Letters to the Editor, May 22, 2004

Time to wake up and look in the mirror!

Real Iraqi civilians continue to die at weddings and real Palestinian demonstrators are fired on and killed (murdered) by tanks and/or gunships. The nature of Busharon's 'humane wars' (the very idea was ridiculous!) and the deadly results of the 'surgical strikes' (surgery no longer saves lives we note!) are now all too apparent to the whole world.

Excuse me asking but which side said it was 'civilised'?

Phil Hong

American bombing of Wedding Party

Yesterday, the first report I read on the Internet of the American terrorist attack on Iraqi civilians quoted the hospital director in Qaim and, I believe, the Deputy Police Chief in Ramadi as saying between 40 and 45 civilians were killed and that all were members of the wedding party. I generally print all such stories since the facts will not show up in the mainstream press or on US cable news. They didn't. CNN and others are still embedded with the US military. I had hoped to find the article on Al Jazeerah but did not. I think the confirmation of these atrocities by an Iraqi assistant police chief would be very persuasive and exactly the information that I would send to CNN and the Washington Post and challenge them to publicize. I would certainly appreciate any leads if you can locate the story.

Hamilton Brown

Editor: Two main news articles were published about the incident on May 20. They include reports from eyewitnesses, family members, and hospital officials.

Over 41 Iraqi Civilians Killed During US Bombing of a Wedding Party

Mourners Say Musicians Hussain and Mohaned Al-Ali, Among Dead at Iraqi Wedding US Raid

Israeli discrimination against Palestinians

You need to do more reports on incidences of classic discrimination and violations of civil rights against Arabs in Israel and in the Palestinian occupied territories. The pro-Likud spinners on Democratic Underground(messageboard for American Democrats) www.democraticunderground.com in the foreign affairs/ Israel- Palestine section, really expose themselves as right-wing conservatives and racists whenever these stories are posted, and it is a good way to weed them out. We have a terrible time with neocon infiltrators pretending to be Democrats. It intimidates the cowardly leadership of the Democratic Party then they kowtow to the AIPAC lobby. War stories in and of themselves aren't helpful because they will just claim that Israel is defending itself suicide bombings, and use the collateral damage defense. The other problem is that this issue of actual racism against Arabs isn't covered much, so the articles that get posted are few and far between. If they are not recent ones they get locked. One other thing you could do that would be helpful. Much of times even suicide bombings against the IDF are reported in the American and Israeli press as generic suicide bombings, leaving people with the impression that it is against unarmed civilians.

Jennifer Brice

“Let Freedom Ring”