Letters

Hope for the Iraqi people

Each day when I have the stomach to listen to the news I find myself hoping to hear that Bush and co. have come to their senses and stopped the slaughter.

This is desperate wishful thinking on my part, for I know, the only way this administration will stop this crime is if we stop it. And we can. I have a new confidence in the American people. It comes from the all people’s movements. Here and around the world it has proven itself to be a mighty, mighty force for peace and justice.

Keep the presses rolling for the PWW. It gives me the confidence and nourishment I sometimes need to continue the struggle.

Gabe Falsetta

Glendale NY

Thanks for the ‘Memo’

I just got the March 8 issue of PWW, and finished reading Terrie Albano’s “Memo.” We, as individuals and as a movement, are in serious need of more of this form and content of analysis and criticism. Excellent! I’m going to e-mail it around South Carolina to a number of groups I belong to.

Jim Campbell

Via e-mail

Pattern of death

We should not be surprised by this war after the number of executions George W. Bush allowed as governor of Texas. It is a character flaw representing no reverence for live.

Carolyn Plummer

New York NY

War is not a football game

The following was sent to the Mesabi Daily News, a newspaper in northern Minnesota, which serves the Iron Range.

I guess no one should expect a newspaper to represent all sides on complex issues such as war and peace, but I found the editorial and content of the March 18 Mesabi Daily News offensive. You seem like the cheerleader at a pep rally before the homecoming football game. Many, if not most Americans, do not own newspapers, but they are, however, deeply troubled by our government’s rush to war, no matter what.

Have you no shame? Don’t you realize that thousands of people, Americans and Iraqis alike, may die or have their lives changed forever?

Don’t you have any compassion for human life or is it just the good guys (us) vs. the bad guys (them)?

While I did serve in the military during the Vietnam War I also fought to stop that war because it was wrong. The same kind of arguments were raised then about opposing the war and/or supporting our government. If millions of Americans had not taken risks and protested the Vietnam War, we might still be there today.

Unilaterally attacking Iraq will not make the world or our people more secure, but it will be costly and will take away from domestic priorities such as healthcare, education and restoring our country’s economy.

I urge my fellow Americans to express their outrage and opposition to an Iraq war.

David Bednarczuk

Via e-mail

Paris talks

In your article about France (PWW 3/22/03 “Without French solidarity, would there be a U.S.A.?” by Tim Wheeler) you should also put how they assisted us in getting out of the mess in Viet Nam.

Thousands of lives, both American and Vietnamese were saved because of the Paris peace talks.

J. Crites

Via e-mail

Fairness for the world

I read “A turning point in human history” in the 3/15/03 issue of PWW.

What Sam Webb wrote about two world views (the Bush administration’s and the world peace movement’s) “colliding in a battle over the future” is beautiful, poetic and philosophical.

In “this alternative world view,” I would add only one specific point to an “economically secure and equitable world.” The U.S. is roughly 5 percent of the world’s population, using approximately 42 percent of the world’s natural resources. This is not fair to the rest of the world.

So the only way for the U.S. to achieve equality with the rest of the world is to use only 5 percent of the world’s natural resources. Are we, as U.S. citizens, willing to be fair?

Patricia Collier

Burlington VT