Regarding The 1991 Gulf War Rationale To the Editor: First let me say, this was not a war in that the congress breached its agreement to be bound by the Constitution to declare one; Article1 Section 8. I work in the Mid East and have had many occasions to talk to people there about our foreign policy of intervention. Regarding the Kuwaiti/ Iraq war; the Kuwaitis were not only selling oil below the OPEC price they were bound by, they were slant drilling into Iraq and stealing Iraqi oil. When the Marines went into one of the Emir of Kuwait's palaces, they found over 300 wedding dresses. He had fled his country and, if memory serves me correctly, gone to Saudi Arabia. Upon investigation, it was learned he would see some young girl he wanted to legally rape, marry her, take what he wanted and then divorce her. In the Mid East, he is considered to be the most despicable leader of all. Interestingly, more Americans are being shot by Kuwaitis at this time than any other Arabs, Keep up the good work. Hopefully it will get people to wake up. Wildey J. Moore Warren Connecticut, USA ********** To the Editor: Please provide the meat of S. Pelletiere's opinion which is that there was more evidence that the Iranians delivered the gas that killed the civilians in Halabja. His point is that the Iraqis used mustard gas and did not have the cyanide-based gas, the blood agent able to cause the rapid widespread death and condition of the dead bodies (cyanosis of extremities). The debate continues but I feel that his case is the most credible and best substantiated. See letters to the editor in response. But, hey, you read the piece. Why was your excerpt (deliberately?) misleading about this? Pelletiere also describes the Peace Pipeline, interesting information that your readers may want to know as well. Also, you may want to explain who 'Aho' refers to in line 15 under c).Dehumanization... Thanks for your provision of links in the dossier and your concise writing. I appreciate your work. Sincerely, April M. Hurley, MD Santa Rosa, California, USA ********** Regarding Gilles d'Aymery's article, Ovation Into A Holocaust To the Editor: Now that Saddam's carpet has been rolled back and his dirt revealed for all the world to see, there can be no more excuses. Perhaps now the international community will be sufficiently outraged with the lying and oppression of him and his Baath Party and he will be clearly seen for the murderous maniac that he is. Now the question is: how to deal with this threat without resorting to war. Can it be done? Until now it seemed that very few in the community wanted to confront this issue. This is the same sort of moral blindness that allowed the community of nations in the past to ignore the reality of Hitler, the Khmer Rouge, Osama bin Laden, President Pinochet, Joseph Stalin, Chairman Mao, Benito Mussolini, etc, etc etc, etc. Same demon: different face! Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. David G. Badgley Haledon, New Jersey, USA ********** Regarding Abraham Lincoln's "quote," cited in the left margin of Philip Greenspan's bio and work To the Editor: This often cited quote, "...As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow...," is a fake. Here is an excerpt of They Never Said It, by Paul F. Boller and John George (Oxford, 1989): "The statement about corporations first turned up in 1873 and has been cited ever since in speeches, articles and books by those with populist and anti-trust sympathies. On December 15, 1931, Pennsylvania's Louise T. McFadden gave a speech in the house of Representatives featuring Lincoln's remarks about the crisis created by 'the money power of the country.' Two days later, however, Congressman Morton D. Hull revealed that he had been checking on the authenticity of the quotation and had concluded it was fake. To support his claim, he produced a letter from H.H.B. Meyers, director of the Legislative Reference Section of the Library of Congress, which informed him that there was no record of any such statement by the Civil War President. He also noted that Lincoln had lived and died before big corporations came in existence, and it would never have occurred to him to make such a statement. He reported, too, that John C. Nicolay, one of Lincoln's private secretaries, and, later on, with John Hay, one of Lincoln's biographers, had long ago pronounced the quote a forgery. The corporations-enthroned statement, Nicolay declared categorically, was 'a bald, unblushing forgery. The great President never said it or wrote it, and never said or wrote anything that by the utmost license could be distorted to resemble it.'" -- William E. Barton, The Life of Abraham Lincoln 2 vols. (Indianapolis, 1925), II, pp. 367, 392; Richard H. Luthin, "Fakes and Frauds in Lincoln Literature," Saturday Review, XLII (February 14, 1959):15; Roy P. Basler, "Abe Between Quotes," Saturday Review, XXXIII (March 11, 1950): 12. As cited in Paul F. Boller and John George, They Never Said It (Oxford, 1989). In addition, I searched the Lincoln archives at The Humanities Text Intitiative, a unit of the University of Michigan, for the quote and they have it in an appendix as "spurious." For what it's worth, I think the quote makes sense even though Lincoln never said it. Also, fwiw, judging from the number of times it's cited on the internet and elsewhere, I expect any effort to enlighten the world about it will be futile. This is one of those things that's just too good to be false. Best wishes, Michael Delizia Detroit, Michigan, USA [Ed. Thank you for this correction. It reminds me of the oft-cited quote attributed to Voltaire, "I disagree with what you are saying but I will fight to the end so that you can say it." Voltaire actually never said it, but as Michael Delizia writes, "This is one of those things that's just too good to be false."] ********** Regarding Philip Greenspan's article, An Unjust Justice System To the Editor: Though I may agree that there is an unjust justice Moore vs. Dempsey cited in FN 7 is not a good example. In patrticular not if just briefly referred to. Bernie Graezer Switzerland ********** We appreciate and welcome your comments. Please, remember to sign your e-mails with your real name and add your city, state, country, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. We are for real. Please be for real. Thanks. (Letters may be shortened and edited) |