In a message dated 3/25/03 11:17:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Do not know the author of this, so I do not even know if it is a true
opinion or fiction. But it does sound plausible, I must admit I find it
difficult to not find the "everyday violence" which is more common is
non-western countries, somewhat horrifying. I taught a summer class last
year for 10-12 year olds. One child, from India, when asked what she liked
about living in the US the most, responded , "I like the libraries and that
the teachers don't beat the students here." Of course the other children
wanted more details, they were all shocked to find out what
"normal" school life was like where she came from.
Perhaps people from other cultures do not want to be "saved" from the
lifestyle they currently have, I don't know. Certainly the child I met from
India thought it was much nicer, and less scary living in the US. Perhaps
we should ask the children.
Caroline
Letter from an Iraqi-American
Before anybody decides to go out and join more protests, maybe it would be
fair to provide an alternate view. I, as you may have learned, am an
Iraqi-American. Actually Assyrian-Iraqi-American.
Most of my family was in Baghdad during the first Gulf War--some were in
Kuwait.
My aunt Margaret tells me that during that war, they would wait until night
and go sit on the rooftops and cheer the bombing.
The American attacks were so concise, she said that they would bet on which
government or utilities building would be hit, and were more often than not,
correct.
Civilian targets were always accidental. Think about it: what military
objective would be served by hitting a civilian hospital, when the opposing
army is surrendering en masse(not fighting and getting injured)?
For the last six months on al-Jazeera television, Iraqi defectors have been
appearing on talk shows begging--literally, begging--the other Arab nations
to support the US in this war, to finally free the Iraqi people.
Without fail, their counterparts from other nations stated that they
preferred Hussein to the USA.
Here are some figures.
Since taking power officially in 1978 (although he was the functional leader
since 1971), Hussein has executed somewhere in the range of 3 million
political prisoners.
He launched chemical weapons against Assyrians and Kurds in the North. He
drained the marshes in the south, which the Shi'ites need to survive,
causing a "famine-on-purpose" in the style of what Stalin did to Ukraine in
the 30s.
Every day in Iraq, 2,500 children die from malnutrition and lack of medicine
because Hussein has been kicking out UN (not US) inspectors for 11 years.
Two thousand five hundred children die every day.
So do not dare, for one instant, to protest this war on behalf of the Iraqi
people.
To do so is to spit in the face of the millions of people who yearn for
freedom from his regime. Hussein is not Castro.
Uday Hussein, his son, is the head of athletics in Iraq. He owns a
football club. For years, whenever they wouldn't perform to expectations, he
would bring them to his personal prison and torture them ruthlessly.
He maintained a harem of hundreds of women whom he would rape, defile, and
murder. The few hundred Iraqi civilians who may die in the bombing raids are
a pittance compared to the millions Hussein has killed as well as the
appalling number of children who die every day due to his arms program
stubborn-ness.
How many more can die so a bunch of addle-brained do-gooders can get on TV
waving placards?
It is hypocritical and worse irrational to oppose this war on behalf of the
Iraqi people.
They don't know the desires of the Iraqi people, or the apalling suffering
of the Iraqi people.
The only reason to protest the war would be because you are opposed to any
and all war, opposed to sending US troops anywhere, ever. In which case
kudos to you, I suppose, for returning to the turn-of-the-century style
isolationism that indirectly lead to the horrific casualties of World War I
and II.
The world depends on superpowers to lend coercive power to international
regimes.
The best are those signs that say, "No Iraqi Blood for Oil."
How about, "No More Iraqi Blood for French Interests," since the French
opposed this war solely because they have hundreds of billions of dollars
tied up with the Iraqi regime, money they will lose if Hussein is ousted
because international regimes stipulate that a nation is not responsible for
the debts of a deposed, illegitimate regime.
The same goes for the Russians and Germans. The Russians have invested
billions in Iraq's nuclear program.
And to answer those who argue that the US is only engendering more hate
among out European allies: Whose fault is that? Ours?
Bush is an inept, almost moronic leader who angered many when he imposed a
steel tariff, pulled out of the Kyoto protocol, and so forth.
But in this case, the US is trying to remove an unpopular, ruthless,
Stalin-esque dictator and free a nation of people who live every day in
terror (see Samir al-Khalil's book "Republic of Fear").
Should we allow him to continue to kill ruthlessly so that the French will
like us?
Keep in mind that Chirac is a Gaullist, and like a true Gaullist, his
opposition to the United States is not predicated on any ideal, but rather
on the desire to enhance French prestige--as the "alternative" to the US.
Oh, the protestors are so cute with their "F**k Bush" signs and slogans and
thrift-store clothes and un-informed opinions about international politics.
However they are also wrong, dead wrong.
There is nothing more painful for people with real experience of the Iraqi
regime than to see young kids mugging for television cameras and their peers
waving signs that purport to support the Iraqi people.
It is truly painful to see that when the victory of the Iraqi people is so
close at hand, a group of pseudo-intellectuals prefer playing
pretend--pretending to be politicos--to rejoicing with us and supporting the
liberation of a nation of 22 million.
Protest this war and you are naive, willfully ignorant, or enraptured by
yourself and your "fight for freedom."
Foul; base; cruel; evil; wicked; vain; these are the only words that can
describe you.
I removed the name of this writer as I did not ask if I could reprint this,
it was a forward , so I was not sure I could track down the original
author. Take it as you will, I do not think she would object to more
people hearing her opinion nonetheless.
>>
Very good point !!.....this is what we fight for beyond our own immediate
self defense, and for the Rights of Women worldwide....Iraqi women will SEE
us and that we CAN do what our male counterparts do..and KNOW...a BETTER day
is on the way, for them and their daughters !! ;-)
>>>>>>>>>>>>Jennifer,
Capt. USAF
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