Letters to the Editor, October 31, 2004

Famous Quotes about War&Peace #46

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.
But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying.
You will die like a dog for no good reason."

Ernest Hemmingway

Charles A Beers

The Israeli Wall: Is it for Security or Just a Land-Grab?

The wall was not built to punish Palestinians or make them suffer - it was built to keep the suicide bombers out. So far it has cut down on a large percentage of them.

Patricia Travers

Editor: If the goal was security only, it could have been built inside the Israeli 1967 border. Right now, it has been built inside the Palestinian territory. It is a Land-Grab.

US Election

As a non-political person, I have grown tired of the seemingly hopeless task of trying to bring US and UK warmongering leaders to book. I do not have the energy to write endlessly on the same fundamental issues. Nevertheless I hope US voters will remember that Bush has DEFINITELY NOT made the US safer, stronger or better.

the Iraq war was agressive, illegal and immoral
it has killed up to 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians (The Lancet - Medical Journal)
it has created, not removed, links to previously absent 'terrorist organisations' and been a godsend to Osama Bin Laden
it has provided the Iraqi resistance with 'iconic targets' (Strategic Institute) i.e. poor young US soldiers/cannon fodder dying for the US superrich/big corporations
it has brought out the very worst in the American psyche, illegal anti-human rights detentions without trial (Guantanemo) and torture (Abu Ghraob / Afghanistan). Far worse than China!
it has exposed the inability of the US to do much more militarily than to drop bombs from a safe distance and its utter contempt for the lives of non-Americans, especially Muslims
it has made America yet more reviled and hated in many parts of the Muslim world and more intensely disliked by most of Europe
The Iraq war is Bush's war. It says everything about him. It was a wilful, unwise, malicious, stupid, misguided and ineffective act. Like the US economy / the US health care system / US gun control Iraq is all deficit.

Almost everything said by Bush about Iraq was a lie: WMD, mission accomplished etc. For freedom and democracy now read death and chaos. And the US is now far less safe (since it has far more enemies), it is less strong (having lost its moral authority) and it is worse (torturing abroad and paranoid and irrational at home alienating former friends through zenophobic controls etc).

TELLINGLY. BUSH'S AMERICA HAS DONE ABSOLUTELY ZILCH TO FOSTER PEACE, RESOLVE KEY CONFLICTS OR TO CREATE HARNONY AND UNDERSTANDING, for example in Palestine.This president is an utterly compassionless evil-doer with no care for anyone, except the 'have-mores' and himself.

OK guys - go ahead vote for Bush - it's good for the military-industrial complex. Stay poor, stay sick, stay isolated, stay afraid - but don't say we didn't warn you. I despair.

Phil Hong

A Soldier's Reflection on the War

Flying back from Europe, I sat next to an 82nd Airborne Division soldier who really didn’t want to talk about the war – but by the end of our flight – he had shared a lot of his observations and very grim impressions. A debate has broken out on my blog on whether this guy was real or not, whether he was fabricating things or not. I don’t believe he was – but the reflections are worth considering as just one soldier’s set of anecdotes on a very messy war.

Here is the direct link:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000143.html

All the best,

Steve Clemons

The Somerville Divestment Project

The Somerville Divestment Project focuses on grassroots organizing in Somerville, Massachusetts. Our goal is to pressure our city to withdraw its money from companies that help Israel commit extensive and ongoing human rights violations.

We have great news. The Presbyterian National Assembly just voted 491 to 62 for divestment, and we are using this to propel our outreach forward in the communities of faith. Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s moral call for divestment is at the heart of our campaign.

We call on our cities, towns, states, as well as unions and socially responsible investors to divest from Israeli bonds and companies which provide the arms and equipment to carry out Israel’s military occupation. This call will be re-evaluated semi-annually.

http://www.divestmentproject.org/

Sent by Umm Yaqoob

Bin Laden's Message

From http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041030/D861GA5G0.html

Admitting for the first time that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden said he did so because of injustices against the Lebanese and Palestinians by Israel and the United States.

Yes, of course bin Laden was wrong, but he enabled our president to kill over 100,000 innocent Iraqis and injure many hundreds of thousands more using nothing more than "they hate us for our freedom" as the terrorists' motivation. Not one word of injustices against the Lebanese and the Palestinians has appeared in our mainstream media as the motive for 9/11. And no one--friend or enemy--has dug for the truth and broadcast it worldwide until bin Laden offered it up now?

That's insane.

In peace,

Mark Yannone

Communication Lesson for Terrorists (09/21/2004)

While one is in the midst of a bombing, a hijacking, or a beheading, it's easy to overlook the obvious. There's so much to think about that some of the most important details are left undone. But the price of conducting terrorism is too steep to ignore such details.

It's not enough to take a plane out of the sky, kill a busload of innocents, or take down a building and then call the media to "take responsibility" for it. No, you need to make sure your message reaches the world. Tell the media exactly why you do what you do. Leverage public opinion in your favor. Don't let the media or the general public make up their own stories to explain your motives.

You'll notice that George Bush had a ready supply of reasons for attacking Iraq. First he told the world he was going to protect us from weapons of mass destruction, and then he invaded Iraq. When he needed another reason to conduct some more of the war, he told the world that he was going to liberate Iraqis, and then he did a lot more damage. When that reason was wearing a bit thin, he told the world that Iraq needed democracy, and then he moved more troops in and bloodied up the place.

There may have been other reasons given too, but do you see how it works? State the purpose first, and then do the damage. That way the people of the world can see the relationship between motive and consequence, between cause and effect, between the poke in the eye and the smack in the head. We need the clear messages so we can react appropriately.

We are learning (slowly) that there is no defense against terrorism and that the best we can do is to reduce the motivation for it. So don't keep your motives to yourselves--shout them out. Make sure you are heard as clearly as George Bush is before wasting munitions and precious lives.

Mark Yannone Phoenix Arizona USA