Letters to the Editor, October 27, 2005

Cheney aide passed Plame's name to Libby, Hadley, those close to leak investigation say

Wurmser had long been a proponent of removing Saddam Hussein from power. Indeed, in 1996, Wurmser, his wife Meyrav and Perle, authored a paper for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm."

It called on Israel to work with Jordan and Turkey to "contain, destabilize and roll back" various states in the region, overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq, press Jordan to restore a scion of the Hashemite dynasty to the Iraqi throne, and, above all, launch military assaults against Lebanon and Syria as a "prelude to a redrawing of the map of the Middle East which would threaten Syria's territorial integrity," according to an investigative report in the January/February 2004 issue of Mother Jones magazine.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheney_aide_passed_Plames_name_to_1024.html

Mark Dankof

Bush increases pressure on Syria

Dear Editor,

Western, more specifically U.S interest in the investigation behind the murder of Hafik Hariri is at best disingenuous. And, the Mehlis Report used to implicate Syria’s involvement in his assassination, is as suspect as reports of “weapons of mass destruction” used as proof to launch the debacle in Iraq!

The fact is that the U.S and U.K have an extensive and shameful history of destabilizing the Middle East for the purposes of acquiring and controlling access to natural resources, without having to pay them!

These attempts include; invasions of Iraq (Mesopotamia) from the 1920’s to present day, the overthrow of Iran’s government by the U.S and U.K in 1953, U.S/U.K support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war, the Suez Canal crisis of 1956 and French/British rule of Egypt in the 1800’s.

As mentioned earlier, the French are also no strangers to this game. From 1832 - 1962, the French ruled Algeria with the very same brutality that Western historians attribute to Saddam Hussein and other dictators, including the 1945 slaughter of approximately 45,000 Algerians, and another 400 in 1961. In addition to Algeria, France also decided to colonize Tunisia in 1881. Ironically, the French have chosen to bury these episodes under the carpet of history.

All of this takes place against the backdrop of anti-Arab/Anti-Muslim sentiment, which has remained a historical staple of Western foreign policy and thought.

It manifests itself as Anti-Terrorism legislation which, has resulted in the arbitrary incarceration of Arabs and Muslims world wide, support for state sponsored torture at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay as well as other ghost detention centers world wide. It also includes the demonization of Palestinians (who are Christian and Muslim), who are being wiped off the face of the earth with U.S tax payer funding at the hands of America’s untamed pit bull in the region!

The mere fact that the U.S is pressing for rapid action on this resolution should send alarm bells throughout the international community. The push for immediate resolution is yet another example of the Bush administration’s “shoot first then ask questions later philosophy”. It is a ploy designed to prevent a thorough investigation of the events surrounding Mr. Hariri’s death in order to avoid, what will surely be another embarrassing instance of fixing the facts to fit another woefully misguided reason for war!

Timothy Stinson, Miami Lakes, Florida

Follow up on "Why George Lost"

I was surprised to find that some of the posters at Free Republic actually agreed with the assessment in the parody. And that they did not consider the assessment racist - they thought it logical. I also learned that the Freerepublic maybe more like those ads in the back of magazines that offer "falsified papers". Anyone that can remember their name in the morning knows those ads are published by the police. Freerepublic is a forum for past their prime right wingers to bask in righteousness. I looked at some of the other sections. They glorify George - talk about how military wives have suggested George buy Laura more diamonds. How well George presented at this or that event. They are harmless. They are lost. They are victims of the lie.

It is very difficult for some to acknowledge a truth. Better to pretend everything is alright.

I hope you have not been distracted by the attention. They are people just like me, writing to editors and writers they disagree with.

The difficulty is always how to draw out the beast.. Uri Avnery is one of the strongest voices, along with Finkelstein, to speak in those kinds of terms.

When millions have died for lies. When parents fear for their childrens' future. When our laws are being trampled: We have to speak. Thanks for publishing the parody. I know some right wingers got to let off some steam - and others saw the sense in it.

Peace,

Terry Thurber

A letter from Fernando Suarez del Solar on the 2000th US Death Toll in Iraq

On October 25, 2005, the toll of U.S. fatalities in Iraq reached the significant number of 2000. On March 27, 2003, just seven days after the illegal occupation of Iraq began, the fifth U.S. casualty (and the second Latino) fell--my son Jesús Alberto Suarez del Solar Navarro. Now, two years and seven months later,we have reached 2000. 2000 young people, each with a dream, each with enormous potential, each manipulated and deceived for immoral reasons by the group of powerful men who dragged us into a criminal war. 2000 families destroyed, 4000 parents devastated, with their most precious treasure--their children--torn from them. And whocares? Who cares about these young people who are dying? Only the families care, it seems, since Bush's criminal government continues with its rhetoric about how Iraq is better off and how we will not leave until the mission is completed. What mission? The personal agenda of a ruling clique because clearly there is no humanitarian mission in Iraq. When I learned that we had reached the awful figure of 2000, I wept. I wept because the pain of knowing that another young American had died reminded me of m! y own tragedy and my own pain. I thought about his parents, his mother who must feel the ache in her soul knowing that her son died in an unecessary war, and his father who, like me, was proud of his son and of his nation. And unexpectedly his nation betrayed him and his son was gone.

I do not know if Bush in his self absorption and his feigned Christianity understands the tremendous suffering he is causing--the families' anguish, the harm to our nation that he has placed in even greater danger. But I am sure about one thing. Bush will receive his punishment, a punishment that will make him cry tears of blood as my family and 1999 other families are shedding as they remember their lost children. How much more blood will it take to end this criminal war? How many more Iraqi children have to die? How many more brave young Americans will have to make the ultimate sacrifice? How many more parents will have to weep for their sons and daughters? Who can answer me? Who? We must demand that the lies and the dying stop today. End the occupation of Iraq and Bring our troops home now.

Fernando Suarez del Solar

Father of Jesus Suarez del Solar www.guerreroazteca.org