Below we post a selection of recent letters to the World Socialist Web Site.
On “US political elite engineers a Kerry-Bush election”
Hi:
Your analysis of the campaign deficiencies of John Kerry was right on target. The Democrats have for too long been able to pass themselves off as the friend of the working man while turning a blind eye to, or being actively complicit in, the evisceration of working and poor people’s rights.
I’ve been saying for a while that the Republicans will lose in 2004, but not for the fact that George W. Bush is fast becoming anathema to most people.
Bush served his purpose: the consolidation of power in the executive branch with the active assistance of the judiciary; the spread of American military forces throughout the world, something a democrat couldn’t have done without losing adherents to the party; a frontal attack on any form of dissent and the criminalization of free speech; the all but pronounced suspension of habeas corpus behind the rhetoric of the “War on Terrorism”; the first step at eliminating Medicare and diverting more tax dollars to pharmaceutical vultures.
Now, it’s Kerry’s turn to serve his class masters: the total elimination of Social Security as we know it. No Republican would be able to gut Social Security, but a Democrat in the image of JFK could get away with it handily. Private savings accounts will be sold to the people getting ready to retire as though they were what we needed all along. Couple that with reinstituting the draft, so that children of privilege won’t be spared playing their part in this war that was “not of our choosing.”
The GOP is already laying the groundwork upon which Kerry can make his case: Kerry can tout the draft by pointing to his own antiwar stance and saying, “Hey, I know what it’s like to go to war and I’ve spoken out against it. I also know what’s right if war becomes inevitable and that is that no class of people should be exempt from serving just because of their wealth or connections.” This will resonate with people who castigate Bush for his spotty record in the Texas and Alabama Guard, while making it easier to get more middle and lower class kids into uniform and out in the field.
Bill Clinton presided over the dismantling of welfare at the same time that he prosecuted the illegal war against Yugoslavia. Americans would not have countenanced a Republican president doing away with welfare, and the GOP couldn’t have done it without shooting itself in the foot for years to come. But a “liberal” Democrat can do just about anything and people will assume there are good intentions behind the actions, no matter how nefarious or injurious to the American people they may be.
Then again, there’s always the possibility that Bush and the Boys will use the occasion and setting of the Republican National Convention to implement Operation Gemstone, a “gem” from the desk of Charles Colson, counsel to another war criminal running for president. Gemstone called for provocateurs to instigate violence at the Republican National Convention in 1972, including the possible death of a delegate as a pretext for Nixon to suspend the election and declare martial law. With David Cohen, “former” CIA officer as the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence for the NYPD, and Ray Kelly, USMC (retd.), former Asst. Treasury Secretary who led a military mission to Haiti in 1994, as the current NYPD Police Commissioner, there’s no telling what’s being planned for the Republican National Convention in August, in NYC.
Bush is already using images of the tragedy at the World Trade Center in campaign ads; think of what a backdrop that site would make as Bush stands in front of the whore press and signs the Executive Order abolishing the current American system for one of dictatorship, compassionate dictatorship à la Bush.
MC
Washingtonville, NY
4 March 2004
* * *On “US Marines occupy Haitian capital amid charges Aristide was kidnapped”
Dear editor,
Thanks for the news reports and analysis of the situation in Haiti. I think that it would not be too far-fetched to assume that the kidnapping of Aristide by US forces was but a dress rehearsal for future actions against such figures as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Regards
EG
2 March 2004
* * *On “What’s behind the attack on pensions and social security?”
http://wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/pen1-m04.shtml
I enjoyed your article on retirement. I have to say that what the Bush Neo-Cons are going to do if re-elected is to say, “Look, see we can’t afford all of this and we are going to take it all private, the amount of red ink is done for that reason.”
Thanks,
DM
4 March 2004
* * *A detail in a Radio Worldservice programme last week in which Prince Turki Al-Faisal, head of Intelligence in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, was interviewed in “The Interview” seems to me indicative—or at any rate the total absence of any report of it in the media does—just how threadbare the linking of Osama bin Laden with Saddam Hussein has become.
The Prince met Osama as one of thousands of volunteers, he said, who took part in the joint operation (Saudi Arabia, USA and Pakistan) against the Soviets in Afghanistan. After the Soviets withdrew in 1990, and after the invasion of Kuwait, Osama came to the Prince for help “to liberate South Yemen from its Marxist regime.” The Prince was now, he said, suspicious of Osama’s motives and turned him down.
Then the detail—”and he came to you,” said the interviewer (Grace Carrie?),”after the invasion of Kuwait, wanting to take on Saddam Hussein.” “To our Government, not to me,” said the Prince, but he was turned away.
So here is indeed a link between Osama and Saddam: Osama was willing to bring Saddam down. What a buddy! The interview can be heard on bbc.co.uk/worldservice
AA
3 March 2004
* * *On “UN endorses US plans for an unelected Iraqi government”
Bush slapped the UN like a red-headed stepchild to illegally invade Iraq. Bush said they were useless. He spied on the UN to continue the lies to start the invasion. Now the UN is trying to pull Bush’s butt out of a sling. What bunch of losers.
DT
3 March 2004
* * *On “Sincere, but avoiding difficult questions”
I saw the movie, and I thought this was a thoughtful review. I only wanted to mention the Brazilian author Jorge Amado in relation to children of poverty in Brazil. His book from the 1930s, Captains of the Sands, set the stage for “The Runts.” The sad fact is that, under capitalism, a situation that one would think could not get worse has significantly worsened. And, of interest for people in the United States, the children in those Latin American barrios, especially places like Puerto Rico, can be found in a conveyor belt leading to the major cities in the United States. Such are the fruits of imperialism.
GN
3 March 2004