The following is a selection of recent letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site on last week’s terror attacks and US preparations for war.
Thank you for your recent article. Surrounded as I am by flag waving “patriots,” eyed by them with suspicion, it is of great comfort to find a reasoned and critical analysis of recent events.
Though, in the end, it will not really matter who “threw the first punch,” I particularly appreciate your raising the issue of the “disquieting circumstances” surrounding the multiple attacks.
The voices of war are strong and resolute now, with little room for dissenting voices, though I imagine the dissenters will gain strength over the coming months.
Solidarity now more than ever.
MW
California
16 September 2001
Thanks for writing the article [“Arab-Americans and Muslims attacked in the US”]. I’m proud to be an American Muslim with roots in S. Asia (Pakistan). Like all Americans, I’m deeply disturbed by the horrible attack on our people and country. But the intensity of pain has been doubled by the series of hate crimes against the whole Islamic community by fellow Americans. A number of Muslims/Arabs also died in the World Trade Center and Washington DC as a result of this senseless act of terrorism.
The role of the media has been very disappointing and it seems to me some of the news anchors want to see hate crimes against the Muslim community. CNN, ABC-Peter Jennings, Chris Mathews of Hard Ball, FOX News and Geraldo Rivera are probably the worst. I fear that the situation for American Muslims is going to get very difficult; thanks to our leadership and the unethical behavior of the corporate news media.
Please keep up the good work.
Regards,
AM
Florida
16 September 2001
I’m usually highly skeptical of a lot of the coverage on the WSWS, but I read it to keep my news intake balanced. This article was excellent and is one of the best analyses on the subject I’ve seen so far. If you can maintain this standard in the future you’ll be doing very well.
Regards,
E
17 September 2001
To the editor:
I was rather amused by your article about the war mongering Americans and their President, who is using the tragedy in New York as an excuse to further a militaristic agenda.
Specifically, I was surprised that the article’s author could possibly be so naive.
In fact, such action is 20 years overdue. We did nothing when Iranians kidnapped our embassy workers in 1979. We did nothing when our Marines were killed in Beirut. They weren’t even given live ammunition. We did nothing when the first attack was made on the WTC six or seven years ago. You can thank the Great Socialist President Bill Clinton for that, as well as ignoring the bombings of our embassies in South Africa, and the USS Cole.
These people have needed to be hunted down and killed for years, as should anyone who supports them, in deed or word.
How terrible for you poor Socialists, that you must live in a world of people like myself, who would be absolutely delighted to witness (or preferably contribute to) the slow and painful demise of those who threaten the security of the country, which it makes it possible for people like you to spew your nonsense. How terrible that you, like me, have more rights than anyone else in the world, thanks to this great country.
CB
Heartland of America
15 September 2001
I just read your article entitled “Why the Bush Administration Wants War.” You expressed perfectly what has troubled me for the past half week. I am pretty much the most politically non-astute person that can be imagined; yet the handwriting on the wall is clear even to me. The questions are: Will it be equally clear to others; and what can be done?
KZ
16 September 2001
Dear Editor,
Thank you very much for the article above. After having to listen to all the hyped-up military heads at “Murdoch-Media” for 48 hours, this was a real relief to read. I wish there was a way to more broadly and deeply educate the US public about these issues. I think most people have just simply and absolutely no idea of what the US government has maneuvered itself and us into. Let me know if you need help in educating the US public about these issues before it’s too late...
Thanks,
BP
16 September 2001
It is a good thing that your piece entitled “Why the Bush administration wants war” is aimed at a government that does not resemble the one you discussed in the article. If it did, you and your staff would certainly be a victim of our government’s kill at all costs philosophy you reported, particularly given your clear hatred of this government and the gross distortion of facts you represented as truths. Free speech is certainly your right, and clearly you (or at least the author of this piece) are an intelligent person given the strong prose delivered in this offensive piece. My only further comment to you is a challenge to reexamine the “facts” you obviously believe in and search for any alternative conclusions to your hypotheses. Examining both sides of a situation is a necessary step that any intellectual human being should go through prior to espousing the dogmatic, hate-filled rhetoric delivered in this piece.
Thanks,
HD
Memphis, Tennessee
15 September 2001
Great article, but how do you get it in front of mainstream America? All Americans are not trigger-happy and should receive this information. I had stated before Bush was put into office illegally that he would get us into war. After all, Bush is only a front for other factions.
N
15 September 2001
Dear editor,
Thank you for rapidly making available in leaflet form the WSWS analysis on “The political roots of the terror attack on New York and Washington.” I teach in a New York City public high school and it was a useful tool for discussion with colleagues.
While one teacher immediately reacted with the unfortunate blind anger that does not work in the interests of the working class, saying it was aiding and abetting the enemy, another teacher immediately offered his gratitude for a statement that was “right on the mark that says everything just as it is.” Most teachers and students, as well as people I met at a blood donation center yesterday, exhibited a willingness to calmly consider the historical basis of this outrageous attack. This is despite the war atmosphere here in New York, with the cloud of smoky air spreading over all of Manhattan and the stories of death or near misses, which are frequently heard. For the many who proceed as if unaffected, the media is preparing for the killing of even more innocents around the world.
It is a wider political understanding which it is so critical to find ways to push back against the drumbeat of nationalist militarism. Two questions that need to be answered are: “What could cause such hatred that led to this attack?” and, even more important in the long run, “Why is there no clear alternative today to terror that can be seen by the working class of the US, and other imperialist nations, as well as in the Middle East and other third world areas?”
I am sure that the World Socialist Web Site will continue to offer incisive analysis in this area as it has in the past. While the media is supporting the Bush administration in claiming it knows what will be the end result of this brutish destruction against the US, other factors, not least of which is the economic slump, can intervene to expose all the enemies of the interests of the working class and a better world.
HL
13 September 2001
Well written.
Thank you for providing a place safe from all the media frenzy to look at the current situation with a clear mind.
E
16 September 2001
Your analyses of the causes behind the WTC attack and the US administration’s war mania are very enlightening. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, this American media propaganda has taken over world opinion, and many countries are following this line. As per reports, even Russia and Pakistan are accepting to offer their support to the military aggression by the USA against an enemy yet to be confirmed by the investigators.
In my country India, the elite opinion is in favor of using the Indian bases, with an expectation that the US will help in suppressing the Kashmir “terrorism.”
The word “terrorism” is unclear. It is used to describe one’s opponents in armed hostilities. In my opinion, it is not a philosophy, not an ideology, but a tactic of creating terror. Is there any use in an all-out fight against a tactic, while hiding the motives and cause? How is an individual attack on civilians different from that by an organized military force? I request you to analyze this “terrorism”.
JP
15 September 2001
Dear WSWS,
I enjoyed your essay, “The political roots of the terror attack on New York and Washington”. How refreshing after a day of the mass media’s inescapable, brainless, hypocritical, bloodthirsty jingoism.
GS
New Hampshire
14 September 2001
I just want to thank you for writing this. I am in tears right now. I wish that I could have said the same thing! I have been in a constant debate with my friends since Tuesday, one of my friends even questioned my loyalty to the US.
I am sending a copy of this to all of my friends online and printing a copy to hand out! People in America are fed a non-substance media so often that it is all we can understand ... and I am not saying that our media is bad, it serves its purpose ... to gain revenue for the station. But it is all we know and some of us are so comfortable in our world that we don’t reach out for better explanations.
Sincerely,
FR
14 September 2001