Letters to the Editor, November 22, 2004

Bush and Osama

Millions of Americans hate Bush and his cohorts, but we are a nation of ........ We see a terrorist behind every bush. We are afraid of the CIA and the FBI and Homeland Security. Bush won the election because of fear. It seems that Bush and Osama bin Lauden have a pack with the devil. the Bush's and the bin Laudens are old friends and business partners. It wasn't accidental that Osama appeared on TV just before the election. Bush and Osama planned it to terrify the American People.

Pete Peterson

Iraqi police deaths?

I've come to the conclusion, based on the reckless disregard to life I've seen in the last few months that Iraqis have toward their fellow citizens/Muslim brethren, that you would never see Americans (or any Western hemisphere country for that matter) or Israelis blowing up and killing each other so wantonly, even if they were occupied by a foreign enemy power.

It is most sad and unfortunate that the culture existent in Iraq does not currently have the basic civility needed for them to help themselves out of the mess brought upon them by both Bush and Hussein (who I blame equally as Mr. Saddam could have avoided his countrymen's deaths but opted instead to "save face" against the greater aggressor, a negative trait I'm aware is rampant throughout the Arab kingdoms.

Based on my limited knowledge of Muslim culture, the only reason I can comprehend for the continuous murderous actions of these people against their own, is because of the concept of rationalized "martyrdom" which is incessantly driven into the heads of the masses by their zealous religious clerics. Martyrdom, to my Western frame of thought, can only be positive if no other human lives are taken in the process of helping to save lives as it would defeat the purpose.

Derek Wince

Editor: Before I attempt to reply, I'd like to state my wish for all Iraqis and Americans to be safe and saved from this terrible war.

There are two wars going on in Iraq at the same time. There is a US-Iraqi war, in which the US is trying to pacify Iraqis to accept its occupation of their country. Iraqis, particularly the Sunni Muslims among them are fighting back to rid themselves of the US occupation.

The second is a civil war between Iraqis who are fighting against the US occupation and Iraqis who are cooperating or collaborating with the US occupiers. These are more bitterly fought because they are perceived as traitors to their country.

Arabs are not the only ones in history who have been involved in devastating civil wars. The French revolution was a civil war, so was the devastating American civil war. Actually, about 600,000 Americans were killed in the four years of the Civil War in 1860-1864.

During World War II, the French Vichy government fought with the Nazi German occupiers against its own people, exactly like the situation of the Allawi government in Iraq now. The French resistance also fought against their fellow Frenchmen who worked for the Nazis. When Germany was defeated, a lot of bloodshed happened when the French resistance had the upper hand.

In Vietnam, there was a much more fierce civil war than what's going on in Iraq right now. There was no mercy from either the South or the North. The Viet Kong fighters would be executed in the streets by the South Vietnamese forces. The North Vietnamese had no mercy for the defeated southerners at the end.

If you still want more examples, you can read about Cambodia, Angola, Rwanda, Bosnia, Nicaragua ... etc.

Finally, even the concept of martyrdom, or sacrificing the self for the benefit of the group, is not limited to Arabs or Muslims. Japanese Kamikaze Pilots in World War II did exactly that when they would hit US ships with their planes, instead of just dropping their bombs on ships. In almost all wars, generals sacrifice some units as a tactic to serve their strategic goals. Individual soldiers volunteer to do some sacrificial act to rescue the rest of the unit.

War is the sin and the problem of the human civilization. Humans throughout history resisted foreign invaders and occupiers. Iraqis and Palestinians are no exception. We will do it in America if any foreign power invades our country. Won't we?

An Open Letter to Racist MSNBC

Mr. Neal Shapiro President NBC 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10112-0002

Mr. Rick Kaplan President MSNBC 1 MSNBC Plaza Secaucus, NJ 07094-2419

People,

Don Imus is anything but reflective or civilized, in his views concerning the people that make up a third of the world. If remarks of that nature were to be directed toward him or indeed toward both you Neal, and Rick, then lawsuits would be flying fast and furious at whoever that person might be. So why the double standard - money alone can't justify allowing this Imus to keep on putting out whatever filth he chooses to pour into the national airwaves that are not his to defile.

It is way past time that the public in the USA began to finally get serious about three very important points, concerning those who use the airwaves here for fun and profit.

First; the FCC commission needs to be restructured, without the services of Mr. Powell.

Second; Legislation must be drawn up, seriously charging the networks for their private use of the airwaves that belong to the public, (to include retroactive payments going back as far as legally permitted) and, the public's share of your profits, needs to be funneled back into the social programs that have not been funded by your Commander-in-Thief.

Third; As your "news" divisions have been demoted to mere entertainment sub-divisions of your networks, all references to the word "news" should be forever denied to you and yours for any commercial purposes. What you broadcast is propaganda, filth, and gossip - there is only something like about 3 seconds of "news" value in any of your programming, all the rest of it is either infomercials or outright lies!

There needs to be a complete and renewed adherence to "truth in advertising laws" and since you no longer have news programming, you need to stop using that identifier as having anything to do with what you put out over the airwaves.

Imus should become your national mascot - because he is EXACTLY what you stand for and WHO you collectively have become. If you think there will not be payback for the trash-talk of Don Imus, think again - because the world is now too small for anyone to continuously spew HATE, without others of like mind, but of opposing views, to reverse the situation and make the networks and Don Imus into their targets of opportunity, just as Imus has used the people of the Middle East.

Think about this please, because this is far more of a crime than just some dj, running his filthy mouth. Who knows, if you anger the public often enough, perhaps all that stuff at the beginning of this note might just become serious legislation - and I know you wouldn't want that!

Jim Kirwan

Don Imus and his racist comments

My letter to MSNBC and CBS Please cut and past the e-mails below and send them your comments.

Re: Don Imus and his racist comments Nov. 20, 2004

Dear Messrs. Shapiro and Kaplan:

While usually nothing is shocking to me these days, I am absolutely appalled at the hateful and inciteful racist remarks made on the Don Imus show. He says Palestinians are "filthy animals and do not deserve to live". While I certainly understand the concept of freedom of expression under the first amendment, I doubt whether any talk show host calling for the extermination of "filthy Jews", or the lynching of "dirty Blacks" would be ignored or treated so casually. Instead, there would be a public outrage that this country has never known.

Since MSNBC had no problem in firing talk show host Michael Savage for his homophobic comments when he told a caller to "get AIDS and die," I expect MSNBC will take the appropriate steps to have Mr. Imus removed. So his venom will no longer permeate the airwaves.

Marlene Newesri

falasteensadiqa05@yahoo.com New York City

Please cut and past the following e-mails and send them your comments.

neal.shapiro@nbc.com rick.kaplan@msnbc.com imus@msnbc.com alana.russo@msnbc.com leslie.schwartz@msnbc.com fccinfo@fcc.gov

Peace is patriotic!

Michael Santomauro

David Walsh’s article “US Media applauds destruction of Fallujah”

I applaud your publication of David Walsh’s article “US Media applauds destruction of Fallujah”, however, I believe that the surface of this issue has only been scratched.

An often unmentioned casualty of the Bush Administration’s "War on Terror" has been the concept of truth in media. Much of the discussion in the American-led media has been the avoidance of “Another Vietnam”, the connotation is commonly believed to refer to the large number of American troop deaths in Vietnam.

While this may be true, the American media during the Vietnam era was allowed to broadcast information that was detrimental to the war effort. I ask you to consider the manner in which the Americans have conducted themselves in control of the media and thereby control of the American populace. By controlling the media, the deaths of countless Americans have not been avoided, but rather the “At-home” sentiment towards the war has been controlled which has allowed the government to do as it desires without the questioning of the media that was mentioned in Mr. Walsh’s article, and which has allowed the US government to “Avoid another Vietnam”.

The most obvious example of this is the recent lambasting of the reporter in Fallujah who chose to report the truth regarding the American Marines treatment of wounded.

Shannon Skov-Rackette

Ph D Candidate

Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~shannonian/

Nuremberg Trials not valid anymore

The destruction of Iraq continues with total disregard for international law. “The crime hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law: wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or destruction not justified by military necessity” (Nuremberg convention Principle VI, 1945).

According to this definition, the Bush Administration’s destruction of Fallujah, Ramadi, Tall Afar, Najaf and Samarra constitutes war crimes for which the Nazis were tried and executed.

To initiate a war of aggression is, very simple, the “supreme international crime” condemned at Nuremberg. "A pre-emptive war is a crime against humanity and peace" (Jackson - Nuernberg trials)

Angela Badelt, Germany

Democracy à l’Americaine

Countries slated for Bush’s new US-style ‘democracy of the dead’ are getting worried. No wonder!

Acrostic	Alternative	Associations
Death	Destruction, Detention	Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantamemo
Empire	Everywhere	Das americische Reich
Murder	Moral Majority	Abu Graib, Falluja
Oil	Outrage	Shock and Awe, Moral Values
Crimes	Civilian Casualties	War crimes, Crimes against humanity
Racist	Race : ‘The Chosen’	Moral Values, Rapture, Liberated dead
Aggression	Allied Invasion,	Illegal, aggressive, immoral occupation
Crusade	Christian Certainty	Collateral damage, Collective punishment
Yoke	Yes, Sir	Country destroyed but democratic

This is not the ‘old’ responsible democracy’ of Europe, of Runnymeade, The Magna Carta etc. Nor is it the democracy of Jefferson. It is a completely new take on democracy I could never have imagined – a jackboot democracy. A perversion.

Phil Hong