Below we post a selection of recent letters on our October 9 statement “Why we oppose the war in Afghanistan”
Editor,
It’s refreshing to read to an article that is consistent and honest about these events. I am certain that the majority of Americans and Europeans would not support this war if the facts were reported in an unbiased and honest way to them by the wider media.
Unfortunately, I guess this only serves to demonstrate the power of propaganda, which in the long term I believe can only lead to more injustice and destruction.
MD
10 October 2001
I congratulate your editorial board for the incisive analysis of the reasons why the US has attacked Afghanistan, the recent history of US interventions in Lebanon, Somalia, Panama, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan (1980-1989 and 2001). These are all connected, and you pointed out the likely results of the current intervention, indicating that India, Pakistan, China, Russia and the Central Asian republics have strategic interests in Afghanistan too.
You covered a lot of ground but you were succinct and clear. I think Leon Trotsky himself would praise you as effusively.
Regards,
SR
11 October 2001
If you’ve never said goodbye to your older brother in the morning without knowing it was the last time you would see him. If you’ve never been to the Middle East before, seen the real beauty of the people, how they are really suffering, or how Middle Eastern governments control the media. If you’ve never traveled around the world and seen how the action in the Middle East can benefit the whole world, its cultures, and its people. If you’re not American-born and never understood that the purpose of American foreign policy is based on human rights for all people ... then yeah ... I can see how you could call your opinions facts and say that what is happening in the Middle East is based on the sole interests of the United States. I can completely understand.
Look forward to hearing more of your opinions.
JB
10 October 2001
“Why we oppose the war in Afghanistan,” which was forwarded to me by a friend, was a lucid and illuminating piece. Although I have heard this information before, your “summary” was well written and I also have forwarded it to friends. Keep up the good work, and keep me posted, as well.
Sincerely,
RP
10 October 2001
If the US really has no evidence against Osama Bin Laden then I assume they really have no idea where he is. If they have no idea where he is then the strikes on Afghanistan cannot be, in any meaningful use of the word, called “surgical strikes.” All they can accomplish is answering terrorism with more terrorism.
Sincerely,
AG
10 October 2001
Gentle people,
Thank you very much [for the leaflet version of “Why we oppose the war in Afghanistan”]. We plan to make hundreds of copies to distribute in Maine and wherever. We sincerely appreciate your efforts and admire the quality of your reporting and analysis.
GB
10 October 2001
Whether the US has the aims you say or not actually isn’t the issue. If not stopped, terrorists will continue to seek nuclear and biological weapons until they get them (they may have them through Iraq as it is). At that point the loss of life will be incredible. The attack on the Trade Center wouldn’t have happened if there had been an ongoing war on terrorism already.
RM
10 October 2001
Your editorial on your Internet web site does not consider that New York was attacked without provocation. You suggest that America has some hidden goal, primarily oil, but the reality is that no nation should have to suffer such an attack. This is not about oil! The oil accessible from Afghanistan is insignificant compared to oil available in the US and other parts of the world. If the US wanted to dominate oil in the Middle East, it could have easily done so during the Iraq conflict. They could have taken Kuwait and kept it as another state. Instead, [firefighter] Red Adare and many US citizens helped repair the damage to oilfields and asked for nothing in return.
President Bush has shown restraint in his reaction to this horrendous attack against civilian populations. This situation is not about oil, economics or politics; it is about criminal acts which have not been seen by the world since Hitler.
JF
10 October 2001
Thanks for a credible article on why you oppose the war on Afghanistan. It is scary and has now branched out in Rambo rhetoric to include warnings to Syria (that just was voted onto the UN Security Council), Iran, Iraq and other countries that are on the war list too.
This whole thing is bizarre.
JR
9 October 2001
Hi,
I’d like to thank you and your staff of researchers and writers for doing such a fine job of offering what semblance of the truth is available as it relates to the current US imbroglio.
My husband and I are undertaking some training in Sao Paulo, Brazil for a year and consequently many of our usual channels of communication are not available. And in any event, newspapers that we previously had a modicum of respect for are proving to be a complete waste of time. We can only get CNN coverage (surely the biggest joke going?), and so without your incredible web site, we’d be absolutely lost—so would a number of our friends who now hit your site periodically.
All of your writers are clear and succinct and all show a very knowledgeable grasp of events.
Keep up the fantastic work—we (and I know many others) so need and appreciate what you are doing.
Cheers!
MM
9 October 2001