Letters to the Editor, April 4, 2004

In memory of the genocide of 800,000 Rwandans mostly Tutsi’s killed in 100 days beginning on April 6, 1994 while the world, especially U.S., France, Belgium and the UN did nothing to stop it. .

For my friend Michael who was my inspiration in a conversation that took place about 15 years ago when he asked me if I knew about a candy called annihilators. They were favorites of his students in an inner city elementary school. Oh, you mean Now and Later’s, I answered remembering my own children with the contraban a few years earlier. Now and Later is a sugary, chewy taffy with artificial flavoring and color additives originally manufactured by Kraft Foods.

The Bush Lie Detector Test

Motto: We lie, you die.

By Phil G Hong

Bush	Truth	Who was right?
Iraq war is legal (but hell we don’t care if it is or isn’t)	An aggressive, illegal, immoral invasion	The UN, France, Germany, China, Russia…
Iraqis have WMD (at least we pretend they do- Powell almost fooled the UN, didn’t he?)	They have no WMD at all. Israel does.	Blix, France, Germany..
Iraqis have chemical and biological weapons (after all we ought to know - we supported both Saddam and the Taleban not long ago)	Iraq has no chemical or biological weapons. Israel probably does.	Blix, France, Germany..
Iraq poses a clear and imminent threat to the US of A	You are joking! Not even to Israel.	Everyone else
Iraq had links to El Qaeda.	As a secular regime it certainly did not. But now the invasion has brought this about. Well done, guys!	Everyone else.
Iraq screwed up my Dad’s re-election	OK. True	Yes. That’s why thousands of people - including US soldiers - had to die?
I got all these great weapons – hell I just gotta use them	OK. Agreed.	Yes. Your supporters get money for knocking down Iraq and then money for building it up.
I’m not a crusader	You certainly appear to be a narrow-minded bigot.	Let others decide.
It was a ‘humane war’ – I loved it - great shock and awe turkey shoot	It killed over 13,000 ordinary people in Iraq – we hated it	The term itself is an oxymoron. Bush appears completely devoid of any human compassion or empathy for others.
We conducted ‘surgical strikes’	Surgery saves lives.	This is a perverse metaphor. Make sure you don’t see the truth on Arab TV stations.
It made the world a safer place	You are joking!	The Spanish people, not Aznar
It will bring democracy to Iraq – but hell we wanna get outa there quick now	A US appointed puppet regime in place	It’s far too dangerous for elections
We will bring democracy to Afghanistan too – hell but we need to play to the US election gallery	Security is impossible in Afghanistan – 90% of the country is not under central control	Not the US
The Iraqis will love us and probably become born-again Christians and/or honorary Mid-Westerners	No chance – dislike of / distrust of America has increased enormously around the world	Everyone else
The Iraq war is over…………	No need to comment	Not Bush
Security is improving in Iraq	You what? Did I see the news or did I see the news?	Not Bush
The US is defending liberty and human rights – just forget the hypocrisy and double standards.	The US is violating human rights every day in Guantanemo through the indefinite detention without trial of suspects in degrading conditions.	Just wait till US prisoners are detained in the same fashion elsewhere to obtain a revised US opinion. Will Spain invade Africa and set up concentration camps or prosecute according to the law?
All opponents of occupation in Iraq/Palestine are terrorists – please don’t screw this up for me – it’s my re-election ticket	According to international law any country that is invaded has the legal right to resist.	Wrong again. Would the US itself would welcome invaders? Kinda doubt it.

Sadly of course, no matter how airtight the case against Bush and his gang is made they really don't care at all. Isn’t it remarkable how they worked so strenuously and determinedly to start the wrong war and how little (if anything) they have done to resolve key conflicts and to foster understanding and peace in the world. They have served America and humanity very badly and the absence of any glimmerings of a twin-track approach explains our widely-felt despair. I would categorize the Bushies' truth rating as low to very low.

Phil G Hong