THE EDITOR, Sir:YOUR EDITORIAL admonition in the March 19 Gleaner On-line warning that Jamaica should take a cue from the bombing in Spain to protect our island home from terrorism was well taken. Nevertheless, as one read your other observations concerning the unilateral actions of the United States of America in invading Iraq, aided and abetted by England, one wonders why you did not raise another issue that has not been raised, to my knowledge, by any mainstream newspaper but which I believe to be a pertinent question. Who really staged the September 11, 2001 plane crashes into the World Trade Center?
This so-called U.S. war on terror that came in the wake of the 9-11 plane crashes has already revealed many questionable actions by the Bush administration, enough to cast doubt on the validity of his using the U.S. war machinery to wreak world-wide havoc. The fact that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq despite the 12-month occupation of that nation by the U.S. and its henchmen, speaks volumes about the deceitfulness of George W. Bush.
Secondly, the invasion of Afghanistan and the killing of tens of thousands of more Muslims in that nation smells fishy and suggests to me that George W. Bush is serving up some pay-offs to the right wing Christians like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell who helped to get him some votes and Bush is paying with the lives of Arabs/Muslims by conducting a stealth crusade similar to that led by the late Roman Emperor Constantine who slaughtered Muslims in the name of Christ. That is why, even as a Christian minister, I shed no tears for those so-called 'missionaries' that were killed in Iraq this week.
The U.S. in its deception often uses the church as a cover to undermine governments and destabilise countries. These so-called missionaries in Iraq mean no good and should get out of the people's country and stop their deception in the name of Christ. This is the 21st century and whereas so-called Christian missionaries successfully deceived African nations, giving them the Bible with one hand and stealing their gold and land with the other (as so ably chronicled by Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart), that old trick cannot work again, and, thank God, the Muslims will not fall for it in Iraq nor Afghanistan. Unfortunately, some Hindus in Pakistan might readily support the U.S. in the slaying of Muslims in Afghanistan.
Third, the readiness with which the U.S.A., in this era of war against terrorism, was quick to undermine and destroy the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti clearly smacks of hypocrisy and puts the lie to the Bush claim that America invaded Iraq to liberate its people and to establish democracy.
There should be a serious U.S. congressional inquiry into the many unanswered questions surrounding the 9-11 crashes. Why did not the U.S.A. target Saudi Arabia for invasion when the U.S. itself confirmed that 99% of the alleged hijackers were Saudi citizens? Was the entire American Airline security so puerile and ineffective that so many of their aircraft could have been hijacked so easily in such a co-ordinated manner?
Was the entire U.S. intelligence and national security system so imbecile and incompetent that terrorist neophytes could penetrate so deeply as to hit the Pentagon and the WTC? If this latter is so, then George W. Bush and his entire cabinet should have resigned for failing to protect the U.S.A. and its citizens as they swore to do when they took their oaths of office. Is it coincidence that the 9-11 events have now caused the highest ever oil and gas prices seen on earth and that the Bush family and their political allies own numerous oil and gas companies and are raking in major profits? The questions go on and on, Mr. Editor, and these are just meagre samplings of the many that could be and must be raised.
I believe, Mr. Editor, that whereas terrorism is real and warrants proactive protection by sovereign nations, including, Jamaica, this nebulous war on terror started by George W. Bush is highly suspicious. If you asked me, I would say that those national leaders like Spain's Jose Maria Aznar and Britain's Tony Blair who joined Bush in invading Iraq, after swallowing his lies about weapons of mass destruction, were hoodwinked or, more appropriately, 'bushwhacked'.
I am etc.,
Rev. MERVIN STODDART
INMerv@hotmail.com
Altamonte Springs, Florida
Via Go-Jamaica
