Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2008, pages 57-58

Other People's Mail

Compiled by Kate Hilmy and Delinda Hanley

Sad Milestone: 4,000 Dead

To The New York Times, March 25, 2008

Iraq, $5,000 per second? “So?” some will say. Interestingly, this one little word—“So?”—was also Vice President Dick Cheney’s response last week when he was asked what he thought about polls that indicated two-thirds of Americans believe that the war in Iraq was not worth fighting.

Perhaps someone should tell the “So?”-sayers that it is the people’s money that is being squandered in Iraq; that it is the people’s will that is being scorned; and that it is our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and friends—4,000 of them—who have given their lives. For “So?”?

Dorian de Wind, Austin, TX (the writer is a retired Army major)

Made a Killing

To the San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 2008

On his recent, heavily protected trip to Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney proclaimed the Iraq war a “success.” While I hate to agree with anything he says, the war for him was indeed a success. It was a great success for Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Blackwater mercenaries and all the rest of Cheney’s friends, who have made and will continue to make a killing on this war and occupation.

But for the families of the almost 4,000 Americans who have been killed and for those who have been maimed; for the almost 1 million Iraqi dead; for the 4 million Iraqi refugees; for those who now live in a ruined country with almost no electricity or potable water and a degraded health care system, the war and occupation have been anything but a success. It has been a tragedy and one which may well come back to haunt us.

Jan Bauman, Mill Valley, CA

Five Years and Counting

To The New York Times, March 18, 2008

Thank you for including the essays of the “experts on military and foreign affairs” on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war and occupation (Op-Ed, March 16). The request for what surprises they’ve encountered since the start of the war exposed some of the callous indifference to the cause they once championed so tirelessly.

It is perfectly clear that the neocons of the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute will not only dodge any responsibility for their role in this catastrophe but be perfectly happy throwing their complicit administration under the bus as well.

It is astonishing that Danielle Pletka could seriously propose that the Iraqis have no “freedom gene” (since they couldn’t or wouldn’t submit willingly to an armed occupation?).

Like children playing with matches as the fire rages around them, they’ll blame the trees with a straight face.

William Bronson, Brooklyn, NY

Liberation by Bombing

To the Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2008

McCain’s record is not only mixed on Iraq, it’s a product of an insane ideology: that you can liberate people by bombing them. President Bush has said many times that he believes Osama bin Laden is evil because he uses violence to achieve a political objective—you know, kind of like implementing regime change through shock and awe. Anyone who doesn’t see the irony here is not fit to be the leader of the free world, and that includes McCain.

Chris Yang, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Not Another War President

To the Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2008

The thought of another four years with a president who, among other things, so easily confuses Iran, Iraq and al-Qaeda makes me physically ill. How can we be sure that McCain would know where to send all those troops for the next 100 years?

Joanne Polvy Cohen, Sherman Oaks, CA

Too Many Years of War in Iraq

To the Detroit Free Press, March 20, 2008

All of us need to work at getting rid of war now—all of us, conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, youths, the elderly, middle-aged, men, women, big-city people, Michigan people.

The usual reasons for ending war are sufficient: the horrible losses of flesh and blood, the terrible fiscal penalty that will weigh down future generations, the tragic loss of natural and human resources.

The pressing needs of coping with climate change and obtaining a sustainable planet no longer allow for the vast ecological and human destruction that comes with war and preparation for war. Let’s take the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war to commit each one of ourselves personally to end war.

Josh Swenson, Manistee, MI

Money Thrown Away

To the San Francisco Chronicle, March 20, 2008

I would like to ask the taxpayers of this country to start thinking about what we could had done with the trillions of dollars spent in Afghanistan and Iraq, if money had been in our coffers.

Could we, five years later, have good public schools, good libraries, colleges and universities for the working people? Or good health care, good emergency hospitals and good child care for working parents?

We demand good service when we pay for food in a restaurant, go to the hairdresser, the manicurist…We get angry when the service is lousy. Why don’t we demand to stop this economic disaster when we are paying for it? After all, thousands have died and we are at the lowest in education, health care and more.

The truth is that we are getting very lousy service from our elected officials.

Pilar Olabarria, San Francisco, CA

Two Occupiers

To the Detroit Free Press, March 24, 2008

There are two parallel situations in the world today in which a colonial occupier is being confronted by an indigenous uprising: Tibet, with Chinese occupation, and Israel/Palestine, with the Israeli occupation.

The difference in reporting these issues is stunning. Palestinian resistance is termed “terrorist,” despite the international recognition of the legitimacy of their claims; Tibetans are not. While the Tibetan situation is considered crystal clear, the Palestinian situation is “very complicated.”

Karin Brothers, Toronto, Canada

When Slaughter Is Just News-As-Usual

To The Independent, March 10, 2008

The attack in Jerusalem brings out the usual despicable double standards of our Western world. Look at the media coverage and compare it with the news-as-usual attitude last week over the slaughter of 120 Palestinians, many of them children, by Israeli military in Gaza.

The mendacity stinks from the grassroots of media reporting to the top, with Condoleezza Rice saying that this was a barbarous act and has no place in a civilized world. That’s correct—the civilized people sit comfortably in their Abrams tanks, Humvees, F-16s and Apaches and blast smithereens out of men, women and children indiscriminately in Iraq, Gaza and the West Bank.

M.A. Baig, Slough, Berkshire, UK

Palestinian Sadness at Killing of Students

To International Herald Tribune, March 13, 2008

As a Brit based in the West Bank city of Hebron and working as a human rights observer, I can say that the recent murder of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva students in Jerusalem has been greeted with sadness by Palestinians here.

Such acts are illegal under international law and any loss of life in this conflict is tragic. Most Palestinians do not want to see the cycle of violence and bloodshed continue.

But for many Palestinians, the condemnation of the yeshiva killings by the international community, compared with what they view as international silence over the blockade and the deaths of 100-plus Palestinians in Gaza, including some 25 children, reflects that their lives are worth less than those of Israelis.

Donald Macintyre (“Tearful eulogies for the victims, anger at the weakness of Israel’s leaders”) rightly points to Mercaz Harav as being the spiritual backbone of the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In Hebron, where 20 percent of the city is under Israeli control, some 40,000 Palestinians have every aspect of their daily lives controlled by the presence of 400-500 Israeli settlers and around 2,000 Israeli soldiers. Restrictions on movement, a policy of separation and discrimination by the Israel Defense Force and settler violence has led to the destruction of the city’s commercial center. Hundreds of shops have closed and many hundreds of families have been forced to leave their homes.

Settlements, which are illegal under international law, remain at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a major barrier to a peace agreement and the existence of a viable future Palestinian state.

Sultana Begum, Hebron, West Bank

Israel’s Crimes

To The Washington Times, March 11, 2008

At least 20 Palestinians, including four children playing soccer, were killed by the Israeli military in a one-day missile barrage. These deaths resulted when Israel retaliated for the death of one Israeli college student from Palestinian rocket fire outside Sderot, Israel, the day before—after Israeli missiles had killed 12 Palestinians on the previous day.

It seems that this seesaw retaliation will never end, not as long as Israel continues its brutal and illegal occupation.

The Senate and House Appropriations subcommittees on State, foreign operations and related programs are preparing to vote on President Bush’s $30 billion increase in military aid to Israel, which currently receives approximately $3.3 billion in annual federal aid.

Mr. Bush promised in his State of the Union address that he will end the spending of taxpayer money on “wasteful or bloated” programs. Not only is this additional foreign aid to Israel a “wasteful and bloated” program, but it also is illegal and immoral. It’s illegal because Israel uses this military aid in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act to violate the human rights of Palestinians through its brutal military occupation and siege of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. It’s immoral because the Israeli siege and occupation of Palestinians—and the humanitarian crises they are causing—are enforced with U.S. weapons, making every U.S. taxpayer an accessory to Israel’s crimes.

We don’t have the money to fix falling bridges in America, but it seems we always have enough money when it comes to Israel.

Brig. Gen. James J. David (retired), Marietta, GA

Obama and U.S.-Israel Relations

To Newsweek, March 17, 2008

More than a sendup of divisive political strategy, “Good for the Jews?” (March 3) calls attention to the potential of a new McCarthy era in which intelligent discussion about issues surrounding Israel can lead one to be blacklisted as anti-Semitic. The expectations by some American Jewish leaders that Barack Obama should not receive advice from persons who have acknowledged there is a powerful Jewish lobby that influences foreign policy or have any sympathy for Palestinians demonstrates this. If Obama or anybody distances himself from individuals who intelligently and respectfully present an unsanctioned position regarding Israel, then a blacklist is in effect.

Obama’s message is one of inclusion and diplomacy. Not all Muslims are terrorists; not all Christians are evangelicals; not all critiques of Israel policy or American Jewish leadership are anti-Semitic, and not all Jewish leaders are polarized thinkers. It is my profound hope that the Jewish community can shake off the horrors of the past and understand that it is possible for their countrymen to love them, respect Israel’s right to exist and be sympathetic toward the Muslim community.

Candace Veach, Santa Monica, CA

Shocked by Views and Tactics

To the Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2008

Scheuer divides the world into good people (us) and bad people (Muslims, almost all of whom are our enemies). He seems to feel it is OK to bomb all of our so-called enemies indiscriminately, including women and children, causing untold misery in terms of the wounded and dead and the tragic destruction of entire cities. He also seems to feel that rendition and torture, which are contrary to everything America supposedly stands for, are acceptable.

Aside from the shocking immorality of Scheuer’s views, they don’t work. Massive bombing didn’t work in Vietnam; it hasn’t worked for the Israelis in Lebanon; it isn’t going to work in Iraq or Afghanistan. We must get out of this mind-set: that American military might can solve the problems of the world. It can only exacerbate them. We must strengthen the United Nations, cooperate with other nations to deal with terrorism and aggression, and begin negotiations to eliminate nuclear bombs worldwide.

Ann Edelman, Los Angeles, CA