Letters to the Editor, August 22, 2003

Please continue to run the best website for HONEST news. I must
emphasize that we, the people of the United States of America are NOT
supportive of the Bush/Cheney/Wolfowitz agenda, and I for one want to
organize the unheard voters of our democracy into normalizing our
relations with our brothers and sisters of the Islam faith. We really
do want to vote Bush out of office.......

Jeremy Hutchins

Thanks for the mention of retired General Wesley K. Clark in the 08/18 article regarding Joseph Biden deciding not to run for president in 2004. There are several grass-roots organizations that have been formed to encourage General Clark to announce his candidacy for president. Two such groups have been formed in General Clark's home town of Little Rock, Arkansas. One is Draft Clark 2004, with the website address: http://www.draftclark2004.com and the other is Arkansans for Clark: http://www.arkansansforclark.com.

These two groups are jointly sponsoring the "Rally for America" at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 23. It will be held at the River Market Pavilion, 400 President Clinton Blvd, in downtown Little Rock. We are extending a invitation for your readers who reside in Arkansas or neighboring states to attend this event to encourage General Clark to run for President in 2004!

For more information, please call the Draft Clark office at 501-801-VOTE (8683). Thanks!

Brenda O'Reilly

116 Apple Blossom Loop

Maumelle, AR 72113

501-803-9495

In a letter signed "Adiaris, USA", a reader was surprised to learn of the
wall of shame that Israel is constructing.

The "media hounds" to which Adiaris refers are nothing but lap dogs for the
court-appointed administration currently in power in the U.S.

My advice to Adiaris is to turn off FOX FAKE NEWS and check the internet
more often. Don't be fooled by the corporate run media. They are biased on
the side of the far right wing jingoistic idealogues that think they are
doing the work of their "GOD" who tells them to kill anyone who doesn't look
or believe EXACTLY as they do.

Only sites OUTSIDE of our hijacked country will tell us what we should know.

Dissident Dexter

Invasion and Resistance

Dear Editor and readers:

The headquarters of the United Nations in occupied Iraq has been bombed, resulting in the deaths of many, including the senior official there, a Brazilian diplomat.

The initial response of the president of Brazil was that it was another event demonstrating the "insanity of terrorism." I am sorry to disagree. It appears to me as merely another fruit of war, often quite sane, at least in the sense of having more or less rational fundamental motives.

Related to this is the feeling of some that Israelis are treating Palestinians much as Jews have been treated by northern Europeans in the recent past. I must disagree with this also. There seems to be a much closer analogy to the way in which Anglo-Europeans treated and, to a certain extent, still treat "native Americans."

War often arises when one culture possesses something desired by another more aggressive one - usually it is either land or resources of land but sometimes it may be the very labor of another people. When an invaded culture is fundamentally incompatible with the intentions of an aggressor the results are inevitable - repression and resistance to that repression.

While the details, the daily events, of this repression and of resistance to it may seem and sometimes are insane, the underlying motives are often coldly rational.

Regards,

Nelson Campbell (USA)

It is time the US stopped kidding itself. The US administration worked tirelessly to start the Iraq war widely recognised by international agencies and most major powers to be an illegal and aggressive invasion devoid of coherent logic. In this war the US killed without compassion thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians, mostly from the complete safety of the distant skies. Infrastructure right down to post offices was targetted. The US ignored the warnings from 'older' and wiser governments, believing blindly in high-tech hard power.

Now Iraq is in chaos, clearly ungovernable. US troops on the ground are sitting ducks. Meanwhile Rummie & Co, the real warmongers, remain as always comfortably at home enjoying fine wines and cigars. Will it be Vietnam or Mogadishu? One thing is certain.

I wrote to the Secretary of State over a year ago clearly stating that Iraq would again be the nemesis of the Bush dynasty, the father for not invading, the son for invading. As a Brit I regret bitterly the subservient connivance of the garrulous Blare in this immoral act and hope our 'grinning gargoyle' falls. The political demise of Bush and Blair is of minor import however compared to the price in blood paid and still being paid by others for their bellicosity. Real statesmen work tirelessly for peace and understanding between nations, not for war.

Blessed are the peacemakers! Bad luck Bush! Bad luck Blare!

Phil G., Hong Kong

IT'S "MILLER" TIME, A TIME OF LIES FOR A WAR UPON INNOCENT CIVILIANS. NYT
WITH MILLER, SAFIRE, FRIEDMAN, SHOULD SHARE THE BLAME FOR THE CONTINUED
DEATHS OF CIVILIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ESP. IN PALESTINE/ISRAEL. how can
you live with yourselves knowing you are lying on purpose for the sake of
more israeli expansion, occupation, and murder.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn08182003.html

Editor: Readers are urged to write in lower case (small) letters.

A note to John Rhys-Burgess and those who look for any excuse to prosecute the U.S. If you truly want to help the Iraqis then help them rebuild and prosecute the ones who continue to terrorize the people. Any human rights abuses by coalition forces are the result of misunderstandings and paranoia on the part of soldiers who are afraid of getting killed when they're trying to help. Do you truly think Iraqi's would be better off with the Baathists or a Jihad (Islamic fundamentalist) regime?

The U.S. is not the main problem here..

Peace,

Eric Mack
Ohio, USA

Mr. Baraka lost a sister many, many years ago to violence (Marvin X's article). Furthermore, a lot of activists are straight-up hypocrites: they know that domestic violence and murder (even among progressive folks) is a reality in Black-American life. No amount of conferences is going to stop this fact of life.

My heart goes out to the Baraka family; however, we need to address the lack of respect for the lives of women.

Question: why didn't someone out their foot in this man's ... the moment they realized that he put his hand on his daughter? This is not a theoretical question, I might add, that the police should be asked to solve.

I think too many of these African Americans have become soft, believe that conferences and poems are going to suffice where a straight-up ... kicking of an out-of-order person will get the job done. But, you didn't hear that from me.

Some of these African Americans will not respond to "healing conferences." Should we let our sisters and daughters and mothers go to their deaths because men in these communities will not undertake actions that are appropriate? Please let me know the next time the revolution is videotaped!

Hhassan2

Marvin and Hasan,

I stand between your 2 positions. I too know the feeling of regret for the loss of years of relationship with a daughter for a purpose which I thought was greater. I am fortunate to have a wonderful daughter, but she has often expressed that she felt alone and on her own.

So, I do believe that Marvin is on to something regarding establishing the bond between fahters and daughters. Women receive their self worth and self image from their relationships with their fathers while growing up. That is how they are nurtured, and how their fathers treat their mothers. In other words it is more how we walk vs. how we talk. We can never regain those lost years, but we can be sure that we redeem the opportunity that presents itself today.

If it is a seminar on excusing our prior neglect, or more about the struggle, it is futile. If it is about realizing our neglect, asking forgiveness and commitment to building a healthy relationship and a future that makes our sons and daughters feel like princes and princesses, I say right on.

Eddie Huff

Politics of Life and Death

I don't know how I became privy to this exchange of ideas and thoughts. I have read the comments of several of you and I wholeheartedly agree. There is NO substitution for a old time ... kicking. Society has tried to prevent parents from exercising their rights to raise, and discipline their own children and substitute it with watered down alternatives. Although I incorporate many methods of disciplining my children, when they really mess up and do something totally disrespectful of me or themselves or do something that can bring danger to them or other people, I'm not ashamed to say that I get that ass!

On the subject at hand, there are so many daughters that feel left out, alone, abandoned not just by righteous fathers but by fathers - period. I understand the need to address the emotional void that these very lucky women may feel because their fathers were out to save our world, our society and culture. There remain women like myself who never really knew their fathers at all. Mine died of a heroine overdose when I was 2 years old. I don't know if that or the fact that he never claimed as his child had more impact on my self image, relationships, and overall self esteem. Both have scarred me tremendously and I am fighting everyday to reject the mental messages that I have lived with for 31 years.

I am no stranger to domestic violence myself. I was abused for over 3 years and when it started I was only 19 years old. I had never been hit by a man before and I didn't have the presence of mind to know that this was not acceptable behavior. Of course, it "felt" wrong but I also thought that this man/child loved me and that without him I would be abandoned again. Being a female, I can honestly say one thing you guys forgot to touch on and that was the fact that women also need to be taught HOW to respect a man. This is another thing that we lack when we don't have fathers. I am learning at 31 that there is an art to loving, caring for, and respecting a man - especially a black man. I was never taught this. My mother and the women in my family took good care of the men in their lives but I guess they assumed that I would just "pick up" on what to do and what not to do. They didn't possess the anger, confusion, and feelings of betrayal and abandonment that I did because they had fathers in their lives. I'm not saying that I deserved to be abused - because I didn't - and no one does. But I will say that my mouth was and still is too fly for my own good. I am still praying and working toward distinguishing and dealing with the anger and sadness that I feel towards my father so that I don't take it out on my husband. I am blessed to have him and not until he came into my life did I realize that it was me that had the problem. Being with someone that truly loves you and is not dysfunctional allows you to see yourself and your behavior clearly without being able to rationalize destructive behavior due to being mistreated.

Abuse is wrong - from anyone. But we as black women also have to be taught HOW to love a black man. How to take the backseat and submit and see him for the royalty that he truly is. Black women are playing a role in the destruction of the black family as well. Do we deserve to be protected and loved? Yes we do. But we also need to learn how to protect and love as well. We need to know how to present ourselves as women and ladies not run up on a man like we can kick his ass when we can't. As for me, I ask my granny what to do in a lot of circumstances because she is a non confrontational person and has been to hell and back with my grandpa. Although I wish she would have spoken up for herself sometimes when I felt he mistreated her, I know that she dealt with him behind closed doors in her own feminine way. I know that she never challenged him in front of us, and she always respected him because this was instilled in her by my great grand parents. Like I said, I don't know how I became the recipient of the exchange between you all but I felt compelled to share. My prayers are with the Baraka Family and the family of the other lady who was senselessly slain as well. I don't know you gentlemen but you hold my highest regard with your insight and brutal honesty, and truth.

Thank you,

Nikol
www.playahata.com

Haven't seen any mention of this anywhere - It's sickening. AIPAC's own M. Kantor - does this stink, or not? We assume we received this because the vultures harvested our name from "small business" email list.

Marianne Torres
Spokane WA

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FORWARDED TEST:

MEMO
To: VP, Business Development.
From: Marcial Dieguez, Project Coordinator
Date: August 14, 2003

Subject: Rebuilding Iraq Conference

Dear Colleague:
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for Thursday & Friday, August 28-29, 2003.
SPEAKERS:
William S. Cohen (Confirmed), Former Secretary of Defense.
Mickey Kantor (Confirmed), Former Secretary of Commerce.
Peter B. Saba (Confirmed),
Acting Chief Operating Officer
Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel
Chairman, Export-Import Bank Task Force on Iraq Reconstruction.
Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank)
helps the private sector create and maintain American jobs by
financing exports
Key representatives from companies which have been awarded contracts.
and many more S
For full information, Please visit www.new-fields.com/Iraq/
AGENDA:
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              Examine what others are doing.
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       OPPORTUNITIES:

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              Small Business Opportunities.

       LEARN FROM COMPANIES IN THE GROUND:

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See how well you are prepared for the $500 billion contracting
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Review this short checklist and see whether you may need to participate
in Rebuilding Iraq Conference.
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YES/NO
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YES/NO
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it take to structure a deal?
YES/NO
Do you want to know How to eliminate barriers of entry to Iraq?
YES/NO
Do you want to Gain a greater understanding of the contracts &
subcontracts in Iraq?
YES/NO
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YES/NO
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YES/NO
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Mark your calendar now and take a moment to register:
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I would appreciate the chance to hear your thoughts and discuss this
show further with you. I can be reached at (703) 864-9650
,e-mail me at md@new-fields.com or fax at (908) 292-1111
Sincerely,
Marcial Dieguez
Project Coordinator
Marcial Dieguez
New Fields Exhibitions
Phone (703) 864-9650
Fax (908) 292-1111

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