‘Like real Americans do'

To the editor: America was founded on the principle that the government, as Lincoln stated so eloquently, is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” And our constitution makes clear that it is not only our right, but our obligation as Americans to speak out against the government when we feel it is going in the wrong direction. This is clearly one of those times. A large majority of Americans are now opposed to the policies of the current administration in Washington, and many are rightly speaking up, not because they are traitors, but because they love their country and do not want to see America being driven down the wrong path. I was born during the Eisenhower administration, and in my lifetime I have never seen American principles as dangerously corrupted as they have been under President Bush. We have seen our military leaders stand by and watch as their soldiers humiliate, and yes, torture, other human beings, in clear violation of international law. We have seen hundreds of people, many of whom are surely innocent, locked up for years with no hope of a fair trial. We have seen our president thumb his nose at the United Nations and our allies when they did not agree with his plan to bomb Iraq, a country that never threatened us. And now, after tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed, and 2,300 American soldiers are dead and some 20,000 seriously injured, we have the great result that Iraq is now going to be run by a Shiite majority aligned with Iran. So we have taken the only secular country in the Middle East and are turning it into an Islamic theocracy. That is, unless it ends up being split into three countries by a civil war. It is also disturbing that just before we attacked Iraq, American forces in Afghanistan had nearly 3,000 Al Qaida and Taliban forces cornered in Tora Bora, with Bin Laden most likely among them, But before they could move in and finish them off, the call came from Rumsfeld & Co. to pull the American soldiers out and send them to Iraq. I will also mention here that the U.S. worked hard behind the scenes for democratic elections in Palestine, and that country is now run by a democratically elected terrorist organization. On the home front, laws were passed to allow the government to find out what books you are taking out of the public library, and without the permission of any law they are now scanning your e-mails and listening to your phone conversations. Of course, all of this is justified because they are fighting terrorism. The problem is, that because of our presence in Iraq, and the hatred it has engendered, there are now many more recruits for the terrorist cause than before. In fact by the estimate of one Middle East expert on the subject, there are now more than 100,000 young men and women ready to sign up for suicide bombing missions. Feel safer now? I say that if you really love America, you should open your eyes and see the terrible damage being done to it by this incompetent fool and his cronies, and join us in the streets and at the ballot box to register your complaints, like real Americans do. Richard Klein Warwick