05
Jul
Your Letters and More
Sandy Pliskin write:
” How do we frame our antiwar activity so that we are not accused of focussing on the past? (This is what occurs when we note that we were lied to in the run-up to the war, although, ironically, the president and his henchmen dwell on 9/11, which happened nearly four years ago!) How do we frame it so that we are not accused of cutting and running, dwelling on the negative, or dishonoring the sacrifice of those already dead? “
HEY DUDE
The first version of a piece I write on Live 8 carried an inaccuracy about the origins of the song “Hey Jude” that many readers pounced on. I fixed it for the version carried on Mediachannel.org
Cliff Radlauer wrote: “In your G8-Live8 article you claim that ” ‘Hey Jude’ is “a song that Sir Paul McCartney wrote for John Lennon’s son Julian after his father was killed.” John Lennon was killed in 1980. “Hey Jude” came out in 1968, I believe.”
So did Seth Wolfson:
“I read your article about Live 8 on CommonDreams. Hey Jude is a Beatles’song long pre-dating John Lennon’s death. Most people, includingCommonDreams readers, would know that.
I read your stuff and respect your analysis. Getting a fact wrong about asong isn’t a big thing, but the way it was wrong, and the context of the error is more than trivial. You should be more careful.”
Agreed!
CELEBRATING JULY 4
On this day in 1852, Frederick Douglass, a former slave and a leader in the fight against slavery wrote:
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?
“I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.
“To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy‹a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.
“There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
“Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and desposms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without arrival.
And on that note, and in that spirit, I announce my return to the fray.
Your comments always welcome.
Write dissector@mediachannel.org
This is Sandy Pliskin. I appreciate your running the first paragraph of my recent note, but I was hoping that the rest could also be shared:
For the past 2 years our country has been engaged in a war in Iraq. During that time we have determined that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, removed the country’s rapacious dictator, and assisted the Iraqis in setting up a new government. The war that transpired has brought about great disagreements in the American populace, despite their unanimous support for the troops serving in Iraq, and wishes for a safe and speedy return for our forces.
Now it is time to acknowledge that the work of our military in Iraq is over. While much still needs to be done to stabilize the new Iraqi government, most of that is the task of the good people of Iraq themselves.
Although a violent insurgent movement continues to operate in Iraq, U.S. military involvement will not reduce this upheaval. As a matter of fact, much of the insurgency has been generated by the perception that the U.S. military is an invading, occupying force. The best way to bring those insurgents to end their violence would be for the U.S. to withdraw its forces from Iraq.
It is true that a portion of the violence in Iraq stems from foreign terrorists who have come to the country to oppose the United States. While some of these terrorists are linked with those who so brutally attacked the U.S.A. on September 11, 2001, these forces were not present in Iraq until after the U.S. invaded. The U.S. might prefer to fight terrorists somewhere other than in our own country. However, the people of Iraq have never themselves volunteered to host such a ‘War on Terrorism’.
Therefore, the time has come for the United States to begin withdrawal of all military forces from Iraq, a process which should be completed within six months. During those six months the U.S. can continue to assist the Iraqi people and their government in establishing security. The Iraqis, if necessary, can request support from the U.N. for further peacekeeping.
It is time for Iraq to come together again. The Iraqi people, with their long, glorious history and culture, are fully capable of running their own affairs. This can best be accomplished when the Iraqi people are clear that they control their own destiny.
It is also time to bring America together again, to end the divisions which this conflict has created. There is no mission in Iraq which compels the ongoing presence of U.S. troops. America waits to welcome its soldiers home, and thank them for their selfless and courageous sacrifices.
July 5th, 2005 at 11:40 pm