Readers' corner
False terms
Sir-- Your latest commentary by Ramzy Baroud ('Humiliation redefined' 19-25 June) on the detention of Palestinian prisoners, uses terms such as "concentration camp" and "treblinka-like facility" to describe Israeli detention centres where Palestinians are held and abused. I find this use of terms by the reporter uncalled for and biased by any reasonable criteria.
Oori Has
Illinois
USA
Fooled Canadians
Sir-- Most Canadians realise that we were suckered into Afghanistan ('Heart of Darkness' 5-11 June) by our refusal to join the attack on Iraq and are becoming complicit in the criminal efforts of the present US regime. Canadian troops, however brave, are colonial troops. At present, American but formerly British. We Canadians have never defended our country since the US attacked in 1812. We have always been used to stiffen a failing war plan and lately give a moral gloss to some very shady conflicts, always at the behest of the current largest trade partner. Our national image is rather pretty; that of 'peacekeepers' and general good guys.
But the reality is not so cute. Our so-called peacekeeping reputation was established in Egypt, during the Suez Crisis and then in Cyprus where the Greeks and Turks snarled across the green line for years with no real combat but the occasional drunk Greek doing a bit of Saturday night sniping. Actually Cyprus was very convenient for the Canadian military as it provided an excuse to send many Canadians there for a bit of sunshine after the drudgery of NATO duties on the East/ West frontier in the Cold War times. I think that your idea that the Canadians are there in Afghanistan as "colonising" forces is a little fragile. Canada is there because we have been colonised.
The real struggle will continue here in Canada and the US. We have yet to free our country from the influence of Israel. Our latest government has been suborned by the pernicious influence of the pro-Zionists in all of our political groupings. No good can come from the present situation in Palestine and the ongoing atrocities suffered by the Palestinians. I fear that in time to come, perhaps not too long, there will be a monstrous backlash against the Jews of America and Israel. The collapse of the American economy will be blamed on them as will the failure of US diplomacy in the Muslim world. One day the establishment of the state of Israel will be recognised as a colossal mistake, most of all by the Jews of the world. If they think that right-wing Christian Americans will protect them they are deluded as it is more likely that the Born Again crowd will be at the front of the mob waving flaming torches, pitchforks and nooses.
My whole life has been spent in wartime. I was born in 1940 to the sound of Stukas. My father was killed at Arnhem where his whole paratroop regiment fought to the death against German paratroopers. There were no survivors but lots of "glory" to go round. I feel that we, the West, are on a slippery slope and our decline is impending.
Denis Foley
Burnaby
Canada
All alike
Sir-- What Barack Obama said at the AIPAC conference, that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, and that there will be no negotiations with Hamas because it is a terrorist organisation, and the possibility of attacking Iran if it does not suspend its nuclear programme, was not surprising. Nor was what he did last week when he refused to take a photo with two Muslim veiled women as it would be taken against him.
Obama and John McCain know well the pivotal role that the Zionist lobby plays in the United States. Without this lobby, there is no hope for presidential victory.
We would be wrong if we think that any American president or any candidate will be neutral. Israel is forever a strategic ally of the United States and thus there is no difference between McCain, Obama, Bush or Clinton. They are all equal.
Amr Wagdy
Cairo
Egypt
Nothing for them?
Sir-- What about the Jewish refugees, ejected from Arab lands after World War II -- close to 700,000 people assimilated in Israel. Shouldn't Israel be given compensation?
Josef Parnas
New York
USA
Recommend
Comment
Printer-friendly
