Letters to the Editor
bloomsbury
Published Letters: 401 Editor's Choice: 5
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Saddam, Neo Cons, connecting the dots
[Read the article: George Tenet cashes in on Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The neo consters were already planning to invade Iraq at the end of the first gulf war in 1991. Trying to blame George Tenet for the Iraq war or 9/11 is like blaming the midwife because your baby's ugly. It does seem to be true that in Tenet they had the perfect Director of the CIA for their purposes: a man who could examine each dot with dazzling, pristine clarity but never connect it to another dot. He's the perfect systems man but that was just pure dumb luck on the part of the neo cons. Tenet did his job, he just didn't do any more than his job. George W. Bush did NOT do his job and allowed Dick Cheney to occupy the Presidential Emergency Bunker on 9/11 in violation of the US constitution. He then disappeared with some secret service men to a 'secret' location leaving Cheney to run the show. Can anyone imagine Bill Clinton disappearing after he had been told 'the nation was under attack'? Can anyone imagine him letting Al Gore occupy the PEB and handle the crisis? It would never have happened. Tenet and the CIA did warn the Bush administration that there was a strong possiblity of an attack and the administration allegedly told him and all the others who voiced warnings not to 'mention it again'. Why doesn't Salon ask some real questions about accountability?
Is it true that standing orders were changed in the time leading up to the 9/11 attacks so that only Donald Rumsfeld could order interception of suspicious aircraft in US airspace?
Is it true that not a single fighter jet took off for 90 MINUTES after NORAD was alerted to the hijacks? Is it true that in the ten years leading up to 9/11 there were a thousand interceptions of suspicious aircraft in US airspace but on 9/11 with 4 hijacked aircraft allegedly flying around there was not a single interception? Is it true that a plane was allowed to fly towards the Pentagon for 40 minutes with no interception? Is it true that the anti aircraft shield around the Pentagon which is programmed to shoot down any plane in Pentagon airspace that does have a military transponder on board did not shoot that plane down? If so why? Bush and Cheney should be impeached -for sheer dereliction of duty if nothing else. Tenet's book is simply a distraction. The historical record will be set straight eventually but not by him.
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Obama
[Read the article: Being a rebel is so 19th century]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]America is still firmly mired in the 19th century, that much is obvious. Perhaps that's why the media is having a lovefest with this '19th century rebel'. But anyone who wants to argue that U.S. voters will overcome a couple of hundred years of racist historical baggage and elect a black man or (eegad!) a black woman President is in fantasyland. Barack Obama is just a distraction. He's the Ralph Nader of his time and can only play the role of spoiler whether he wants to or not. He actually takes attention away from the really crucial issues and that suits the ultra right wing American media just fine.
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The Silent Man
[Read the article: Dick Cheney's surprise]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you were Dick Cheney would you take questions -from anybody?
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Imperial logic
[Read the article: Pesticide harmony -- a sick free trade tune]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You see, Mr White, there are two kinds of logic: logical logic which is the kind most ordinary people operate on and Imperial Logic which is all about power and can be bizarrely illogical. Should a country be forced, by some 'agreement' negotiated by the craven cowards who have got themselves elected, to poison its own citizens by forcing them to eat food sprayed with higher levels of carcinogenic chemicals. Well, not according to logic but Imperial Logic doesn't work that way: it's about maximising power. In this case U.S. power.
It's about 'harmonising' absolutely everything, that is centralizing everything. It all proves the truth of that famous Indian observation on European 'civilization' which goes something like: 'only when we've eaten the last fish and destroyed the last river will we realize that we can't eat money.'
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Whereas
[Read the article: Why we fight?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whereas and whyfore the American electorate (or a tiny fraction of it, as is the norm) re-elected a schmuck by the name of George W. Bush dire consequences have befallen their troops who they are allowing to be blown up on a daily basis because they have given all their Presidents too much freakin' power. Pull the plug. Or bear the dire consequences of not doing so. Believe it or not the American economy CAN be destroyed. Ronnie Raygun did his best on that score but George W. has outdone him in sheer ideological stupidity and recklessness.
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The trouble with Hitch
[Read the article: God grief]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can well understand why Hitch doesn't want to entertain the idea of a deity. He thinks he is God himself and clearly wants no competition. A man who goes to the trouble of writing a book castigating a nun who cares for lepers and orphans is a sad excuse for a human being.And imagine how red his face will be if he dies and finds out he's been wrong on the God question! I just couldn't be arrogant enough to think I know one way or the other. The Hindus say of the sacred that all human beings can say on the subject is 'It's not this, or this, or this.' In other words we really know nothing about it; we only know what it is not. I agree with the Hindus, the original inventors of the 'sacred cow' and not with Hitchens, a man who has a gift for being a contrarian and little else.