The following is a selection of recent letters to the World Socialist Web Site.
On “Ten Marines killed in Fallujah blast: more carnage in a colonialist war”
Excellent article, Barry. I and many others are in agreement with your and the WSWS’s analysis of the war and atrocities carried out around the world. We must continue to fight that which is wrong and is destroying our country and the world. This is our duty and mission, our only duty and mission. There is no time for anything else but to end the evil massacre occurring on a global level, which is not being stopped nor diminishing, with only worse atrocities coming!
Thanks for keeping our spirit alive, continue to fight the good fight, and may God bless each and every one of you.
MG
6 December 2005
On “The implications of Bush’s diplomatic debacle in Asia”
I read the article about Bush’s trip to Asia, and it was very enlightening. A lot of that information was unknown in this area, and most of the Mongols I told about it were very surprised about Bush’s poor reception in the rest of Asia. If this article were to be translated, it would generate some interest in Mongolia. Mongolia has really been a victim of the capitalist system. The longer I am here, the more I find out about the endemic poverty and starvation that is rife in the city. Mongolia has a lot of natural resources, but that land is being sold to foreigners who pay the workers less than a dollar an hour, and those workers are looked at with envy. Many people here live on $60 a month, which is not enough to heat their homes for more than a few hours a day. Countryside children attend the universities with just the $200 a year for tuition and no more for even the daily food, so they just sit in their dorm rooms and starve.
Bush had nothing to do with the people and only talked to government and business people. He also went to a traditional home where he sampled some traditional foods. The question is: Why did he come to Mongolia? One answer might be that Mongolia doesn’t really care about Bush or international politics. There were no protests of any kind when he came. The second reason is that Mongolia has privatized 80 percent of its industry, mostly to foreign investors, which has led to a rich elite and 30 percent unemployment.
Bush’s speech was filled with lies and half truths, but the ones that struck me the most were him saying that Mongolia and America are brothers in the war on terror and both realize that the duties of a free country don’t stop at the borders. Anything that the Mongolian government might have done regarding America’s international disputes was simply for the chance at getting money from America.
OC
Ulanbataar, Mongolia
23 November 2005
* * *I really liked today’s story by Mr. Grey. Since I signed up to get your updates, I have been copying articles and sending them to a group of like-minded friends. Soon I will tell them where I have been getting all these good articles and give them your URL.
Keep up the good work. I’m really glad you are here.
FH
Marshall, North Carolina
25 November 2005
On “Clinton paints false picture of ‘progress’ for Sri Lanka’s tsunami victims”
I agree with your true news about Clinton’s words. I appreciate you for the true news that you have brought to the public by your web site. What the Sri Lankan government says, Mr. Clinton paraphrases to the news media. Clinton’s statements are totally untrue. There are still 200,000 people in Sri Lanka who did not get any benefits from the authorities. The UN machine itself paints a false picture about tsunami victims, indeed. As a true media, you have to get statements from victims, not from false politicians.
SK
Toronto, Canada,
30 November 2005
* * *Your article is very thought-provoking and interesting to read. What surprises me is the objective assessment made by people like you in a country where the majority believe otherwise. Sadly, many of the impacted are still living in shelters, particularly the Tamils who have been displaced due to war as well.
SB
Australia
1 December 2005
On “Republican Congressman pleads guilty in bribe scheme”
Good article on Duke Cunningham. Having lived most of my life in his district, I feel compelled to point out that it is one of the wealthiest in the country, including the two most expensive parts of San Diego County, La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe. It has a long history of property speculation centered on high-tech and defense industries, married to real estate developers in an unholy trinity that has led to one of the most corrupt political climates in the country. At the opposite end of the social spectrum, the 50th District also contains the former home of Shawn Nelson, the man who stole a National Guard tank 10 years ago
The future prospects in the area are equally bleak. A “forum” was held over the summer at Carlsbad High School, my alma mater, to whip up anti-immigrant fears. It was instigated by the likely successor to Cunningham, Bill Morrow, and attended by right-wing demagogues like Rep. Tom Tancredo and former San Diego mayor Roger Hedgecock.
JF
San Diego, California
1 December 2005
* * *I was the intelligence officer in a squadron with Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Fighter Squadron 154 (the Black Knights) in Miramar, California, attached to the USS Ranger, from 1977 to 1979. Duke was a war hero already—as you mention, a Vietnam Ace—and I was merely a junior officer, but he was always nice to me, much in the way tomcats are sometimes nice to kittens.
What Cunningham did was crooked, true, but also dumb, as you correctly noted, the crudity of his bribes, etc. But he has one fatal flaw as well—which all the other crooks in Washington seem to lack—which is a sense of shame and the knowledge that what he did was wrong. Shame is not a quality that the current criminals in DC have.
Also, as a former intell, I can also tell you—without any reference to special sources, for, like the lies about WMDs, the truth is out there in plain sight—that these bastards who are now running the show are complete liars. Your coverage of the intell aspects of Iraq, in my humble opinion, is completely spot-on, as you frame the argument in its proper context—such as Rummy’s little intell cabal, which is not about intell at all, but politics.
RM
Mobile, Alabama
1 December 2005
* * *I used to live in Olivenhain, adjacent to Rancho Santa Fe. RSF has several times ‘enjoyed’ the ‘distinction’ of being the community with the highest per capita income in the US. The heart of the town is the so-called “Covenant,” with very strict property restrictions, and most properties there are large horse and citrus properties. Membership in their country club is exclusive, and at one time was alleged to require a $40,000 initiation fee and $10,000 annual dues. Whether true or not, RSF is a major enclave of the ruling classes, arguably even more so than Beverly Hills
HP 3 December 2005
On “Probe exposes criminal methods in Republican right takeover of US Public TV”
Thank you for this story. I wish that this story would break the mainstream news. Nowadays the pundits like to say, “the public isn’t interested,” whether about Bush’s Iraq WMD lies or about political meddling in public broadcasting.
When I first heard that the Journal Editorial Report would be scheduled to follow the slashed version of NOW (with Brancaccio), I e-mailed a complaint through the Public Broadcasting web site. I received a rather nasty reply, and I wish I could tell you who sent me that reply, saying that anything presented by the Wall Street Journal would be respectable, mainstream, and would have a huge following, and that he was tired of hearing from “left-wing extremist” complainers. I’m giving you his exact verbiage as best I can remember it.
Thank you again for bringing the truth to light.
MC
1 December 2005
On “Guardian newspaper forced to retract Noam Chomsky interview”
Thank you for the excellent article on the Guardian newspaper’s attempt to fabricate the views of Noam Chomsky with respect to the Balkans War.
Your article provides a good look at one of the techniques that corporate mass media use to discredit and discourage dissent. In this case, the Guardian could not get away with it, because (as you pointed out) alternative media organizations, ordinary readers and Chomsky himself wouldn’t let them.
I was glad that you also presented the overall context in which the debate arises and how the civil war in Bosnia was a political watershed, “the occasion for a slew of liberals and radicals to ditch their oppositional stance and make their peace with imperialism.”
Thanks in part to information and analyses that the WSWS provides its readers, Western corporate media cannot manipulate our emotions or browbeat us into supporting the bloody crimes of the powers they represent.
DW
Huntington Beach, California
1 December 2005
On “Coal mine explosion kills three in West Virginia”
Hi! My name is Jennifer and my fiancé was killed March of 2005 because of the coal mine. He was only 22 years old. His name was Christopher James McGuire and he was the most wonderful person! I love him and miss him very much! I am from Mingo County, West Virginia, so I know all about the coal mining business. I want to see better precautions to be taken. I know that Chris worked there because he liked it, but it should be much safer than it is. We need to work together to help make it a safer place for our families and loved ones. People dying every year due to mining accidents is nuts. We need to do something. I will be more than happy to help in any way I can. I know how I felt when I got that phone call and I don’t want anyone else to get that phone call and feel how I felt. Thank you!
JF
29 November 2005
On “Conversations with blacklisted screenwriter Walter Bernstein and Abraham Polonsky”
Excellent interviews! It was wonderful to read the spoken words of perhaps the two greatest screenwriters of the twentieth century. Thank you very much for your contribution toward informing the world on important matters of social history (which, as Mr. Polonsky pointed out, is currently severely lacking and in need of efforts such as those of the WSWS).
RV
Athens, Georgia
27 November 2005