Letters to the Editor, December 8, 2003

The Sunday edition of the New York Times appears to have forgotten "The Day of Infamy" Dec 7th 1941. Not a word of it in today's Sunday edition except for a historical reproduction of their Dec 8th 1941 edition available for sale on their internet site. This is a shame for the memory of a day that launched this country into a great struggle against fascism.

Bernard Fudim

Casselberry, FL, USA

The real reason of the US war on Iraq is providing Israel with water

I'm absolutely convinced that the primary reason for the U.S. invasion of Iraq is Israel's need for water. Israel's only source of fresh water is under the West Bank and even if they could keep control of the West Bank, the supply is not enough in the long term for the area's population. Desalinated water cannot be used for agriculture and is used primarily for industrial purposes. Therefore, Israel cannot continue to exist without another source of fresh water. They were not able to buy water from Turkey because of transportation problems. If they brought the water in over land, it would have to cross Syria or Iraq and this was not politically possible. It is too expensive and unreliable to try to transport it by sea. The only option to guarantee Israel a water supply was to change the regime in Iraq and distribute Iraq's abundant water to surrounding areas; and I'm sure in the not too distant future, you will see this start to happen.

I believe the American people should be made aware of the real reasons we go to war and spend billions of dollars and lives in such an endeavor; and should be made aware of the reasons in real time and not years in the future when it becomes just a historical debate.

We already know that our headlong rush to invade Iraq was not because of their link to Osama and not because of weapons of mass destruction. It's very clear to anyone with an IQ over 70 that these were just transparent excuses. I also don't buy into the theory that our invasion of Iraq was for oil. If our Middle East policy were just about oil, we would not have supported Israel all these years.

The World Bank has made studies and keeps track of every drop of potable water on earth, and someone with contacts at the World Bank might be able to obtain proposed plans showing how the World Bank proposes to distribute the fresh water supplies in the region. There's no doubt the World Bank will be very involved in these projects.

I'm hoping that you might bring this to the public's attention and track future developments as far as Iraq's water resources are concerned.

Sandy Rice

Editor: I agree. Anyone with an IQ over 70, to use your words, would not disagree that the war was launched for the benefit of Israel. You're mentioning water. Other authors mentioned getting rid of the last Arab regime, which was considered hostile to Israel. You may add that some Zionists wanted a historical revenge for the Babylonian captivity. You may add lust for Iraq's oil, as promised by Mustafa Barzani to Israeli leaders when he visited Israel in 1968.

But why would the US do it for Israel? Some authors said the US military and oil industries have a vested interest in war. So, the there has been a confluence of interests of the US ruling elites: Supporters of Israel, the military industry, and the oil industry.

Finally, further research about this area, water, will be appreciated by readers everywhere.

Weapons of Mass Destruction Found!!!

Federal agents has found sodium cyanide bomb making materials and other illegal weapons. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reported on Nov 14, 2003, that investigators found a huge cache illegal firearms and detailed instruction for producing cyanide gas weapons, as well as the associated bomb-making materials in storage facility located just outside Tyler, Texas.

Investigators have seized at least 100 other bombs, bomb components, machine guns, 500,000 rounds of ammunition and chemical agents.

See -
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35919
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=89414&SecID=2
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/7257244.htm
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1994&dept_id=226369&newsid

=10512212&PAG=461&rfi=9
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/05/162231

For a more complete story contact:
Robert Riggs, chief investigative reporter for the Dallas TV station CBS 11.
Brit Featherstone, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Texas
Robert Jensen, Professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin

"Unite for Peace" ,

Ray Lauzzana
Penrose Press
San Francisco
CA, USA

The bombing raid in Afghanistan

The nine children who were killed in Afghanistan in the American attack were not Afghan children, or Taliban children, or Al Qaida children. They were just children. They were killed as a result of the Bush Administration’s intention to carry on a low-level conflict in an area where the United States is not welcome, but continues to stay because of military and economic objectives.

It’s plain to see that the Bush promise of a Marshall Plan in Afghanistan has not, and will not materialize. The entire country, excluding the puppet government in Kabul, is a checkerboard of fiefdoms under the control of the regional warlords, who rule their respective areas through brutality and coercion. Their efforts are supported by both the US, who still provides many of them with arms and money, and by the growing opium trade. Add to this, the fact that there is an unreported war going on in the South, violence against women is on the increase, and the Taliban is re-emerging in the security vacuum that has been created by the war.

This is the snapshot of Afghanistan you’re not likely to see in the air-tight chamber we euphemistically call the American “free press”. It is a view that is anathema to the chorus of cheerleaders in the media whose sole purpose is to promote a foreign policy of military adventurism and resource acquisition.

The nine children, who were needlessly killed yesterday, were just the latest innocent victims of an American aggression that is dressed up to look like a war on terrorism. Let reasonable people evaluate our presence in Afghanistan and judge for themselves what the facts really are, not the spin issuing from Washington. And let the many people who supported the war in Afghanistan put the faces of the nine children who died next to their “United We Stand” bumper stickers to show they are willing to accept the war’s horrible cost.

Mike Whitney

Snohomish, WA, USA

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info