Letters to the Editor, December 8, 2004

Election in Iraq: A legal perspective

Dear Madam/Sir

I am a Polish lawyer who is keen on the current Iraqi constitutional process. As we know, the Iraqi election is coming. I am looking for, therefore, a couple of information on legal basis of one. There are several orders of CPA in this regard. Unfortunately, the latest legal acts of Iraqi Interim Government are not accessible for public. Could you send me one in English version (official or unofficial translation). I mean first the Emergency Law which has passed in August, 2004.

I hope you help me.

Your Faithfuly

Krzysztof Balon Poland

mailto:krzysbal@poczta.fm

Editor: Any assistance for Mr. Balon is appreciated for that matter.

Osama bin Ladin ... Alive: An Asset for Pakistan

Dear Editor,

After 9/11 incident, Osama has helped improve the ties between US and Pakistan. The latter has receive military aid, lifting of suspension to sell aircraft and other ‘rewards’ for helping to purge out ‘terrorism’ still harbouring in her country.

With Osama still alive and his network operating in Pakistan, Pakistan and US are the best of sleeping partners now. Osama has been the catalyst in the improved relationship. If Pakistan could create the perception that Osama is alive and his network is still operating, US would continue to support Pakistan. This is analogous to the situation in Israel where the neighbors are perceived as enemy and threat that require US to arm them to the teeth. This fragile relationship will break in an instant, if Osama is gone and the network decapitated, as Pakistan democratic and human rights issues are still questionable. But surprisingly US is silent on both these issues – for now.

Fauzi Shahab, Malaysia

War Crimes on Nightline

"War Crimes on Nightline" Dec. 6, by Mike Whitney contains accusations that are completely false or are the illegal actions of an individual and are not U.S policy.

This is just one of many (...) you print negatively slanting the coalition's attempt to bring Democracy to the Iraqi people.

I served in the U.S Army years ago and I know what U.S. combat policies are.

Any objective observer recognizes which side has policies that are an offense to man and God.

Karl Luther, USA

FDR vs. President Bush

Many people object to the war in Iraq, and to the way that Bush was "on vacation" all the time before September 11, and how he "ignored" a memo stating that bin Laden wanted to hijack airplanes in the U.S.

On October 30, 2000 President Clinton signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act. In doing so, it has been revealed that the military leaders at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941 were cut off from vital information that the White House had gathered in the weeks leading up to the attack. FDR wanted to Japan to make the first move, and they did. The gist of the story as I understand it, is that FDR kept the bulk of the U.S. Fleet at Hawaii, in order to lure Japan to attack there. The military leader at the time objected, so FDR fired him and replaced him with a fresh new mind.

According to the article: "At least 1,000 Japanese military and diplomatic radio messages per day were intercepted by monitoring stations operated by the U.S. and her Allies, and the message contents were summarized for the White House. The intercept summaries were clear: Pearl Harbor would be attacked on December 7, 1941, by Japanese forces advancing through the Central and North Pacific Oceans."

http://www.purewatergazette.net/december7.htm

So FDR knew the when, the where, and the how. President Bush did not know the when, did not know the where, and no one fathomed the how (well, maybe some folks with more NSA involvement did, but you get my drift.)

This is all history though. We can dissect it over and over again, and it won't change what happened. We can only change how vigorously we work towards thwarting attacks in the future.

And before you comment, I think FDR was a great leader and did a lot for this country. I am not a conspiracy theorist follower.

Lawrence Brownlee, USA

Academic Boycott of Israel moves to new stage

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,9959,1366286,00.html