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Posted January 6, 2003
Regarding "Do Neocons Exist?" by Justin Raimondo:
Most people figured out long ago that the extreme left and extreme right merge into each other seamlessly. Both are radical, both are inhuman in pursuit of some glorious goal, and both are incapable of tolerating any dissension.
This is true of all religions when they are in their expansionist stages. Indeed, human intolerance of any dissension is ancient and seems to go back all the way beyond when the pyramids were built.
America right now is going through some interesting changes and this is because deep in our bones we know the status quo is failing. Some want to run backwards to a mis-remembered past, others want to continue on as if nothing is happening. Then there are some who want to seize the moment and make changes.
This is most dangerous and will be fought tooth and nail by many.
We are going to war for oil. Oil is running out, day by day, this finite resource is pumped out of the earth, never to be replaced in any significant amounts, every day, we relentlessly move towards the end of cheap oil. So far, America has decided to simply pump until the wells go dry and then commit suicide.
This is why Bush announced tax cuts on the eve of our war for oil. Rank insanity under these conditions. The far left and right battle over words while we hurtle off the cliff.
I tell everyone America is making every single mistake the former Soviet Union made and so we will end up like Russia. We are the new Soviet state. This isn't a left or right issue, it is all about imperialism and the woeful shortcomings of imperialism. Namely, you either go bankrupt or you win all fights and then rot to death because no one opposes you anymore.
Feh.
Anyway, tell Horowitz hello for me. He hates my guts. It was fun torturing him when he was a lefty in Berkeley. Even more fun when he was a rightie at Salon.
I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with Jonah Goldberg. The term "neo-con" does, in fact, distort more than it reveals. Therefore I propose they (neo-cons) be referred to as "retro-reds", a term that reveals more than it distorts.
Regarding "The View From Over Here: Killing the Chicken to Frighten the Monkey" by Joshua Samuel Brown:
I am just as frightened as your Chinese friends and acquaintances. I am just as saddened by their losses as my own. I do not believe in war. I am saddened that our leaders find no better options than posturing and threatening and finally killing. I agree with one of your friends who ventured an opinion that the American people have no power, their leaders do what they want. Then I remember Viet Nam and how finally our protests were heard, but not for the right reasons. They were heard because Johnson didn't want to be written in the history books as a bad president, an unpopular president, etc. So many of our leaders buy their way into power, with no true representation of the people. We are aware, but the energy spent on trying to do something about it is futile, so we, I concentrate on things I can have a positive effect on and that is my work and my family. Thank you for your article.
~ Marie Schiavo, Staten Island, New York
Regarding "Operation Provoke War" by Maria Tomchick:
Interestingly enough, I agree with you that the American administrations have been trying to destabilize the present Iraqi government since the expulsion of UN Inspectors in 1998. I do agree that dictator(s) should be removed from this world. But in my scheme of things dictator(s) should be removed by the people of the region or country....
I earnestly like the American or the West European systems of government that people genuinely elect their leaders and leaders have a limited terms in the office. I do not like the word democracy because it is self-deceiving in many many ways. President Bush is devoid of democratic principles. He is not paying attention to the world body opinion (UN). UN has never authorized USA and UK to enforce No-Fly Zones in South and North of Iraq. ... The USA and UK are not practicing democratic principles against a sovereign nation Iraq. Iraq has done physical harm neither to USA nor UK. Let the UN inspectors do their job and hear their conclusion about Iraq's compliance in respect to the UN Resolution 1441. I am neither a legal authority nor a politician. If Iraq did not come clean against the present UN resolution, the UN must refuse Iraq membership of UN, the world body. I really do not know if this would harm the leadership of Iraq. I would also like to suggest that UN must for the good of the world organization ... abolish the right to veto currently bestowed on the five permanent members – the US, UK, Russia, China, Japan. The US, Russia and China have the worst human rights record.
In the case of Iraq, I am certain that just like most countries in the world, government policies are dictated by the armed forces of the country. Armed forces play key role in the foreign policies of their countries. If you do an exhaustive research on this matter, you will find my assertion to be true even in the greatest democracies of the world.
...For whatever reason, USA always vetoes any resolution against Israel. I do not think US policies in the Middle East are buying the long-term friendship of Israel. Israel is a model country for the Arabs to learn from. People are free to vote and free to criticize their government and politicians. In spite of Israel's inhuman record against the Palestinians, it is still a country of wealth of wisdom for Arabs to learn from.
The USA and UK have no moral authority to subject Iraq to the hardships that the people of Iraq have suffered since 1991. However, I support the unique position of the USA as Superpower. I would not like to see communism to rise again to threaten the stability and freedom of the Judaic Christian Islamic faiths. ...
I say to the USA: No war in Iraq. Stop enforcing "no-fly" zones in Iraq's North and South.
Granted there are things happening behind the scenes that the public doesn't know about and shouldn't.
Granted there area also increased targets being taken out here and there, but if you look into any war or possibility of any war that has ever taken place whether US involvement or not. One would see that these actions have taking place there too. So, to hear that this is a secret little start of a war is more words to create disarray within the American public. Should we be there or not remains to be seen. Have we done all we can, maybe not. But what we do know, is that the Iraqi President has in fact hidden and continues to hide his chemical and biological warfare munitions and equipment. The Iraqi president will continue to play the shell game until the end.
So I ask the readers this, what if there are in fact hidden weapons of mass destruction and they are used and we don't react in time. Will the American public then cry and ask, why didn't we stop it when we could have? As for the collection of evidence that we have to indicate the Iraqi president is lying should remain secret and classified. The American public does not need to know everything that is happening. Too many service members lives rest on quiet lips. Remember the old saying "Loose Lips Sink Ships." Folks that is no wise tale, that is the plain fact. I may not agree on everything we the Government do, but as a military service member, I will support and defend the President and his decisions.
Regarding "Hindu Fascists' Dream Of Killing India's Pluralism Can Still Be Defeated" by Dr. Shaik Ubaid:
I agree with Dr Ubaid's views on the rather ominous situation in India. What is even more concerning is that the pogrom to murder Muslims in Gujarat has not attracted significant attention of the world media.
There has been a coordinated hate campaign by the right wing Hindu nationalist parties to spread hate against Muslims by concocting stories of atrocities by Muslim rulers of medieval India against Hindus to justify murder and rape. After the brutal murder and rape their is no remorse or regret, the Hindu nationalists are still bloodthirsty. Muslims are being told that they must be grateful to be allowed to live in India and they can be killed and raped at will of the Hindu Nationalists.
Regarding "Poisonings or Power Plays?" by Christopher Deliso:
Sounds like imaginary 'laughing gas'. The Catholics have their own schools, at their own expense. Let the Albanians have their own school, at their own expense, too. They would take state money to build a mediocre school, use most of the monies for arms, and complain to the government!
Christopher Deliso replies:
Oh yeah, brother. I agree with what would happen to the cash. But for the record, note that I am only opposed to the ethnically-segregated education principle because it reifies ethnic division, stifles individuality, and keeps the cynically "nationalistic" leaders on both sides in power by manipulating their flock.
Deliso's hate for Albanians is noted. He should write articles for the KKK. His story on the poisoning is only supported by his assumptions and nothing more, not a shred of evidence. He is a disgrace to the journalist community; instead of applying a balanced approach to his articles he chooses the route of dividing and stirring up hatreds between both parties. Deliso, you make Hitler proud. The world would be a safer place without jackasses like you.
Christopher Deliso replies:
I just wish you people (and you know who you are) would stop making up fake, ephemeral email addresses just for the purpose of sending ridiculous and threatening letters.
Regarding “Happy New Year?" by Justin Raimondo:
Thank you for telling the truth. It is just as you say in your column. Also, I have downloaded your October 18, 2002 column ("North Korea's Halloween Surprise") to show to anyone who cares to know the truth about what is going on. I have a son in the air force, and if he had died fighting Al-Qaeda, I would have mourned but understood that he did not die in vain, but I would rather see him in jail for desertion or in exile in Canada than see him die because Dubya and his warmongers are hell-bent on having their war on Iraq. As you said in your October column, the U.S. has mouthed-off once too much, and the near-insane North Koreans have called their bluff and exposed the Bush administration for the hypocrites they are (with the possible exception of Colin Powell, whom I believe to be an honorable individual). It would be delicious to contemplate this happening if the potential consequences weren't so tragic. Please keep up the good work.
As a reader of your site for the past year and a half – and one who appreciates an antiwar view from a different political philosophy, I have to agree with Gary Lapreziosa's letter to the editor [Backtalk, January 3]. The "happy new year" article was not up to your usual standards, and I agree completely with his rebuke. Indeed, it read like someone very different sneaked onto your page, especially given previous antiwar postings that stated that "prior knowledge" of 911 needed serious investigation.
Reducing the "Bush knew" universe of evidence, speculation, and hard-to-believe-it-is-a-coincidence to the Vreeland case is absurd – and too easy to dismiss. Ruppert, for what it's worth, was one of the earliest investigators of the 9-11 story (one among many, however), and his unearthing of the stock trades on United and American airlines has yet to be disproved.
I'm sure that you're familiar with the following sites, it would be good to post the links anyway – www.unansweredquestions.org, www.pi911.org, www.cooperativeresearch.org, www.questionsquestions.net. There are many others than this, but these are a good start.
~ Mark Robinowitz