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Posted April 12, 2003
What's in a Name?
Curt R.: I want to say how great your antiwar site is. I myself am antiwar I believe America was wrong to have entered World War II. We should have let the Nazis eradicate the Jews, occupy France, sit back and let them eventually put a choke hold on the UK till they were defeated. Then eventually Russia (Joseph Stalin) would see he had no alternative but to sign a truce with Germany and become it’s unwilling ally. And we in America should’ve just bought a ton of Kleenex and cried our eyes out over the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and when we were out of tissues, then we should’ve continued to protest the war and join hands and sing songs and bad mouth the President and say ‘War is bad! Don't enter it!’. And then eventually, seeing America was antiwar and was a weak nation, Japan would invade America from the West, and then Germany would follow from the East. But we should’ve just kept protesting. Ooops! Except for the Jews, Catholics and gays who would then be exterminated by the Nazis. And then we would all be happy Gerpanese citizens!
Backtalk editor Sam Koritz: That would be an excellent analogy, if –
the US Congress had fulfilled its Constitutional duty by declaring war against Iraq, as it did in declaring war against Japan and Germany;
if Iraq was a major world power as Japan and Germany were;
if Iraq had bombed the US, as Japan did;
if Iraq had declared war on the US, as Germany did;
if Iraq had conquered half a continent, as Germany did before the US entered the war;
and if invasion without UN Security Council authorization didn't violate the UN Charter ratified by the US government after World War II.
Curt R.: But no, ALL war is bad. Just as your domain states "Antiwar." Even if Iraq did all that and was all you stated. We should've just sat and did nothing and let the Germans do what they did. Kill all those Jews. Run a police state. Japan bomb Pearl Harbor. You know, sit back and do nothing. You're antiwar, remember?
Regarding "The Ends of Alliance in Iraq" by Christopher Deliso:
THANK GOD YOU'RE THERE.
KEEP THIS UP. The UK media has swung in behind the "war" (as a country we really get off on seeing our Prime Minister in the company of people with real power – it lets us imagine we still count on the international stage), and it's getting increasingly difficult to find a serious antiwar perspective in British newspapers and TV. The attitude seems to be that "whoever wins is right." I'm forwarding your URL to friends and colleagues.
~ Simon Heywood, Sheffield, UK
Another Helpful Suggestion
You lose. Sorry but you can get rid of this sh*tty website!
Sam Koritz replies:
No thanks. We started the site several unconstitutional wars ago and we'll stick around for the next bunch or the end of the Republic, whichever comes first.
Picture
of Ali
The picture of Ali, the boy who lost his limbs during a missile attack, says it all. War is the utmost child abuse; it is the murder of innocent children. Ali's face shows pain beyond imagination. If he does survive, how will he ever face life having lost his parents and family?
How is it that adult men in suits who plan wars, far away from Ali's pain and horror, can do so without a twinge of conscience? Are we human beings really so callous and vicious that thousands of Alis can be killed or maimed? Where is justice for Ali?
I saw on your website yesterday the photo of that little Iraqi boy who lost his arms and was grief stricken. There are probably more like him, but the site of him has devastated me. Is there anything that your readers can do for him? Perhaps raise some money for his rehabilitation? I would like to help in any way that I can. Please help him. Please let me know what we, your readers, can do to help. Thank you.
Managing Editor Eric Garris replies:
The Daily Mirror has set up a fund. Click here for more information.
USA PATRIOT ACT
Republicans want to make the Patriot Act permanent and may tag it to other legislation in the next few days. Read about it: "Republicans Want Terror Law Made Permanent" (New York Times).... or, if you're already informed, send the following e-mail to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee by simply clicking on this link: http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailJudiciary.asp.
Do it now! It only takes about 30 seconds. The most important thing is that we let them know that we will not surrender any more of our civil liberties. Lets not wait for Ashcroft and Orin Hatch to send this legislation to the Hill, lets stop it NOW!
Also you can send to your own Senators at (follow the links): http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm or Reps at: http://www.house.gov/writerep/.
Regarding Ron Niesen's letter posted April 8:
Ron, what letter were you actually responding to? I reexamined my letter and, sure enough, Canada is nowhere mentioned, nor advice to pack bags, move, etc.
You fail to answer any of the questions posed in that letter and, just like a good lawyer (an oxymoron?) redirected attention onto a completely different matter. America didn't "murder women and children" in Iraq: specific American (and British) soldiers did.
They did so while under orders from the President, conducting a clearly illegal and unconstitutional invasion of a sovereign country that had not attacked the United States. Your argument, (I should say rhetoric, you actually made no argument) is specious. You employ smoke and mirrors because you don't have a leg to stand on.
~ Carter Mitchell, Gurnee, Illinois
Regarding "Bolsheviks in Belgrade" by Nebojsa Malic:
Astonishingly I agree with much of Nebojsa Malic's analysis of the situation in Belgrade currently.
Maybe its because he keeps foreign plots to a minimum for this piece.
However, there are a few points that I think need some consideration.
Firstly, there has been more international criticism of the state of emergency abroad than there has been in Belgrade. Admittedly that isn't saying much but the point is that there is a vast coalition of people here that support the measures against crime.
They are different people but I would argue that at the beginning of Milosevic's reign a similar amount supported Milosevic. The people are / were wrong on both occasions.
Secondly, Mr Malic is right to criticize the media also (although the German company that owns Blic is a 51 percent shareholder rather than outright owner). However, it does not follow that all claims that have been written are false.
Mr Milanovic, the convicted criminal or brave fall guy who let his employees die in order that they became martyrs, was unlikely to be able to flee to Montenegro without assistance. It should be easy to prove or disprove that he received help from the Zemun clan. However, if he did receive help to escape it does not mean that he was 'in' on the plan to assassinate Djindjic, neither does it mean that Mira Markovic was because she was in Russia at the time.
Thirdly, I don't 'buy' the simple that Kostunica is this meek, pure as snow honest type. This is a man just as irresponsible as everybody else in Serbian politics. The moment something goes wrong he seeks to blame somebody else. When he didn't win the election in Serbia last year he blamed absolutely everybody including analysts, electoral monitors, computer systems, DOS and so on. He claims not to have known that Milosevic was to be sent to the Hague, odd then that a letter exists with his signature upon it agreeing to the joint DOS decision to send Milosevic to The Hague. Ask Mr Micunovic about this.
If that's honesty he can keep it.
Fourthly, yes there will be more poverty and so on but there will not be more death, at least not as much death as during the time of Milosevic or indeed up to the death of Djindjic. That is the price I am willing to pay and at least go into this with my eyes wide open.
Nebojsa Malic replies:
I'm glad you share my concern, and thank you for the additional information.
Kostunica is by no means a saint, but he looks that way when compared to the DOS. And that's telling all in itself.
I also respect your choice, though I cannot say I agree with it. But that is precisely the point: your compatriots should have been offered that choice openly, and not been coerced into it through deception and force.
Either way, there will be consequences; you say you are prepared for them – and again, I respect that – but what about the people who don't know, and aren't prepared? Did anyone have the right to make that choice for them?
If that's democracy, then the West should keep it. Just look how splendidly insane it has made them.
How Far We’ve Come
Traffic
jam in the desert,
look how far we’ve come.
Crusaders queued up for a shot at the devil;
pumped hard on rhetoric, false affirmations and ruse.
Protecting in attack what isn’t theirs to defend,
taking from others what they can’t hope to impose -
Freedom. Liberty.
Wholesome as star-spangled hamburgers;
gunpoint-of-sale.
Showdown
at the oasis,
This is how far we’ll come.
For security, and secret! Fuel for the machine.
Backroom generals hemorrhaging orders,
dynasties who answer to higher authority:
vested self-interest, unmarked greed.
Antiquated scripts and selective assertions:
Please don’t feed the dictator!
We need one who can stick to our diet.
While the
rest of the world chokes on the smokescreen,
Starves as they sit on a stockpile.
Their Roman concept of zenith,
a bigot’s sense of tolerance,
and a bully’s monopoly on being right.
Checkpoint
in the sandstorm,
now you know why we’ve come.
Human sacrifice and human shields
sent back, painted as justification.
Casualties written into the plot,
like so many inevitabilities;
blood trickling in through the filters of truth.
Enemies or allies, assistants or assailants;
the innocents denied their innocence,
the heroes as lions of pride.
While those
without the luxury of faceless death,
find glory in holy desperation:
strap-on explosives, drive-in smithereens.
Witness the same whiteness of eyes,
One cause as righteous as any other:
the fatal flaw of patriotism.
Pothole
in the bombscape,
this is how far we’ve come.
Tyranny of terrain ruled by Men without mandate,
bristling in indignation;
falling over the same old body-count clichés,
terrorizing the terrorists;
Every mighty claim weakened by might,
steadfast in the misconception -
violence can lead to peace.
A fracture fixed by a fist.
That no
one’s going to notice,
just how expedient this is.
This liberation, this triumph,
This –
bloodbath
at the oasis,
Oh, look, how far we’ve come!
Some lopsided wild west shoot-out,
tombstones between the bunkers;
a mincemeat made of compassion.
Hope bleeding in a child’s hands –
beaten to be taught a lesson,
by instinct she’ll never learn.
“Is there only one colour of suffering?”
She cries, black skywards:
“Jesus, Allah, Petroleum,
who in (any) God’s name put you in charge?”
~ Nick Stanley