Letters to the Editor, May 14, 2004

A Mother's Thoughts on Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, as I looked at a photograph of American soldiers releasing attack dogs on a terrified, naked man, I thought of other American mothers seeing their children for the first time -- transformed into torturers.

This is the logic of a colonial war of conquest; fascist indoctrination was used to prepare them for this and to suppress our domestic resistance. Powerful interests in the US, Israel, and Britain are responsible for this unprovoked war against the sovereign people of Iraq . Legions of slick, well-paid propagandists prepared the American people ideologically through unremitting barrages of ultra-nationalist, obscure religious, and clearly racist appeals and, of course, with lies and fear mongering. They have wrapped up plunder and torture in our flag and called it 'Humanitarian Intervention' and 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'.

On Mother's Day, I thought, with deep admiration, of Iraqi mothers lined up outside of the prisons demanding their children's release and knowing of the horrors within. I thought of the mothers of heroic Falluja dodging Marine sniper fire to retrieve the bodies of their precious children or to bring food to the weary fighters. Their children have also prevented the intellectual authors of Bush's 'Permanent War Doctrine' from invading neighboring countries as was planned. The mothers of Syria and Iran are surely grateful. The more Iraqi people sacrifice, the sooner American troops will have to leave and after all the cruel suffering and deception many soldiers will join with the growing anti-imperialist forces in America and elsewhere to make the intellectual authors of the 'great lie' face popular justice for their crimes against the Iraqi people and all humanity.

Robin Eastman-Abaya New York

Abuse vs Torture

As Canada’s public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is to facilitate and inform public debate. Regrettably, it sees itself instead as an instrument for moulding public opinion.

The CBC invariably brands Iraqi opponents of the American occupation as “insurgents”, “radicals”, and “extremists.” How many Iraqis have to resist the occupation before their protest becomes legitimate?

CBC is now reporting the “abuse” and “humiliation” of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American forces. À la Rumsfeld, CBC carefully avoids the word “torture”. The incongruity of the deeds and the language used to describe it is insulting. Does CBC think Canadians are stupid? Rumsfeld described the treatment of prisoners as “blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman”. If CBC calls this “abuse”, I shudder to think what constitutes torture.

Soldiers commented that these actions reflected deliberate policy formulated by commanding officers. Even so, CBC news persisted in its absurdity. It reported investigations into the murder of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. The word “abuse” was used a dozen times, at least. “Mistreatment” was thrown in for good measure. But “torture”, never!

What is CBC’s definition of “torture”? It seems to depend not on the act but the actors. Are foreigners insensible of torture, and Westerners incapable of inflicting it? If the roles were reversed, would CBC content itself with comments on “abuse” and “humiliation”? Here is a new word for you: complicity.

Such language denies the suffering of the victims. It denies their humanity. It confirms the paradigm under which such suffering was conceived, sanctioned, and executed. More insidiously, it blinds us to ourselves, deadens our senses, and deprives us of our humanity. Abuse? It is clear that language is being abused. Truth is being abused. The listening public is being abused. Infantile in its deceit, the CBC is degrading public discourse. This, more than anything terrorists can do, harms the democracy, freedom, and justice that we espouse.

G. Pounder, Canada

Saddam’s Lawyer Says Access to Client Denied

I thought that Saddam had rights as a POW under the Geneva Convention as some US senators and top military personnel pointed out on several occasions yesterday to give us an example of the respect America other wise (namely other than the example of Abu Ghraib) had for the Geneva Convention!! The way the Americans arrested Saddam, they way they displayed him, the way they displayed the bodies of his sons, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and on and on..... the US is very respectful indeed of the Geneva conventions and/or International Law and even agreements which it itself signed...

Cherifa

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/12/2004&Cat=2&Num=14

Saddam’s Lawyer Says Access to Client Denied

AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) -- Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers said Monday they had received no response from the U.S. administration in Iraq and the International Committee of the Red Cross to repeated requests to see their client. Lawyers representing the ousted leader also said they were ready to represent Iraqi prisoners abused by U.S. and British soldiers, whose pictures angered people around the world. "We are willing to take legal action against the U.S. administration and the Red Cross if they don't allow us to see Saddam," said Jordanian lawyer Mohammad Rashdan, one of a 20-member legal team appointed by Saddam's wife to represent him. Rashdan told Reuters in Amman his team had received no response so far to requests to visit Saddam. The U.S.-appointed Governing Council is setting up a war crimes tribunal and has already chosen judges to try Saddam, who was captured in December, on charges that may include genocide and crimes against humanity. Washington has said 66-year-old Saddam, whose interrogation was being led by the Central Intelligence Agency, should be tried in Iraq. Rashdan told Reuters no war crimes tribunal had the right to try the former Iraqi president because the U.S.-led invasion that toppled him was itself illegal. "It was an illegal act and every step or decision that follows, including forming the court that would try Saddam, is illegitimate as well," Rashdan said. Human rights groups fear Iraq under U.S. occupation lacks the people and institutions to conduct fair trials. Salem Chalabi, a U.S.-educated lawyer in charge of administering the special tribunal that will try Saddam, said he expected prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the former Iraqi strongman and officials of his Ba'ath Party. Rashdan said the legal team, hailing from the Arab world, the United States and France, was ready to represent the abused Iraqi prisoners.

What Bush should say

As President of the USA and Commander in Chief I wish to apologize unreservedly for the repeated political misjudgments which have so humiliated not only Iraqis but America itself. In particular, I apologize for:

Starting an unnecessary and entirely avoidable war against a country that had nothing to do with 9/11
For following an aggressive, illegal and immoral policy of preemptive strike
For misleading the American public about WMD
For scorning and ridiculing the UN and for presenting to it false and misleading intelligence information
For criticizing Hans Blix who we essentially sent on a fool’s errand
For failing to heed the well meant advice of true friends such as Chirac and Schroeder as well as that from Russia and China
For the shock and awe assault on an essentially defenceless civilian city and the death and suffering this and other actions directed by me inflicted on innocent civilians and for the glorification of these actions
For cloaking this aggression in terms of notions of humanitarian aid and civilization
For the deaths of US soldiers who, unlike myself, were caught at the sharp end in a brutal occupation
For operating double standards in almost every aspect of my policies
For betraying America’s commitment to human rights and encouraging the illegal detention of individuals without charge in humiliating conditions
For being unaware that my policy of fighting terrorism by any means would inevitably lead to the torture and abuse of prisoners and for failing to make any attempt to control the military or to respond to allegations made by reputable international agencies

As President I must take the blame for this catalogue of disaster. I have shamed my country and myself. I am therefore not fit to be President and resign with immediate effect. I hope the next President will restore balance, integrity and decency and work for peace and understanding between peoples.

Phil Hong

The USA is building roads and infrastructure in Iraq

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/30820.htm

Look at here for the roads and other infrastructure build.

This war cost money and lives to USA and others now. All the oil coming out of Iraq would not pay for it. Under Saddam all the money was going to France and Russia to buy guns and buy him Palaces.

USA is helping Iraqi people because USA is vulnerable now. Before they were ok helping corrupt leaders like Shah and Saddam and other African dictators now they realize that, ignoring suppressed Muslim people is costly. Best thing happened to Afghanistan was USA invasion same thing for Iraq.

People in our countries always suffer not because of USA and other imperialistic powers but because of our own corrupt leaders.

British invaded India, Iraq with few troops because corrupt rulers of Muslim world were weak and corrupt.

No one can exploit Muslims if Muslims wake up and attack the real enemy within. The corrupt religious and/or political leaders ,cronies and good old , boys exclusive clubs.

I am a Turkish student come to USA with a lot of sacrifice and luck since I could not find work in my home country.

T J, a Turkish student in the USA

Muslims and Jews

I was born a Jew of Jewish parents, but I am no longer one. This is because I have completely and whole-heartedly rejected religion. Any religion.

I realized that religion creates division among equal peoples of the Earth. With division, there is no progress toward the common goal of humanity's future prosperity and survival. Therefore, simply put - division equals illogicality. It is NOT logical or correct. The root of the current problem in the Middle East (which isn't really current, as the last 2000 years have shown), is Palestine/Israel. When the Israeli state was created in 1948 by Christians and Jews, it was completely understandable that Arab/Muslim nations rose in defiance. It would have been the same way had Muslims taken control over the most important Christian and Jewish holy sites. But killing over land is not new to humans. Every race and faith have indulged in it.

I've asked myself, would Muslims have any issue with Jews, on this Earth, if there were no Jews in Palestine/Israel, and Jews had no need to be there? Would Jews have any issue with Muslims, if there were no Muslims there, nor did they need to be? What if there was no historical animosity in that region? The answer of course is NO, for the same reason that American Aboriginal Indians have no historical animosity with Chinese people. Although their religions, beliefs and backgrounds are completely different, they have never come into conflict with each other. Why? Because they have no issue with each other over land, nor have they ever.

I believe that what humanity on this Earth has been witnessing in the last 100 years, is the beginning of the DEATH of religion. Religion has begun its slow decline in the civilized world with humanity's better understanding of the world, and the universe around us. The new religion is science and technology. Truth should always be the goal to mastering one's environment, NOT faith. Faith will not put food on your dinner plate.

I believe that the friction among Christians, Jews and Muslims we are seeing in the world today, is due to exposure to this truth. This truth threatens religion. Religious fundamentalists, whatever faith they may be, do not want to accept a new type of thinking as it goes against traditional, long-established belief. Equality and women is one single example, just look at the difference between the Western and the Muslim world.

It upsets me to no end to see such constant misery, anger, sadness and revenge of people unto people. I am almost at the point of not caring any more. I believe it would be beneficial for humanity if NOBODY had the land of Palestine-Israel. I believe all traces of its dark and bloody past and present should be gone. However, I am comforted knowing that this process of religious decline has already begun. As I have said this is evident and apparent. Do not get me wrong, I do think that religion will always be with mankind in some way. It will never totally disappear from the Earth as long as man has the power of free will and thought.

Unfortunately, it is also this free will that will always cause man to hate man, and neighbour to kill neighbour. We humans, Christian-Muslim-Jew, are our own worst enemy. We never ultimately LEARN. For you see, from an atheist's point of view, this perpetual misery, anger, sadness and revenge is all for NOTHING.

Thank you for your time Sir,

I am Sincerely yours,

Derek Wince

Editor: I agree with you that the cause of the conflict is land and resources beneath it (oil in this case). This means that religion has nothing to do with it. Jews and Muslims lived together for thousands of years without friction, and the best example was in Andalusia (Arab Spain). The problem started with the establishment of the Zionist movement in 1897, which had a goal to bring European Zionists to Palestine, not as immigrants but as invaders who dispossessed the Palestinian people. So, the real problem is not religion. Rather, it is greed and negation of the existence of the other. We need to work on coexistence and mutual respect irrelevant of a person's belief system. The most logical way out of the abyss is the implementation of the UN resolutions regarding the Palestinian people and their rights.

Protest against torture of Iraqis

Excellent! The treatment of Abu Ghraib POW's is despicable, abhorrent & disgusting. It needs to to denounced in the strongest terms. However, the grisly beheading that took place in retaliation seems even worse. Isn't it?

Truly an eye for an eye, making the whole world blind!

Anyway, I hope that people are being fair minded and are protesting the latter behavior too.

In fact, maybe people should just protest the war itself since that's the root cause of all this! Or protest the Bush Administration for starting this stupid "war on terror". Or Bin Laden/Al Qaida for giving him the rationale. Or actually both of them - for waging wars & killing innocent people.

Shiraz Kanga

WHO ARE THE PRIVATE CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ?

Howard Dean, the US Democratic party’s early favourite for 2004 presidential nomination race, while interviewed by Tim Sebastian on BBC’s Hard talk, spoke of President Bush’s obsession to privatize security forces. That points to a still untold story of how much Israeli security agencies have been involved in sneaking into Iraq, under the cover of ‘security contractors’ and taking out their own hate agenda on Iraqi people.

There is nothing secret about Israel’s specializing in all different sectors of waging war around the world. From planning, strategizing, to supplying of state of art armament systems and backup facilities and personnel for specialized security management, Israel has been the biggest marketer of the whole array of real war games in the real world.

It is suggested that the 4 private security men so violently attacked, burned and showcased by an enraged crowd near Faluja, suffered their fate, as they were mistaken to be Israelis masquerading as private contract security agents. People are further convinced that Israelis have penetrated Iraq, under the tutelage of the US armed forces, when the US revenge to the four killed, was so disproportioned and poisoned as to take the lives of 600 innocent civilians of Faluja. It was classic Israeli asymmetric style honed against Palestinians.

Bush /Cheney /Rumsfeld /Wolfowitz have much to account for their highly personalized conduct of war against Iraqi people, misusing their unchallenged democratic credentials within their own country.

GHULAM MUHAMMED, Mumbai – India

Torture and Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners: The other side of the story

I just want to remind everyone that at the same time these "prisoner abuses" were going on, Al Jazeera was showing the attached photographs of injured and killed American soldiers. Not to condone what any of our servicemen did, but put in the proper perspective, there is no comparison. One can only imagine what was going through our servicemen's heads when they saw some of these pictures on Arab TV. There are always two sides to every story. Let us not forget what the Iraqis and other Arabs were taking pictures of.

Very truly yours,

Arthur E. Narverud Napa, California

I am unable to send this email to my Congressman, Mike Thompson and Senator, Dianne Feinstein because they do not post their email address.

Save Our Courts

As the outrage of rape, torture and murder unfolds in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. forces, the Bush cabal is hard at work pushing their radical agenda inside the country here. Much of what is being done is getting in under the "radar" as so many are pre-occupied with the outrage in Iraq, and rightly so...but at the same time we cannot allow the situation in Iraq to completely divert our attention from the attempted political and ideological take over of our federal courts.

Bush has already used his power of executive orders to place more than one person on the federal bench that were being filibustered in the Senate bypassing the "advice and consent" of that body. Currently, his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the D.C. circuit court is being held up in the Senate, and rightly so. Bush has nominated a man for the second highest court in the country that has only been a lwayer for 13 years, has never tried a case, and has no judicial experience at all. On top of that, the D.C. court hears labor cases, environmental case and Kavanaugh is strongly Bushite in his opposition to environmental policies and labor rights he sees as detrimental to the country across the board.

If this attempted take over of our courts is not stopped, what will the "rule of law" become? What will be our protection then? Where will we turn for justice and our "day in court." Who will stand between us the people and those that wish only to use we the people to further their own agendas, whatever they may be?

While the mess that BushCo created in Iraq spins out of control we cannot allow ourselves the luxuary of becoming so pre-occupied that Bush is allowed to stack our courts with political ideologues without so much as a wimper from us.

www.saveourcourts.org is an excellent source for solid information on and about our courts and what is happening with them. If we loose our courts, we loose everything.

Jack Dalton www.ommp.org