To the editor,
The death of 20 skiers was gross negligence and the trial a travesty of justice. If the victims had been 20 Americans, the outcry from rabid, fanatical Americans would have been heard around the world and would continue today. They would have demanded extradition to the US for trial.
Let's face it. America has two standards, both for itself and the rest of the world and for the American elite and the rest of the US. This trial was just one example of the double standards. Last year, three Marines raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. That type of primitive behavior is commonplace in the US.
We Americans are barbarians and should not be allowed outside our borders. The reason the US military is posted overseas is not for anyone's protection except US corporations. Their mission is to send a message to all others: either you let our corporations slowly reduce your land to rubble, or our military will move in and quickly reduce it to rubble.
The American military has killed approximately 5.5 million people in foreign lands since WWII. It has assisted in the deaths of another 5 million by providing weapons, advisors, training and funds to suppress local people and support predatory multinational corporations. It has routinely suppressed democratic movements around the world. The elite who rule America would eliminate "democracy" here too if they thought they could do it and not spark a revolution. Their attempts at power-grabs most recently occurred in the 1950s under what is called McCarthyism. The latest was the attempt to overthrow Bill Clinton's presidency.
We hold the distinction of being the only nation to use nuclear weapons of mass destruction deliberately against innocent men women and children. We have hanged thousands of our own people just because their skin was a different color. Every two years, guns kill more Americans than the Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong killed in 10 years.
Italy should demand extradition of the pilots for a fair trial.
HT
10 March 1999
Dear WSWS Editors,
I have been following your editorial essays for the last few months and have found most of them to be very good.
Today's (3/10/99) commentary about "ChinaGate" was highly intelligent and a cogent analysis of the long- and short-term history, and near and future implications of US-China relations. Not only was I enlightened by your views, I was also educated about a foreign policy matter that I have only slightly noted from time to time over the past few years. It is a superlative essay.
Thank you so very much for making your valuable writing available on the Internet. I will certainly explore other parts of your web site further in the near future.
FB
New York City
10 March 1999
I read your article about Buchanan today. At first it seemed harsh and unrealistic, he seemed like a decent candidate to me even though I probably would not vote for a Republican. I am, however, an inquiring person, with an independent mind that always searches for the truth. I made it a project today to verify the statements of your article. I proved to myself that almost all of the statements you made are in fact true, and I was unable to disprove any of them. Could you recommend a print source to me in which I could find the entire New Hampshire speech? I was shocked to learn so much about this candidate, and will to my best to spread these facts about his evil intentions to the public.
I find your publication to be a very credible source of information in a day and age when even national TV does not hesitate to misquote or misinterpret the truth. Thank you WSWS for taking the initiative to inform people like me of pertinent issues in an honest way.
Sincerely,
R
6 March 1999