armies, but reclaimed the lands in 1967 and has had legal sovereignty over them since. 
If Israel were a “brutal” country, its military superiority over the Arabs would have ended the war between them very quickly, without the painful loss of thousands of Israeli dead and wounded. 
The ignorance, bias, and seemingly deliberate attempts to distort facts and reality, while demonizing America and Israel, are painful to witness. 
These enemies of civility, humanity, and decency take advantage of the fact that they can exercise the freedoms guaranteed them by an America that surely has faults but continues to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. 
They should by counting their blessings rather than cursing their benefactor. 
HELEN FREEDMAN Executive Director Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI Manhattan 
<hr>
<blockquote>
Please address letters intended for publication to the Editor of The New York Sun. Letters may be sent by e-mail to <a href="mailto:editor@nysun.com">editor@nysun.com</a>, facsimile to 212-608-7348, or post to 105 Chambers Street, New York City 10007. Please include a return address and daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited.</blockquote>

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