Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006

My Person Of The Year

DR. DAVID HO 1996

Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City

In 1993 Time featured the Peacemakers as Persons of the Year. This year I nominate the Peacebreakers: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and, sadly, U.S. President George W. Bush. These figures are feared around the world because of their words and actions.

KIM, AHMADINEJAD AND BUSH

SHERRON WATKINS 2002

Former vice president at Enron, where she blew the whistle on fraudulent accounting

I nominate the Illegal Immigrant. In terms of grabbing center stage, immigration became a hot issue in 2006, with battle lines drawn early between one group, which sees only cost and crime in illegal immigrants, and the other, which sees tired, poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

TED TURNER 1991

CNN founder and chairman of the United Nations Foundation and Turner Enterprises

I nominate former Vice President Al Gore. His environmentalism and philanthropy make him deserving of the Person of the Year title. Al's documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, made global warming difficult to ignore. His passion is to make the world a better place for the generations to come.

AL GORE

SERGEANT BILLIE GRIMES 2003

Army medic who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and is now stationed in El Paso, Texas

I feel that all I have read about this past year are the people who have died in Iraq. The news makes me think about all the friends I have lost and all the folks who have made the ultimate sacrifice. For this reason, I believe that TIME's Person of the Year should be the Fallen American Service Member.

U.S. SERVICE MEMBERS WHO DIED IN IRAQ