The following is a selection of letters in response to the article US massacre in eastern Afghanistan, which was posted on the WSWS March 7.
Growing increasingly discouraged by the blind nationalism we’ve been witnessing in the US following the September 11 attacks, it’s refreshing to read an article like this and to know that there are at least some who see the Bush administration and the recent events with absolute clarity. The current Nazism that has been growing in this country over the past several months frightens me and makes me wonder how long it’s going to take for people to wake up and see our current government for what it is. Presently, I’m not very optimistic on this point and unfortunately foresee only continued aggressive hostility throughout the world on the part of our government at the expense of much needed improvements to domestic education, welfare and social reforms. As each day goes by, I find it harder and harder to view our system as any sort of democracy.
SN
7 March 2002
This morning’s editorial about what’s happening currently in Afghanistan is right on the mark. Are you the only ones having the courage to say so? The media is complicit in this criminal behavior by propagating the illusion that this is a battle between equals, when it is nothing more than slaughter. They even use words such as “pulverize” the enemy. The thermobaric bombs being used are the epitome of weapons of mass destruction, the very weapons which the US rants and raves about being in the hands of other countries. Apparently the US can blow up mountains and suck the air out of them and the people hiding there, but woe to anyone else who even thinks of manufacturing anything similar. The country is in the hands of sick and ruthless people who want to rule the world. I am 71 years old, and if I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that what goes around comes around, and the US will eventually have to pay for this criminal activity in some way or other.
SC
7 March 2002
I’m sorry you have such a distorted view of the world and a very feeble understanding of the war against terror. Your rhetoric is laughed at by the critical mind, however you may find some gullible brainwashees, to whom you may explain your biased antidemocratic message. Best wishes to you. I think the best wish would be that you stop looking at the world through obviously highly polarized lenses.
7 March 2002
Thank you all so much.
I rarely watch TV but did so tonight, and there were the bodies in the cave, and someone saying something about the terrorists’ families following them into the mountains. It was so blithe and ignorant and terrifying.
I don’t know if you have followed it or not but here in Canada there has been a huge fuss about Art Eggleton’s fudging on whether or not he knew prisoners were being turned over to the US. I sent a message to a lot, but not all or the right MPs, about Shibarghan [prison]. Only Joe Clark, the conservative from the Mulroney gang, replied, with a chronology of the denials concerning the obvious handing over of prisoners, and the obvious lies from the latest lot. Nothing about Shibarghan, Article 12, Geneva Convention, etc.
For now,
MI
7 March 2002
I just read “US massacre in eastern Afghanistan.”
What you neglected to mention is that some of the men fighting against the US in eastern Afghanistan are trained terrorists, trained in inflicting mass casualties in major urban centers. The events of 9/11 demonstrated that they are competent and deadly, not just a group of rag-tag men. I generally deplore military action and remain a little skeptical of the Bush administration, but I don’t see a viable alternative to dealing with Al Qaeda.
JW
7 March 2002
I find the hypocrisy of the American establishment to be particularly great with regards to civilian casualties in the mountains of Afghanistan. Had a US military base been attacked, and civilian families living on base killed, we can be quite certain that the American government and media would not hesitate for a hummingbird’s heartbeat to decry the “massacre of innocents.”
AC
British Columbia, Canada
7 March 2002
Editor,
I want to thank you for writing a different view of Afghanistan than we get in the monolithic US media. I may not agree with everything you write but I love reading it. I also pass many of the articles to my sons and friends.
RG
7 March 2002
Thank you very much for your continuance in providing all of the world and particularly the US itself with news of what is really going on in Afghanistan. The US military is providing Muslims worldwide with a “battle of the Alamo,” at least it would seem. I personally deplore the intervention of our forces in this way because it is not the wish of the American people themselves to see the outrage that has been conducted in their name. These acts of retaliation can only lead to a prolonging of the war and the continuing of the loss of personal liberty by our citizens here in the US. Only a sense of “worse case scenario” is possible for any approximate view of what the immediate future holds for the world at large. What really is most discouraging is that the realization of the truth that this could have all been avoided by diplomatically agreeing to meet with Muslim leaders in an attempt to curtail the threat to Middle East security and solutions to the violations of human rights carried out in the name of a greater Israel. This would have at least possibly prevented the acts of September 11 and the following tragedy. Thank you again for being there when it was tough to get the real picture from our own press here in the US.
CA
7 March 2002