Letter to NYT in January 2008

Photo says - Iraqis killed: 4% of the population (red) Iraqi refugees: 16% of the population (yellow) and what that would translate into if it were the US population instead. For reference, Katrina resulted in 400,000 internally displaced Americans.


My LTE:

In the editorial “Unfinished Debate on Iraq” the NYT makes the correct claim that the war on Iraq should never have been fought. Our country should never start up a war against a country that has not attacked us. It is a violation of international law and human decency. It is beyond stupid.

However, I would challenge the claim the war “has been managed so ineptly.” It is true that Iraq is destroyed, but we are still hearing today how our president thinks the occupation of Iraq is a wonderful and successful project. He believes that history will judge it as a good thing.

I believe that all the perceived mistakes were actually done on purpose. And, the development of more civilian agencies to work in a post-conflict situation will never work unless the deciders in the Pentagon and White House allow them to implement their plans. The US State Department was shut out of Iraq from the beginning.

As to anyone who thinks we can one day “win” in Iraq, I can only repeat the words of Liam Madden, an Iraq War Veteran: “We cannot win a war crime.”

Above is what I sent to NYT. They, of course, through the whole editorial, never admit to any mistakes they made in reporting or questioning the run up to the war. They go on and on about what the candidates for the next office of US President needs to consider – and even make the claim that “The United States must be prepared to use military force to pre-empt another attack on American soil.” They have learned NOTHING. They still have no grasp, not even a rudimentary grasp, of international law, Nuremberg Principles, or just basic human decency. They fail to understand that bombing and destroying other parts of the world is EVIL.

They also failed to mention Kucinich, and his plans for getting out of Iraq and giving some restitution to that country. They did mention Ron Paul, and then made sure to note that he won’t win the Republican nomination. The NYT is pompous enough to say “But no voter should cast a ballot for a candidate who will not forswear such wars of choice.” Well, that would be Kucinich or Paul, one not mentioned by the NYT and the other dismissed.

But here’s the real kicker – they have the gall to insert this at the end: “We hope American voters have learned the lesson of 2000, when Mr. Bush escaped serious questioning on foreign affairs during the campaign. He then turned sensible policies on their head and bumbled his way into a disastrous war.”

It is the JOURNALISTS who ask questions during the campaigns – the typical VOTER does not have the chance. It was the NYT who FAILED TO ASK THE SERIOUS QUESTIONS DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF 2000, and it was them and other American journalists who discussed non-issues with Gore and Bush and made up a bunch of nonsense about both of them. It was the CORPORATE MEDIA that pushed Bush, claiming he was a regular guy who would be fun to hang out with, while they showed their dislike of Gore. Now, I could see in 2000 that Bush would be a total disaster, so how come I am so much smarter than the people working at the NYT??

Also, the recent election season has shown us how the corporate TV excludes anyone from the debates who is against war (Kucinich and Paul). The "debates" were between covert pro-war candidates and overt pro-war candidates. Therefore, the election of 2008 will likely bring us more of the same evil that we have been living with for years, if not decades.

I sent off the top part of this in the hopes that it will get into the pages of the NYT as a letter to the editor, but it was not. But hey, I can always put it on my blog.