Below we post a selection of recent letters to the WSWS .
Dear Barry Grey,
You made some good points in your article on this. However, I think that there’s really only one reason that the media is refusing to now release this Florida ballot count. It proves that Al Gore won Florida and the election overall and that we have an illegal, idiot thief squatting in our White House at this time of great crisis for our country.
NK
25 September 2001
Thanks so much for such a well-written article. I am glad to know that there are some still willing to express freedom of speech. What is happening now across America is scary to me. People can be extremely patriotic and still question, or at least I hope so.
GB
25 September 2001
It seems odd to me—I grew up in the “Commie fighting” 1950s—that I now trust the news media so little that I watched the WTC coverage on the BBC and turn to your pages for some perspective on national events. I remember when we were asked to support Radio Free Europe so citizens behind the “Iron Curtin” could have access to news that wasn’t controlled by their government. Maybe we now need a Radio Free America.
PS
25 September 2001
I am against American foreign policy and their world domination, does that mean and make me a target for the special forces, Green Berets or SAS? With Bush’s rhetoric, that you are either with us or against us, if you are against us, that makes you our enemy. I just hope I am not sitting down to a peaceful meal and the terrorist organization CIA operatives don’t kick my door down and hand out their paranoid justice.
RC
24 September 2001
I agree with the essence of your articles explaining the underlying causes of the abhorrent terror bombing and the real aims of the US government, which does not truly represent the needs of the working people. The Bush administration, with the full backing of the other corporate “Democratic” Party, is waging a war against democracy to further the imperial interests of the US ruling elite for world domination.
For the masses of the world to grasp the real motives and causes of this new stage of warfare and embark on a united opposition to it they will need to think critically and independently of the establishment media and evaluate every news story and political speech by asking: What class interests stand behind these ideas? Does a war for US corporate interests benefit the working people? Do any governments today truly represent the vast majority of people? It is also necessary to look at every occurrence in its historical context in order to understand its origins, development and where events are heading.
Sincerely,
BL
24 September 2001
Thank you for excellent articles; until recently I was afraid I was the only person with similar views.
I hope you will not be one of the casualties of the current “new laws.”
Regards,
AR
22 September 2001
Dear Sirs:
I want to express my profound thanks to you for so eloquently expressing the truth in this matter. This article [“Where is the Bush administration taking the American people?”] is a compact distillation of the entire sordid history of the US in its relentless attempts to spread the PAX Americana to the entire world. Even though this country ranks at the bottom in most major indices of social well-being for its citizens, it arrogantly seeks to impose its views upon the rest of the world. Although I do not condone in any way the terrorist attacks on US civilians, it is no mystery to me why it happened. If one totals up the astronomical number of deaths and destruction incurred on the hapless inhabitants of the third world’s countries, one cannot escape the fact that a backlash was inevitable. After all, these arrogant acts have been going on for many decades.
This article is a marvel of conciseness, coherence, and documentation!
I wish all Americans had access to it. But of course, we know that it will never be aired by the likes of ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC et al.
Thank you so much for producing this incredibly well-written document.
JG
22 September 2001
After reading your article and having our mosque burnt to the ground I am greatly annoyed at how biased some people are against the truth. As a Muslim woman, I am disgusted and outraged by people attacking the Muslim community. In my opinion they are no better than the terrorists and bin Laden himself and they should be classed alongside him.
NE
Australia
22 September 2001
Dear Editors,
I’m pretty sure you saw this editorial piece from the Wall Street Journal, which talks about Bush’s new political capital. What disturbs me most is the paragraph which mentions:
“Mr. Bush can also now demand a complete government as soon as possible, including judicial nominees. Last week the Senate whipped John Negroponte through to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, after months of Democratic stalling. If nothing else, Mr. Bush can insist that the Senate give his nominees quick up or down votes, so he can appoint others for the jobs. As for judges, we suspect Democrats in the Senate will hesitate to carry out Borkings that clearly undercut Mr. Bush’s leadership.”
I love my country, but am alarmed at the bold opportunism expressed in this editorial. I fear that our current morally militaristic leaders want to create our own Taliban right here in the United States by pushing right-wing agendas, anti-progressive judges, and big-brother government down our throats while disguising this as patriotism.
Operation Infinite INJustice has begun...
KM
Williamsburg, Virginia
21 September 2001
In a few minutes I will retire to my living room and hear what the president has to tell the nation about his plans for war. I can only guess as to the specifics of this plan, but clearly there is nothing this administration or any other can do to diminish my fears that this pending conflict might turn out to be just what Thomas Freidman of the Times said—WWIII.
What the eventual alignment of forces turns out to be is anyone’s guess, but this reckless course on the part of the US will certainly destabilize any number of countries/regions and dangerously heighten the already explosive tensions existing both between nation-states and the among the religious factions within them. Consider for a moment just a few: India and Pakistan; the Indian regime and the Kashmir peoples; the Chinese regime and its western Muslim peoples; Russia and its surrounding Muslim republics and former republics; China and Taiwan; China and Tibet.
There is no doubt whatsoever that the US administration will move to curtail dissent in this country. And there will be plenty of it, especially if events spiral out of control as they very well might and lead to open warfare in the Mideast, Far East and Europe. In spite of the pronouncements and best efforts of the media and the political establishment, a great many individuals with whom I come into daily contact—including my very patriotic father-in-law—see in the preparations for war not a solution, but the seeds of further terrorism and even world war. This president is despised and ridiculed even in the face of flag-waving calls for national unity. One can only imagine the mood of the American people in the event of world recession, mass unemployment, home foreclosures, a military draft, dead American soldiers and war between rival interests abroad.
Never in my lifetime has the importance of international unity based, not on the needs of the ruling class, but on the interests of the world’s working people and middle classes been more apparent.
AR
New Jersey
20 September 2001
Thanks for your web site. I have read several articles. They were excellent. Finally an intelligent alternative to CNN and similar “UN/NATO-TV” stations and sites. I bookmarked your site and will visit regularly now. I’m from Germany and the pathetic and almost fanatic US-spit-licker politicians like “our” Chancellor Schröder and his incompetent and corrupt Defense Minister Scharping make me sick. Condolences and sorrow for the victims of the terrorists attack on the USA are one thing, but military escapades and agreeing to war without a single hesitation are something completely different. Finally Foreign Affairs Minister Joschka Fischer: In his early days demonstrating against militarism and war and now... Oh boy. I guess he sold his soul for a good price.
Sorry, if I sound a bit pessimistic, but seeing the German government and media going “war-mad” makes me feel that way. All the years of peace are gone with a blink of the eye. Even the Kosovo attacks were not carried out with no discussion, but the steps taken now seem to be done without any thought. Minister Scharping did a lot for his “reputation” when he showed faked CIA-photos of “massacres” in Serbia and is still “improving” it with his private use German Luftwaffe planes. He’s absolutely the man the USA wants for a job like this in Germany.
I just wanted you to know that there are people respecting your work, those who deeply need an alternative to CNN and the Kirch-Media in Germany. Keep the site the way it is.
TG
21 September 2001
My Good Friends,
After reading the letter from a “red-blooded,” “patriotic,” gun-toting I’m sure American that I saw posted here in the correspondence section of your fine site, I feel it necessary to respond! The current group of people that are in power did in fact arrive there through subversion of the people’s will and subversion of the US Constitution! However, the political party with which I tend to vote for could ... and should ... be held accountable for allowing this coup d’etat to pass unchallenged! When the Republican thugs who were funded by Tom DeLay and others first stepped forward with their plans to stop the Florida recount, that is where the Democratic Party should have challenged! There very well could have been bloodshed, but I feel that any bloodshed there would have paled in comparison to what we witnessed one week ago. You see, my thoughts on this is that the group in power are fascists first ... Republicans second!
I find it strange that since this group of squatters arrived in Washington that we have angered the Japanese (by sinking a small boat with a nuclear submarine while taking a group of the “President’s” friends on a joyride); have told the North Koreans we want nothing to do with them (after the last legally elected president, Bill Clinton, had opened a cordial dialogue with them); violated Chinese airspace then whine because China took the appropriate response path; have angered the Russians by going along with a plan to move NATO into the Balkans, and back out of the ABM agreement of 1972; have busted the budget surplus to reward their fat-cat buddies for helping steal the election; turned their backs on the poor and needy; have led the economy to the verge of collapse; saw unemployment rise from 4.5 percent to 4.9 percent in 30 days’ time ... so as usual, these “Republicans” need a war to save their skins!
But alas ... what to do when the overtures to provocation against several of the above ... fail? In case it has not become evident, I fault the current regime fully for the assault on the World Trade Center! At the very least, they knew it was going to happen ... and did nothing to stop it! Israeli and British intelligence gave notice three months ago that an act of unprecedented proportions was about to take place against the United States, on the homeland! The Republican-controlled media chose to continue their witch-hunt against Gary Condit rather than heed the warnings of attack! Why should we not question the impostor in the White House for these acts of barbarism? As governor of Texas he presided over a record number of executions, not allowing items such as DNA evidence that was discovered after many of these people were convicted of crimes that the DNA evidence may well have exonerated them from! There is plenty of blood on this man’s hands ... and now there just may be more! The pointing of the finger at Osama bin Laden, bastard that he is, comes awfully prematurely without gathering rock solid evidence! Bin Laden has always bragged previously when he has perpetrated an attack ... why no bragging about this?
With the help of the US media, the diversionary tactics of these people are working very well! To think that nobody is calling for the US to look in its own backyard before sending our troops into harm’s way is preposterous! Our failure to perform this one act of security could well be the end for all of us!
RGL
19 September 2001
None of this information or any of this viewpoint is hitting mainstream media in the US, and only a small portion of this position is being voiced on NPR, which one would hope would go beyond national interest at some level. How is this going to be voiced to enough people to stop Bush before it is too late?
JC
18 September 2001
Dear WSWS editorial board,
After the attack on the WTC, I did not have access to a computer with Internet for several days. When I finally got online and read your two stories on the subject, I was amazed to find several of my own thoughts and analyses mirrored almost exactly. I also found a good deal of insightful points, which hadn’t occurred to me.
Bearing this in mind, I would like to thank and praise your editorial board for their consistently sober, truthful, and sharp analysis, not only of the WTC bombings and the media frenzy thereafter, but of virtually every subject. I admire your restraint from using the slogans and propaganda that are so common in virtually every other leftist publication. For a time I took the figures and facts presented in your articles to my father, who is legendary in the family for the way in which he “cuts through the crap,” but I no longer feel the need to. The WSWS is the only news entity which I seriously trust. It also offers a welcome break from all the tortuous “Canadian Perspectives” of the CBC and the blatantly partisan CNN.
The WSWS eliminated my need to go to that haven of ultra-nationalist, anti-globalization protesters who are mad at their parents. It saw me through the interesting though rather confused world of Anarchism and into a political consciousness that, while nowhere near complete, has already done me a great deal of good. Thank you for two years of insight and more to come.
IP
18 September 2001
The piece titled “The political roots of the terror attack on New York and Washington” was not only a factual, interesting article, but a relief for me to see someone with a firm grasp as to what’s really happening. I don’t have much else to say but what a pleasure it was to read it. Compliments to the writer, and please try to get that message out to more people.
P
18 September 2001