Letters to the Editor, September 22, 2003

Not too long after the Bush regime stole the White House, I began to wonder if it was possible that there was little difference between our Democratic representatives and the Bush regime. To begin with, our Democratic representatives sat on their hands, allowing Bush to steal the election in Florida. How is it possible that, with all the information our Democratic representatives have that the ordinary citizen isn't privy to, our representatives allowed themselves to be bullied into an illegitimate war that we lesser informed citizens knew would be a rash action. Why, when most of the people in this country! did not want a war, begged our representatives not to go to war, did our representatives not listen to us?

Now I understand that I was right to distrust our Democratic representatives. There are only three Democrats that I have any respect for: Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton and Carol Mosely Brown. If Cynthia McKinney was a candidate, I would consider voting for her. There are those that would like us to believe that these candidates may be mental lightweights. We voters know that they aren't and, best of all, we have learned that they think for themselves and they speak the truth, unlike the rest of you Democratic sell-outs. As a native New Englander, I am disheartened that I cannot bring myself to vote for Dean or Kerry but, unfortunately, in my opinion, they are what one might call "Bush Lite". They also talk out of both sides of their mouths.

Lorenzo Kibler

US Foreign Policies

Dear Editor:

Thanks again for providing such helpful and pertinent information, news and articles.

I was particularly moved and encouraged by Luc Debieuvre's article on "US misguided foreign polices expose its political juvenility". The points he makes must be made again and again.

The American neo-Cons, the Bushies, just do not get it, and probably never will! They have waged an illegal, immoral and unprovoked war against a sovereign nation using outright lies and deception. They have linked Saddam Hussein to the September 11 events, demonizing him unmercilessly. And it is an irony that Saddam Hussein was actually telling the truth about the so-called "WMD", that it was in fact the United States and Britain who were lying about their existence. And now that the US is deeply mired in a quagmire of its own making, it wants the United Nations to give 'legality' to an illegal action in the first place.

Debieuvre's point that "the only thing to do is to go the other way round; not a slight shift of direction but a complete U-turn..... a complete change of logic and an additional military presence on the ground will obviously change nothing in the prevailing dramatic situation" . The bottom line question is whether the US and Britain will admit that they made a monumental error, going against the opinion of the whole world not to invade Iraq, to allow the UN to continue is inspection work. Unless this admission is made the situation will continue going from bad to worse.

If justice is really done, both the US and Britain, and of course Australia, bear legal responsibility under international law for what they have done. This is the reason that it is highly unlikely that the US and Britain will ever admit their folly, which has wrought so much destruction and death. No amount of troops and funds from other nations, which the US is wangling to get, and which will not be forthcoming in the present situation will make any difference in papering over an illegal and immoral action against a sovereign nation. US foreign policy must change, because if not then the US is the paramount rogue state on the world stage. In the meantime the international community must work hard to assist Iraq to overcome the disastrous situation foisted upon it.

Jack Lakavich Kelowna,

BC Canada

Last summer George W Bush was caught on camera at a White House event waving at Stevie Wonder. The symbolism of this president waving at a blind man should not be lost on the American public. For the past three years this is a man who has waved at a blind and stupifyingly ignorant public, a supremely unqualified fraud, ignorant of history, bereft of intellect, and guided by a phony theological psychosis that has led the nation to the brink of fiscal, moral and intellectual meltdown.

This is man who like most republicans, pretends to be a friend of the working class, but who has by all accounts never worked a day in his life, never earned a dime of his own money and most surely engaged in illegal insider trading activities of the same variety that has led to the most egregious corporate scandals in the history of the nation that wiped out the savings of tens of millions of working men and women.

This is a man who has surrounded himself by a cabal of neo-conservative extremist lunatics, whose agenda of hegemony, perpetual war, social control, and the dismantling of the government and the bill of rights it was founded on is the forefront of a vision of the future of absolute corporate fascism, fear mongering, and total isolation from world opinion. These people are the real hijackers, hijackers of the electoral process, of constitutional rights, of public money, and of public trust.

This a man whose energy policy leaves us begging the question, why don’t conservatives ever want to conserve anything? This is a man who believes in the use of a “safe and effective” nuclear weapon. This is a man who has foisted such a blitzkrieg of lies that you can scarcely pick your jaw up off the floor before the next wave of mendacious slop bowls you over again in the daily swill of propaganda and policy designed to roll back every inch of progress made in the last fifty years.

This is a man whose idea of democracy is two wolves and a lamb debating the lunch menu. This is a man who has cynically exploited the events of 9/11 and as no president has ever done, dressed up in a military uniform, delivered a four-flushing “mission accomplished” speech and then invited the enemy to “bring it on”. This is a man whose has created terrorists where there were none and failed to eliminate them where they are. This is a man whose war profiteering cabal has termed American casualties as “militarily insignificant”. Which one of your family members is insignificant?

Then ask yourself, what is the real price of oil? There is a black granite wall in Washington DC that is a monument to arrogance, hubris, mendacity and utter human folly that these people should take a long hard look at. And finally, this is a man who believes he talks to god, that he was chosen to fulfill biblical prophecy and that he and his band of theocratic thugs will deliver us into divine providence. As Albert Einstein once said, “there are two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the first.” One thing is for sure. You are being lied to and it’s worse than you think.

Douglas Hall

Shrewsbury VT

Somali Peace Talks in Nairobi

Hi, I'm wondering if Mr Guled could force these gentlmen you are dealing with for the Day Peace, they could spread in the remote area where they come from. Trust me in this moment fithing is going on some area where people are not aware of your cease fire day. Evereybody thinks about the double faced and many words men who are in Nairobi only to eating Sea food and to have good bed while we are suffering. Last night two young guys killed each other and three passed away for health complicatiopn such as TB (no medicene) Hapatites, Malaria etch.

These members if they knew the reality, they should not think or argue about articles

Please convey this to the warlords, they are only warlords nothing then warlords,

Yusuf Muse

Controversial immunologist faces court case

Spanish immunologist Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, the author of a paper on the genetic origins of Palestinians, has been suspended without pay from the Hospital Doce de Octubre in Madrid, where he heads the department of immunology and molecular biology, after being charged with embezzlement of funds.

Dr Arnaiz-Villena, president of Spain's National Commission of Immunology, was the author of a polemical paper on the genetic origins of Palestinians that was retracted and deleted from records last autumn. In it he said that some Palestinians lived in concentration camps.

The embezzlement charges refer to Dr Arnaiz's "purchase of products not used in his department's healthcare activities; purchase of hospital products used in healthcare activities but in quantities much greater than needed; falsification of statistical data apparently to justify purchases; humiliating treatment of department staff; delay in healthcare activities; and transfer of department products to the university."

Pilar Notario, spokeswoman for the hospital, said the products referred to were mainly laboratory and immunological items, some of which were allegedly transferred without permission to the university for research purposes, resulting in delay in doing immunological tests for patients.

Demitrio DeChiarra

Editor:

Dr Arnaiz-Villenadared dared to announce that Palestinians and Middle Eastern Jews have the same DNA. He is now being discredited in order to discredit his findings, which angered adherents of the idea that Jews constitute a race.

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).