Monday, July 31, 2006

David's Letter to the Walpole Times

To the Editor,

Recent letters have commented on the Walpole Peace and Justice Group – pro and con. Reciting again the litany of opposition to the war in Iraq, the suffering and deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, the human rights abuses, and the results that are the present reality in Iraq and the wider Middle East -- well, that is fine and good; however Mr. Lynch’s criticisms of the Group’s members and activities demand a response that is more basic.

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is certainly an “anti-war group”, however it is not simply that. It promotes peace and justice. I believe it is aptly named, for peace will never exist without justice. In the interest of enlightenment, we have sponsored a speaker and film series, where the public is invited to attend and hear alternative views on current events, ask questions and discuss. We have recently had presentations on the states of affairs in Cambodia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Taiwan – as well as Iraq and Islam. If we wish to learn and consider the views of those who might know best, would we not listen to those with first-hand experience? There is plenty of “party-line” information in our news outlets and mass media. So, if we hear from “America haters”, is there a chance we may understand just why it is that so much of the world does indeed hate America? This is a fact, and it is not going away; and it is at the root of much that threatens the world today. And might not that understanding be helpful? Will our present policies be successful? Have we seen the result? What are the roots of the longstanding unrest in the Middle East, which has spread throughout the expanding Muslim world? It has been said that those that do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. Injustice breeds resentment and contempt, and we are certain to reap what we sow.

Ask yourself this: if the U.S. is munificent and just, and it was these motives that led to our toppling of the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, as the writer implied, then why have we not been acting with all our force to check the ongoing genocide in Darfur? It continues to kill many, many more helpless people than Saddam Hussein could ever dream of. Could it have something to do with so-called geo-politics (insert your favorite resource here)? There may be a variety of other explanations. Let’s hear them – we are not afraid of ideas. This is what democracy is about.

Yes, the leveling of charges of war crimes is a serious thing. It is not inconceivable that war crimes may be committed in the name of our United States. It has happened before, at My Lai during the war in Vietnam. And -- make no mistake about it -- if the secret and illegal bombing of innocent civilians in Cambodia and Laos during that same war -- on orders directly from the White House -- was NOT a war crime, then surely there is no such thing. I refer to this to draw an obvious parallel to the political instability that resulted from that bombing and the genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a generation of civil wars and crushing poverty that Cambodia has suffered; and an understanding that our actions have consequences. At this time, a consequence of our actions in Iraq are thousands of dead each month: -- a handful of American servicemen, perhaps scores of insurgents, and the rest innocent people trying to live and make the best of difficult circumstances. And no progress in reducing terrorism. Should we look the other way?

Back to the matter at hand: democracy is a matter of tolerance, open-mindedness and debate. We are blessed to live in a country where our Constitution guarantees our rights to speak and hear, and make up our own minds (that includes the right of an elected local Representative to refer to us as “unpatriotic” -- at Town Meeting, of all places). We write letters to the local newspaper, and if any “waste of ink” is more problematic than a horrendous waste of human life, then I guess you can call our demonstrations and vigils “pathetic”, and I‘ll just have to agree with you – the attendance and participation IS pathetic. I hope that more people will choose to question the status quo, and make up their own minds. Democracy is best served by facts and reason. Increasingly, ours seems to be running on myth and passion. Students of history know the result of thoughtlessness in the name of patriotism, and there is no justice for anyone in that.

David Wildnauer

Monday, July 24, 2006

Response to Ted Lynch in Walpole Times

To the Editor,

This letter is in response to Ted Lynch’s July 13th letter. Mr. Lynch throws up the usual right wing smoke screen spin about Saddam being a bad man and the need to support our troops. To start off, I want to be clear about my point that before the war started the vast majority of Iraqi’s were living a relatively comfortable and secure lifestyle and that the war has turned the vast majority of Iraqi’s lives into a living hell every minute of every day for more than three years now and going on for who knows how many more! If anyone disagrees with this statement then you should have attended Dr. Khudairi’s talk and seen for yourself what his slides depicted.

The gassing of the Kurds was a horrific act. I’d like to ask Mr. Lynch if those that sanctioned this massacre should be held accountable as well as Saddam? Did you know that the Reagan administration provided satellite photos to Iraq which it knew was to be used in “calibrating” Iraqi chemical weapons attacks against Iran and that the U.S. provided dual use helicopters which were used to gas the Kurds? It is a well known fact that the U.S. knew that Saddam was using chemical weapons and continued to support him through the 80’s. You can find this info at www.wikipedia.org and type halabja_poison”. Do you know why the U.S.was at odds with Iran? Because the CIA toppled the democratically elected president of Iran in the early 50’s and installed the brutal Shah who oppressed his people but sold Iran’s oil to us at very good price. When Iranian fundamentalists overthrew the Shah, we lost that secure oil connection. To quote Robert Scheer in an article in The Nation, “Ironically, the U.S. supported Iraq when it possessed and used weapons of mass destruction and invaded it when it didn’t.”

Mr. Lynch’s comment about “The joyous pulling down of Saddam’s statues around Baghdad … was real and spontaneous.”, needs to be addressed. If you Google “saddam statue”, you will find ample evidence that the large statue that most Americans saw toppled was actually staged with no more than 150 to 200 people. What’s particularly interesting about this is the media’s roll in helping the government send misleading impressions back to the American people. This point only helps me to underscore my case for getting info from alternative sources.

Mr. Lynch states that I alleged our soldiers have committed war crimes. Even though there are now a number of instances that indicate a small number of our troops may have committed war crimes, I wasn’t blaming them in my first letter. The examples that I gave were focusing on those higher up the chain of command. This is a perfect example of how the right wing zealots try to distract Americans from the truth! In the case of Iraq, throw in the red herring that Saddam is a bad man and we need to support our troops and everything else becomes irrelevant – even war crimes by top U.S. officials.

In order to state my case as clearly as possible, I want to provide the following info on two of the war crimes I mentioned in my first letter. First, is the war of aggression against Iraq. I’d like to support my view by quoting Benjamin Ferenccz. Mr. Ferenccz should know a war criminal when he sees one. He is a former chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials who successfully convicted 22 Nazi officers after WW II. He has stated that a “prima facie case can be made that the U.S. is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity, that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.” This info is available at Truthout.org.

On the question of illegal weapons, I want to quote Prof. Doug Rokke on the use of depleted uranium. Prof. Rokke is the ex-director of the Pentagon’s depleted uranium project who was tasked by the U.S. department of defense with the post – first Gulf war depleted uranium clean up. Prof. Rokke has stated that “There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction – yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves. Such double standards are repellent.”

In closing, I just want to say to Mr. Lynch, that if you choose to continue this debate, that in addition to addressing the above specific statements that you justify your view of supporting our troops by staying the course as George Bush wants us to do, versus the fact that 72% of the troops in Iraq feel we should leave Iraq by the end of the year.

Paul Peckham

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Phil Replies to Criticism

July 17, 2006

Dear editor of the Walpole Times,

Recent letter writers to the Walpole Times have sharply criticized the Walpole Peace and Justice Group for protesting the Iraq war and for holding vigils against war and torture. The appalling war policies of the Bush administration and its treatment of detainees compel the Group to protest and hold vigils.

The Bush administration started the war with Iraq under the blatantly false pretenses that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he was linked to al-Qaeda. Now as a tragic consequence, over 2,500 of our service men and women have been killed as well as 30,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and thousands more wounded. The war has resulted in the widespread destruction of the country’s infrastructure and has unleashed terrible sectarian violence. It has intensified anti-American feelings and has made Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. While Saddam Hussein was an evil ruler, this war was not the way to change Iraq. It has done more harm than good. Major religions leaders, including Pope Paul II, opposed it on the grounds that it did not meet the just war theory criteria.

The Bush administration continues to deny their accountability. They attribute not finding weapons of mass destruction to “intelligence failures”, while the reality is that they purposely manipulated the facts. Now they claim that the war was necessary to fight the “war on terror.” This claim is nonsense as Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Ironically it has now become a hot bed of terrorism.

In regard to torture, ALL TORTURE is morally wrong. The Bush administration continues to use legal technicalities and manipulations to justify policies that most of the world would consider torture. Documents released show that the abusive and degrading interrogation methods used at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers were wide spread. Although the Bush administration would like to blame the abuse problems on a few ‘bad apples,’ they are a result of high level policies from the top levels of government. Those policies include rendition, sending detainees to other countries where we know they will be tortured, and denying that detainees are covered by the Geneva Conventions.

Most of the world has condemned the Guantanamo Detention Center, where we have held detainees for years without charging them of crimes and giving them due process of law. Tragically three detainees have committed suicide out of desperation. The Supreme Court, in the recent Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld ruling, rebuked the Bush administration for its military tribunals and for violating international treaties like Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that bans cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners. Late last year the U.S. Congress passed the McCain Amendment outlawing the torture of detainees. Appallingly, the Bush administration’s response was to issue a ‘signing statement’ which asserted Bush’s right, as President, to ignore the law if he deemed it necessary to fight the war on terrorism. This assertion undermines the power of the Congress and condones the use of torture which should always be unacceptable.

The purpose of the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s peace vigils is to bring attention to the Bush Administration policies and their impact. Sadly, our press often abdicates its duty to examine and question these policies. The shameful actions of the Bush administration in regard to the treatment of detainees contradict our country’s most basic values and undermine our moral authority. The Walpole Peace and Justice Group supports our troops in Iraq and their families. The best way to help our troops is to get them out of Iraq as soon as reasonably practical.

Philip Czachorowski
Walpole, MA