The Voice of the People
... or at least my own
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... or at least my own | | ||||
August 6, 2002
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Kind persons, you serve no nation that I call my own. Quite frankly, you make me sick. Your argument to "finish the job" in Iraq is suitable for the innoculous game of football, not as pertains to policy decisions that defy common sense, historical perspective, and the sanctity of the American lives who will die down this hole you so self-assured refer to as a "job." Your argument is so filled with lies and fantasy that I will joy in destroying it . What Democratic reforms resulted from Gulf War #1? Really now. Did Saudi Arabia, Eqypt, Syria, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan hear the idea "whose time has come." These rambling statements appear to come from one whose only historical knowledge was gleaned from a healthy combination of "Archie Bunker" and "The Family Circus." Alas, people, indeed, there are other pages in the newspaper. And you speak of the "decision to leave Saddam in power" as having some important bearing to American policy. Arab nationalists have plenty of grievances on our country's foriegn policy that has been helpful to the middle easts dictators and despots for the last 60 years. The Shah of Iran was overthrown by his own people because of the brutality of his dictatorship. Our government supported that dictatorship. Our government also supported Saddam, sold him weapons to help him out, and ignored the moment in 1984 when helping Saddams obtaining the chemical weapons was less important a policy consideration. Like Noriega the Panamanian drug regent, this was another disposable dictator. And lets not overlook (as self-appointed experts seem to do in their elementary opinion columns) that the middle east gets plenty of its weapons from the defense contractors of the United States. A very profitable business to those who only regard the bottom line. "The world that was put on notice" (according to your esteemable words) does not include the Turkish government who have been just as brutal to the Kurds in the Eastern part of that nation, an area more than twice as big as where the Kurds reside in Northern Iraq. The Indonesian archepelago is also not "on notice", despite evidence of military incursions into surrounding islands at the kind request of certain multinational companies, who are no doubt not the least concerned that killing protesters and local natives might not be the best route to democracy. Saudi Arabia and Egypt were not put "on notice" when the 19 terrorists who sacked the Twin Towers all came from organizations in those two states. You got a glimpse on what the Bush Administration really thought of Democracy during the Venezuelan affair earlier this year, and again this last week when a pro-democracy Egyptian was sent to jail for promoting democracy without protest by the Bush faction. Despite the public relations campaigns that were organized after the fact, the evidence is shocking. Let me instead put you "on notice" . Your injudicious remarks do not smack of wisdom, as you no doubt presume, but rather instead, they reek of that hubris of stupidity which unfortunately accrues to those self-inflicted with a rather vain egotism. That you actually call Turkey a democracy, indicates the appalling depth of your ignorance. When the "democratic state" called Turkey passes or decides upon laws of which the military has some disagreement, a junta takes over after calling a "crisis" and institutes new "reforms" more favorable. Democracy is then quickly appointed -- uh, hum, I mean restored -- after a couple of months. At least this has been the Turkish historical experience for the last 80 years. But why ruin an infantile opinion with the brute force of historical knowledge? And the "coincidence" of Turkish friendship you say, alludes not to the well-funded strong stable Turkish military regime astride a region of volatile conflict in Georgia and the Caspian Sea region. This area by the way has the largest oil reserves in the world, more than Saudi Arabia, all owned and desired by a consortium of oil conglomerates and their allies. But since oil has never ever formulated policy decisions in the United States, I'm sure the friendship is due to the word "democracy." That you presume the middle east is wanting the USA to come in and bring democracy is the most hilarious statement I have heard this summer. To a poor Arab, the USA ( behind the friendly faces of profit seekers and their government cronies) has been the one who has supported brutal police squads, who gave military regimes weapons and financial aid, and who supports the global corporations reach at the expense of local proprietors. In the eyes of an Arab, US foreign policy has been self-serving and hypocritical. To assume that an Arab is hungry for a piece of Americana, that every little brown Arab is an American in waiting, is such a vast misunderstanding of the middle east as could be had outside of the third grade. This is like trusting that, just this once, the devil is not really after your soul. One fact that you helplessly could not assert : Experts such as Scott Ritter, who have actually worked for the UN, who have travelled in and out of Iraq for the last decade, do not support the contention that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. Armchair couch potatoes who have unfortunate access to a keyboard and a newspaper column, who have never been in Iraq, who have lots of idle time to dote on theories, who act like they know the facts and yet refuse to view the complete spectrum of world opinion, applauding instead a puppet congressional investigation woefully short on analysis. Such experts could care less about the amount of wasted money not to mention lives that an invasion would involve. All in the name of wanton untruths that would be outright lies were they come from a mind with more intelligence. And I am sure that the same oil cabals are involved who have written the foreign policy of the middle east for the last 80 years. These conglomerates own many a middle eastern statesmen, have set up police states, and other illegitamate organizations simply to make sure that control of the black gold was assured absolutely. Is it only a coincidence that the new rulers of Afghanistan were former executives with oil firms, as with all of the neighboring governments in the region? Have you heard about Kazhakstan on the nightly news? Democracy was never a part of any goal of US foreign policy in the middle east, and those who say otherwise have probably had an expense account with some lobby group at some time in their past. What is going on here is nothing less than a conspiracy to sell the country on war so that Defense contracts and weapons contracts to military-defense contracts will have a profitable future in the next 10 years or so. According to the reputable GAO recent report 50% of the "spendable" (non-social security based) budget goes to Defense Contractors and 25% of the defense department budget cannot be accounted for with an auditable paper trail. George Bush and his political allies would also like to side-step the public's mind onto war and the flag, rather than the integrity of public officials and the economy. And while the nation salutes the flag, our self-appointed patriots swindle the public. And You, whether you know it or not, are a part of this conspiracy of greed and stupidity. Shame on you. Please do the country a favor and go away. Gino Napoli 490 31st Avenue # 204 San Francisco, California 94121 High School Math Teacher Terra Nova High School Pacifica, California jonsdarc@mindspring.com home: (415) 751 - 1499 |