The Walpole Peace and Justice Group invites townspeople to join us for a vigil commemorating the 7th annual United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The vigil will be held on Monday, June 26, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Walpole Common, at the corner of West and Main streets.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to "all governments and members of civil society to take action to defeat torture and torturers everywhere," calling June 26 a "day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable… an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable."
The importance of this action is clear. Despite long-standing international conventions against torture, and national laws against this crime against humanity within the U.S. and elsewhere, the United States and over 150 other governments continue to perpetrate acts of torture.
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) and torture survivors from every continent around the world will be gathering in Washington DC on June 26 for a 24-hour vigil.
We will join this vigil for one hour, here in Walpole, voicing grave concern about the ongoing U.S. abuse of prisoners detained in the "War on Terror" and affirming a position on the abuse of any detainee: "Zero tolerance for torture!"
If you cannot join us for the 5:30-6:30 vigil on Walpole Common, we hope you will light a candle in memory of those who have been tortured.
Lois Czachorowski
Walpole
Monday, June 26, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
After Last Tuesday
To the editor,
After last Tuesday’s talk at the Walpole Library by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi, my first response to the audience was to ask “Where’s the outrage!?” Dr. Khudairi gave a very informative talk on Iraq that showed it to be a major center of education and culture in the Middle East. Even during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the majority of the people in Iraq were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle in it’s very modern cities.
As the talk started to focus on the impact of the first Gulf War, the 12 years of UN sanctions and the current war, the effect on everyone was truly gut wrenching. We saw images of young children with arms burnt down to the elbow, without legs, severe body burns, infants born with the most grotesque birth defects imaginable. We saw peoples’ homes destroyed by bombs as well as whole blocks of homes just leveled to rubble from U.S. attacks. Dr. Khudairi described how the U.S. basically destroyed Iraq’s entire infrastructure – water treatment plants, bridges, roads, etc., and how this caused 10’s of thousands of civilian deaths, mostly young children and the elderly.
What has been happening in Iraq can only be described as a horrific nightmare that has as it’s source a long list of war crimes that the U.S. is responsible for. The list starts with a war of aggression that the Bush administration started against Iraq by lying to the American public about WMD and al Qaida connections. The Nuremberg Tribunal called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing… to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Then there is the use of such illegal weapons as cluster bombs, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, etc. (One of the effects of depleted uranium is the aforementioned birth defects.)
Then there is the collective punishment against the civilian population as is evidenced in cities such as Baghdad and Fallujah. The “Shock and Awe” bombing of Baghdad was probably the cause of many of the destroyed homes that we saw pictures of. Eight weeks of bombing Fallujah caused the destruction of 36,000 homes, 60 schools, 65 mosques and untold civilian casualties.
Then there is the widespread use of torture that is in direct violation of of the Geneva Accords. The list goes on and on, but for the sake of brevity I want to make my point that we as U.S. citizens need to take action and vigorously oppose what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq. We need to demand that the U.S. set a goal of getting out of Iraq as soon as possible – hopefully by the end of the year. We also need to demand that those who are responsible for these war crimes are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And I’m not talking about just a few bad apples at the lower levels of service, but as far up the chain of command as needed.
One of the most outrageous aspects of this war is the silence of the American people. Silence in such important matters as this can only be described as complicity. I feel that the mainstream, corporate media is mainly responsible for this. They didn’t challenge the manipulated intelligence that the Bush administration gave them and they haven’t shown the carnage taking place in Iraq that we saw on Tuesday night. I firmly believe that most Americans will want to take a stand against such injustices if they really know the truth.
So what can people in Walpole do about this? You can start by getting informed. Get your information from alternative news sources, such as The Nation Magazine, Z Magazine, truthout.org, alternet.org, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International (or Amnesty International USA), etc. Make donations to organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Sign the Declaration of Peace. Take part in our (Walpole Peace and Justice Group) meetings and demonstrations. (It would be great if we had 100’s of people at our demonstrations on the common.) You can contact us at walpole_peace@verizon.net
Paul Peckham 6/12/06
After last Tuesday’s talk at the Walpole Library by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi, my first response to the audience was to ask “Where’s the outrage!?” Dr. Khudairi gave a very informative talk on Iraq that showed it to be a major center of education and culture in the Middle East. Even during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the majority of the people in Iraq were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle in it’s very modern cities.
As the talk started to focus on the impact of the first Gulf War, the 12 years of UN sanctions and the current war, the effect on everyone was truly gut wrenching. We saw images of young children with arms burnt down to the elbow, without legs, severe body burns, infants born with the most grotesque birth defects imaginable. We saw peoples’ homes destroyed by bombs as well as whole blocks of homes just leveled to rubble from U.S. attacks. Dr. Khudairi described how the U.S. basically destroyed Iraq’s entire infrastructure – water treatment plants, bridges, roads, etc., and how this caused 10’s of thousands of civilian deaths, mostly young children and the elderly.
What has been happening in Iraq can only be described as a horrific nightmare that has as it’s source a long list of war crimes that the U.S. is responsible for. The list starts with a war of aggression that the Bush administration started against Iraq by lying to the American public about WMD and al Qaida connections. The Nuremberg Tribunal called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing… to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Then there is the use of such illegal weapons as cluster bombs, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, etc. (One of the effects of depleted uranium is the aforementioned birth defects.)
Then there is the collective punishment against the civilian population as is evidenced in cities such as Baghdad and Fallujah. The “Shock and Awe” bombing of Baghdad was probably the cause of many of the destroyed homes that we saw pictures of. Eight weeks of bombing Fallujah caused the destruction of 36,000 homes, 60 schools, 65 mosques and untold civilian casualties.
Then there is the widespread use of torture that is in direct violation of of the Geneva Accords. The list goes on and on, but for the sake of brevity I want to make my point that we as U.S. citizens need to take action and vigorously oppose what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq. We need to demand that the U.S. set a goal of getting out of Iraq as soon as possible – hopefully by the end of the year. We also need to demand that those who are responsible for these war crimes are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And I’m not talking about just a few bad apples at the lower levels of service, but as far up the chain of command as needed.
One of the most outrageous aspects of this war is the silence of the American people. Silence in such important matters as this can only be described as complicity. I feel that the mainstream, corporate media is mainly responsible for this. They didn’t challenge the manipulated intelligence that the Bush administration gave them and they haven’t shown the carnage taking place in Iraq that we saw on Tuesday night. I firmly believe that most Americans will want to take a stand against such injustices if they really know the truth.
So what can people in Walpole do about this? You can start by getting informed. Get your information from alternative news sources, such as The Nation Magazine, Z Magazine, truthout.org, alternet.org, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International (or Amnesty International USA), etc. Make donations to organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Sign the Declaration of Peace. Take part in our (Walpole Peace and Justice Group) meetings and demonstrations. (It would be great if we had 100’s of people at our demonstrations on the common.) You can contact us at walpole_peace@verizon.net
Paul Peckham 6/12/06
Pauls Letter to Walpole Times
To the Editor,
I just want to say a few words about the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s Speakers Series. We have had I wide range of speakers so far covering such topics as Cuba, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Taiwan, Venezuela, and Islam. (We might have Mr. Hafiz Muhammad Masool back because we ran out of time before he could answer everyone’s questions. For those of you who couldn’t hear Mr. Masool speak and would like to know more about Islam, he was kind enough to donate the brief and very informative film, Islam: A Closer Look, to the library.)
I am particularly looking forward to our next talk on Iraq by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi. Iraq has become the single, most important issue for most Americans today. What is happening in Iraq will have an impact on all our lives for years to come. I don’t know if Dr. Khudairi supports the war in Iraq or if he is against it. When I talked to him, I merely asked if he would talk about Iraq and he said he would like to.
Dr. Khudairi was born in Baghdad in 1961 and his family moved to Boston in 1966 in order to avoid political harassment by the Ba’ath Party. His family returned to Iraq for a few years in the mid 1970’s but left again when Saddam Hussein seized the presidency. He still has close ties to Iraq since many of his friends and relatives still live there. Dr. Khudairi is an optometrist with private practices in Norwood and Wellesley. He is president of the Norwood Lions Club as well as the Islamic Council of New England. I hope we get our largest turnout yet for what should be a very informative and important talk for everyone.
Paul Peckham
I just want to say a few words about the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s Speakers Series. We have had I wide range of speakers so far covering such topics as Cuba, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Taiwan, Venezuela, and Islam. (We might have Mr. Hafiz Muhammad Masool back because we ran out of time before he could answer everyone’s questions. For those of you who couldn’t hear Mr. Masool speak and would like to know more about Islam, he was kind enough to donate the brief and very informative film, Islam: A Closer Look, to the library.)
I am particularly looking forward to our next talk on Iraq by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi. Iraq has become the single, most important issue for most Americans today. What is happening in Iraq will have an impact on all our lives for years to come. I don’t know if Dr. Khudairi supports the war in Iraq or if he is against it. When I talked to him, I merely asked if he would talk about Iraq and he said he would like to.
Dr. Khudairi was born in Baghdad in 1961 and his family moved to Boston in 1966 in order to avoid political harassment by the Ba’ath Party. His family returned to Iraq for a few years in the mid 1970’s but left again when Saddam Hussein seized the presidency. He still has close ties to Iraq since many of his friends and relatives still live there. Dr. Khudairi is an optometrist with private practices in Norwood and Wellesley. He is president of the Norwood Lions Club as well as the Islamic Council of New England. I hope we get our largest turnout yet for what should be a very informative and important talk for everyone.
Paul Peckham
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Talk on Iraq June 6
The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is continuing their speakers series on June 6 with a talk on Iraq by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi. Dr. Khudairi was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1961. In 1966, to escape political harassment by the newly established Ba’ath Party, his family moved to Boston, where his father taught at Northeastern University. As a young adult he returned to Iraq for a few years in the mid 1970’s but returned to the U.S. when Saddam Hussein seized the presidency. Many of his relatives still residing in Iraq have suffered incredible hardships from the first Gulf War, the 12 years of deprivation from the U.N. imposed sanctions and more recently from the decline in domestic security created by the current occupation of Iraq.
The lecture will reflect on the lesser known history of Iraq, it’s society and the impact of the three devastating wars in less than two decades that the civilian population has endured.
Dr. Khudairi is an optometrist with private practices in Norwood and Wellesley. He is president of the Norwood Lion’s Club and president-elect of the Islamic Council of New England. He has lectured to various schools and religious and peace organizations and has been interviewed by major television, radio, and print news services about the affairs in Iraq.
The speakers series is the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library. All talks are open to the public.
The lecture will reflect on the lesser known history of Iraq, it’s society and the impact of the three devastating wars in less than two decades that the civilian population has endured.
Dr. Khudairi is an optometrist with private practices in Norwood and Wellesley. He is president of the Norwood Lion’s Club and president-elect of the Islamic Council of New England. He has lectured to various schools and religious and peace organizations and has been interviewed by major television, radio, and print news services about the affairs in Iraq.
The speakers series is the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library. All talks are open to the public.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Talk on Islam May 2
The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is sponsoring a talk on Islam by Hafiz Muhammad Masood on Tuesday, May 2nd at the Walpole Public Library. This talk is part of the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s monthly speaker series and is very timely given the current Middle East situation. The conflicts that are taking place in the Middle East have resulted in misinformation and even demonization of Islam by some in the media. Mr. Masood is the Imam at the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon. He is on the faculty at the Islamic Academy of New England in Mansfield. He is also an assistant professor of Economic Doctrines of Islam at Islamabad University in Islamabad, Pakistan. He earned his Masters in Islamic Theology at Islamic University in Pakistan. Mr. Masood has inculcated and memorized the entire Quran. The talk will be at 7:30 PM and is open to the public.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Federal Budget Quilt for Tax Day
Taking our lead from AFSC we made a "Federal Budget Quilt", and presented it on Tax Day in front the Post Office with the words: "What Your Taxes Pay For".
click for larger image
The quilt is a bar graph that illustrates how the federal government spends our money: each color represents a proportional segment of the budget. The Iraq War, in black, is technically "off-budget" spending. You can see the remaining portion of the quilt is more than half red: red is military spending (excluding benefits to vetrans!). I made a color-key below to explain which is which. Of course, non-discretionary spending (Soc Sec) is not included, either -- but it is rather harsh to see the "sizes" of each portion. I gues it might leave you seeing "red".
More images for Tax Day:
The "Key" to the colors:
click for larger image
And, yes, I could not resist adding a bit of my own personal experience to the Quilt -- I signed and dated the thing in the corner, and added the Red Sox box score from the game I was listening to while I did the lettering. An here's the blurbie from our e-mail announcement:
NOT ONE MORE DEATH, NOT ONE MORE DOLLAR. The urgency of that cry grows in magnitude daily. The impact of the war on so many fronts: healthcare, housing, environment, education, aid to Katrina victims, etc., and the awful cost in lives lost and destruction of Iraq - all make the link of deaths and dollars painfully clear. Surely it is imperative on Tax Day to say no! - not one more death - not one more dollar!
We will have two banners representing the human cost of this war:
· A 60 foot banner with 2,139 stars, representing the U.S. service men and women killed through December 2005. The count is tragically now 2,360. The Iraqis killed is estimated to be between 30,000 and 100,000.
· A 46 foot banner providing a dramatic representation of the financial cost of the war and the impact it is having on social service budgets. The banner is comprised of a series of colored fabric strips, each colored strip representing a U.S. government budget with its length proportional to the whole budget. The defense budget is proportionally 20 feet long and the special Iraqi war budget 6 feet compared to 2.5 feet for education and 8 inches for social services. While Walpole struggles to fund our schools and town services, the total spending on the Iraqi war is equivalent to a per capita cost of $1,000 or $23,000,000 for Walpole based on our population.
click for larger imageThe quilt is a bar graph that illustrates how the federal government spends our money: each color represents a proportional segment of the budget. The Iraq War, in black, is technically "off-budget" spending. You can see the remaining portion of the quilt is more than half red: red is military spending (excluding benefits to vetrans!). I made a color-key below to explain which is which. Of course, non-discretionary spending (Soc Sec) is not included, either -- but it is rather harsh to see the "sizes" of each portion. I gues it might leave you seeing "red".
More images for Tax Day:
The "Key" to the colors:
click for larger imageAnd, yes, I could not resist adding a bit of my own personal experience to the Quilt -- I signed and dated the thing in the corner, and added the Red Sox box score from the game I was listening to while I did the lettering. An here's the blurbie from our e-mail announcement:
NOT ONE MORE DEATH, NOT ONE MORE DOLLAR. The urgency of that cry grows in magnitude daily. The impact of the war on so many fronts: healthcare, housing, environment, education, aid to Katrina victims, etc., and the awful cost in lives lost and destruction of Iraq - all make the link of deaths and dollars painfully clear. Surely it is imperative on Tax Day to say no! - not one more death - not one more dollar!
We will have two banners representing the human cost of this war:
· A 60 foot banner with 2,139 stars, representing the U.S. service men and women killed through December 2005. The count is tragically now 2,360. The Iraqis killed is estimated to be between 30,000 and 100,000.
· A 46 foot banner providing a dramatic representation of the financial cost of the war and the impact it is having on social service budgets. The banner is comprised of a series of colored fabric strips, each colored strip representing a U.S. government budget with its length proportional to the whole budget. The defense budget is proportionally 20 feet long and the special Iraqi war budget 6 feet compared to 2.5 feet for education and 8 inches for social services. While Walpole struggles to fund our schools and town services, the total spending on the Iraqi war is equivalent to a per capita cost of $1,000 or $23,000,000 for Walpole based on our population.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Stick to the facts
[This letter, written by Paul, is in response to Bob Connolly’s letter in the March 16 edition of the Walpole Times]
The first thing I want to say is that I’m not a communist sympathizer. I am the owner of a small business with 12 employees. I have been running this business for close to 23 years. I believe wholeheartedly in capitalism – it has allowed me to live a lifestyle that I never would have dreamed possible. I don’t believe, however, in the unrestrained, purely profit driven form of capitalism that the U.S. promotes. This results in inhumane sweatshops and a foreign policy that attempts to control other countries (usually poor ones) either politically and/or economically. So let’s stop with the commie name calling (which serves only as a distraction) and stick to the facts.
The facts about Cuba are: 1. The U.S. has been trying to overthrow the Cuban government for over 45 years by using an embargo that is causing severe economic hardships for the innocent Cuban people. 2. This embargo has been condemned by virtually every country in the world except Israel! 3. Despite this embargo, Cubans now have the highest quality of life when compared to any country in Latin America. 4. When I was in Cuba, everyone in our group was able to go anywhere and talk to anyone we wanted to. We never had to fear for our safety. We heard plenty of complaints about the Cuban government from many people (usually the younger generation), but on the whole the vast majority were very supportive of their government. In other words, Bob, these people were free to speak their minds! The majority of Cubans blame the U.S. embargo for their hardship! 5. As far as dissenters being severely punished goes, the Cuban government claims that the people who they have imprisoned were getting support and material aid from the U.S. What do you think Bush would do if the U.S. suspected that someone was working to overthrow our government? Hint: think Guantanamo, torture, etc. The fact of the matter is that until the U.S. stops its brutal, inhumane embargo, it is impossible to put the blame totally on the Cuban government. If we stop the embargo and Cuba then imprisons dissenters, I will then blame the Cuban government.
As far as the Venezuelan upper class complaining about electoral fraud goes, the fact is that the Carter Center, headed by Jimmy Carter, and the Organization of American States, observed the elections from start to finish and declared the elections were free and fair. It’s no surprise that the upper class would claim the elections to be fraudulent. Think about it. Here’s a country that has been a major oil exporter for decades, which should make it a very wealthy nation. And it is, but only about 20 percent of the people have enjoyed that wealth. The other 80 percent live below the poverty level. (We are talking extreme wealth as well as extreme poverty.) So Hugo Chavez becomes President and decides to implement programs to help the poor. Guess where the money came from! One main area was collecting the taxes that the rich had been avoiding under previous administrations. In 1997, before Chavez became President, the government collected $10.2 billion in taxes and in 2005, it collected $17.8 billion. So, here we have a situation where Chavez is making major changes in government programs that help 80 percent of the people who are poor and getting the wealthy 20 percent to pay their taxes to provide the money for those programs. Bob, do you still believe there was electoral fraud now? Or do you think that maybe the wealthy have an axe to grind?
One point worth noting here is the letter written on the same page as Bob’s by Lauren Doty. This was a heartfelt appeal to save the music program in Walpole. I find it ironic that Cuba and Venezuela are actively supporting the arts programs in their schools while in the richest nation in the world many towns are facing cutbacks due to lack of money. Maybe this is one of the things that the Bush Administration doesn’t want the American public to learn about. After all, getting the rich to pay for their fair share of the taxes has allowed Chavez to provide free healthcare for everyone and generally expand the educational programs for everyone as well. Not only has Bush cut back on taxes for the rich, he started the ill fated war with Iraq that has cost each person roughly $1,000, which translates into $23 million for the town of Walpole! Think what we could do with $23 million!
Bob, thanks for bringing Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) into the debate. These are both very important organizations that I have been supporting for many years. They perform a vital service, namely, keeping a watchful eye on all governments, including the U.S. I don’t have the time or the space to respond to your other charges now, so let me leave you with this little bit of information. When you go to their websites you will see reports that express the concerns on various issues that they have for each country. HRW has about 25 listings for Venezuela, which is about the same as Canada and Italy, and Germany has about 50. The U.S. has about 1,200! AI has about 50 for Venezuela while Canada has 45, Italy has 65, Germany has 67 and the U.S. has 1,448! Not very good for the Bush Administration, Bob.
Bob, I’d be more than willing to address your other charges during the talk I’m giving on Venezuela at the Walpole Library on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. If you can’t make it, then I’ll respond with a letter on these pages at a later date.
Paul Peckham
Walpole
The first thing I want to say is that I’m not a communist sympathizer. I am the owner of a small business with 12 employees. I have been running this business for close to 23 years. I believe wholeheartedly in capitalism – it has allowed me to live a lifestyle that I never would have dreamed possible. I don’t believe, however, in the unrestrained, purely profit driven form of capitalism that the U.S. promotes. This results in inhumane sweatshops and a foreign policy that attempts to control other countries (usually poor ones) either politically and/or economically. So let’s stop with the commie name calling (which serves only as a distraction) and stick to the facts.
The facts about Cuba are: 1. The U.S. has been trying to overthrow the Cuban government for over 45 years by using an embargo that is causing severe economic hardships for the innocent Cuban people. 2. This embargo has been condemned by virtually every country in the world except Israel! 3. Despite this embargo, Cubans now have the highest quality of life when compared to any country in Latin America. 4. When I was in Cuba, everyone in our group was able to go anywhere and talk to anyone we wanted to. We never had to fear for our safety. We heard plenty of complaints about the Cuban government from many people (usually the younger generation), but on the whole the vast majority were very supportive of their government. In other words, Bob, these people were free to speak their minds! The majority of Cubans blame the U.S. embargo for their hardship! 5. As far as dissenters being severely punished goes, the Cuban government claims that the people who they have imprisoned were getting support and material aid from the U.S. What do you think Bush would do if the U.S. suspected that someone was working to overthrow our government? Hint: think Guantanamo, torture, etc. The fact of the matter is that until the U.S. stops its brutal, inhumane embargo, it is impossible to put the blame totally on the Cuban government. If we stop the embargo and Cuba then imprisons dissenters, I will then blame the Cuban government.
As far as the Venezuelan upper class complaining about electoral fraud goes, the fact is that the Carter Center, headed by Jimmy Carter, and the Organization of American States, observed the elections from start to finish and declared the elections were free and fair. It’s no surprise that the upper class would claim the elections to be fraudulent. Think about it. Here’s a country that has been a major oil exporter for decades, which should make it a very wealthy nation. And it is, but only about 20 percent of the people have enjoyed that wealth. The other 80 percent live below the poverty level. (We are talking extreme wealth as well as extreme poverty.) So Hugo Chavez becomes President and decides to implement programs to help the poor. Guess where the money came from! One main area was collecting the taxes that the rich had been avoiding under previous administrations. In 1997, before Chavez became President, the government collected $10.2 billion in taxes and in 2005, it collected $17.8 billion. So, here we have a situation where Chavez is making major changes in government programs that help 80 percent of the people who are poor and getting the wealthy 20 percent to pay their taxes to provide the money for those programs. Bob, do you still believe there was electoral fraud now? Or do you think that maybe the wealthy have an axe to grind?
One point worth noting here is the letter written on the same page as Bob’s by Lauren Doty. This was a heartfelt appeal to save the music program in Walpole. I find it ironic that Cuba and Venezuela are actively supporting the arts programs in their schools while in the richest nation in the world many towns are facing cutbacks due to lack of money. Maybe this is one of the things that the Bush Administration doesn’t want the American public to learn about. After all, getting the rich to pay for their fair share of the taxes has allowed Chavez to provide free healthcare for everyone and generally expand the educational programs for everyone as well. Not only has Bush cut back on taxes for the rich, he started the ill fated war with Iraq that has cost each person roughly $1,000, which translates into $23 million for the town of Walpole! Think what we could do with $23 million!
Bob, thanks for bringing Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) into the debate. These are both very important organizations that I have been supporting for many years. They perform a vital service, namely, keeping a watchful eye on all governments, including the U.S. I don’t have the time or the space to respond to your other charges now, so let me leave you with this little bit of information. When you go to their websites you will see reports that express the concerns on various issues that they have for each country. HRW has about 25 listings for Venezuela, which is about the same as Canada and Italy, and Germany has about 50. The U.S. has about 1,200! AI has about 50 for Venezuela while Canada has 45, Italy has 65, Germany has 67 and the U.S. has 1,448! Not very good for the Bush Administration, Bob.
Bob, I’d be more than willing to address your other charges during the talk I’m giving on Venezuela at the Walpole Library on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. If you can’t make it, then I’ll respond with a letter on these pages at a later date.
Paul Peckham
Walpole
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