Letters to the Editor, May 9, 2004

The images of abuse in a U.S. run Iraqi prison couldn't be more disturbing. Disturbing too is that Donald Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense knew about this and didn't take immediate action and didn't even inform the leaders in Congress. And as the occupation's military blunders and deaths continue to rise, John Kerry has called for Donald Rumsfeld to resign -- and the Kerry Campaign is asking us to show support for his decision by endorsing his statement here:

The real hypocrisy in this condemnation of Iran's nuclear program by the U.S is that by many accounts, Israel has the most advanced nuclear weapons program in the region, yet, the U.S has guns pointed at yet another Muslim country! Incidentally, the U.S is still continuing its practice of providing arms to Israel. Can there be no doubt as to what contributes to the continued instability in the Middle East!

This is mainly for our American friends from whom media has been hiding many ugly truths of what has been happening for a very long time in our region. Americans are outraged at the pictures they saw coming out of Iraq because somebody finally had the courage and ability to leak them out. Maybe Americans can now also start understanding why Arabs have been and still are outraged by Israeli practices on Palestinians. If you read the following excerpts of reports and articles and/or conduct your own investigation on the net, you shall find out that what is happening to Iraqis today, is a carbon copy of what has been happening to Palestinians for decades and decades. Palestinians deserve the 5 minutes of your attention in reading this information. They are equal human beings who deserve equal humane attention and treatment. Their actions of despair do not result out of nothing.

The Al-Jazeerah Accusers

I note that Al-Jazeerah.info is sometimes accused of being one sided i.e. telling some uncomfortable truths. Perhaps those with opposing views could explain just how the American regime has served the cause of peace and understanding, how it has addressed perceptions of inequitable treatment in the Muslim world, how it has insisted on a fair and equal settlement of the Israeli - Palestinian tragedy, how it has defended the rule of law, how it has championed human rights and upheld the Geneva Convention and how it has strengthened its links with Europe. This may be a difficult task! I would say the regime has learnt nothing whatsoever of the lessons of the last century and has displayed only willful ignorance and bigotry. It is certainly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

Phil Hong

To The People of Iraq:

I would like to tell the people of Iraq how sorry I am of what has happened to them. The war, the torture, the humiliations, the destruction of their land - the toxification with DU of all of their land and water - my heart is bleeding and weeping - for I am ashamed of what Human Beings are capable of doing.

In the name of Humanity: Please know - there are many People of this Earth who are feeling for you and have the deepest regrets for all the pain and suffering brought upon YOU.

Please know: We embrace you as brothers and sisters of ONE EARTH - ONE PEOPLE !

Angie - Germany

Training for Treating Prisoners of War!

I am a 46 year old woman living in Utah. What our country's Troops have done to the Iraq prisoners is disgusting. And one soldier who called in to CNN news said via the phone "we had no training" I thought, "training to what? To be a humane being"? The majority of the people I talk to every day can not stand the way Bush sees the world. We think he is arrogant, does what he wants and does not listen or care about what the citizens (who he works for) think or want. His administration is being run like a dictatorship. Surrounded and cloaked in secrecy. He was quoted and saying " I prayed and God told me to go free the world". This is so dangerous. you have people talking to God or thinking they are on a mission from God you end up with people flying planes into buildings and invading countries. Who the .... does Bush think he is? How arrogant and self righteous he is thinking his view is the best and the only view. I just want you to know that many Americans do not side with this limited sighted dictator.

Moonlight, Utah, USA

Not in our name

We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government,
in our names Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions
of blood for oil Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the nameless Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families
on foreign soil Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed evil Not by our will
and Not in our name We pledge resistance We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war
or for their religion or ethnicity We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice,
freedom and peace Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.

http://www.notinourname.net/pledge_about.html