Dear Mr. Harris:
Re your article “Head-in-the-Sand Liberals”,
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-harris18sep18,0,1897169.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail, as recently published in the Los Angeles Times, you will forgive me for taking issue with the positions expressed in your article, to whit:
“This may seem like frank acquiescence to the charge that ‘liberals are soft on terrorism’. It is, and they are.”Exactly who are these ‘soft’ Liberals, I wonder? Is it the Liberals who fought tooth-and-nail to establish the 9-11 Commission, in an attempt to better understand our national security failures in order to correct them? The Liberals whose pleas for cargo inspection at our ports have gone unheeded? The Liberals whose calls for increased security at our nuclear and chemical facilities have been dismissed?
“The truth is that there is every reason to believe that a terrifying number of the world's Muslims now view all political and moral questions in terms of their affiliation with Islam. This leads them to rally to the cause of other Muslims no matter how sociopathic their behaviour”I keep trying to figure out what harm Muslim extremists can do to my country that is not already being done by my own government.
A release of poisonous chemicals into our major cities? That’s already a done deal. It’s being done on a continuing basis by corporations across the country, with not only the approval but the aid of our government. I guess the biggest difference here is that a terrorist would unleash some toxic agent on those he perceived to be his enemies, while the corporate polluters foul the air and water supply of their fellow countrymen. Besides, your average terrorist will do the job for free; corporations, on the other hand, charge the consumers of their products for the privilege.
Destroying our economy? A diabolical plot that takes time and patience. But again, a plot already in the works. One only has to look at the soaring debt this administration continues to run up to realize how dire the situation is. Add to that the outsourcing of American jobs that are not being replaced, and the tax burden that will be passed on to the next generation. Can there be any doubt that we face economic collapse in the not too distant future? And not so surprisingly, not a single Muslim extremist was needed to accomplish the deed.
Take away our freedoms? Mission already accomplished. Spying, wire-tapping, access to mail, internet activity and personal records, warrantless searches, being held without charge with no legal recourse – been there, done that. And not a single follower of Islam had to lift a finger.
As for ‘sociopathic behaviour’, perhaps you didn’t get the memo advising of its new name. It’s now called Neo-conservatism, and it has little resemblance to the religion of Islam.
“A cult of death is forming in the Muslim world ... The truth is that we are not fighting a ‘war on terror.’ We are fighting a pestilential theology and a longing for paradise.”Yes, there is a ‘cult of death’ forming, sir. And it is being perpetrated not by the ‘pestilential theology’ of Islam, but the theology of the PNACers who hold sway over the current administration.
It requires no shock-and-awe event nor political coup, because it utilizes the easiest option of all: to simply stand back and watch Americans die by their own hand: Send troops into combat without sufficient equipment. Ignore warnings of imminent natural disaster and watch people drown. Deny basic health care to the masses. Make life-saving medication unaffordable. Increase the number of those living in poverty and let disease, malnutrition and homelessness do the job for you.
Foment hatred and intolerance between ethnic groups, religious denominations, political party members, economic classes, and wait for the inevitable destruction. Create joblessness and its attendant desperation and despair, then reduce the number of police in major cities while violent crime rises.
Funnel taxpayer dollars into a senseless, unwinnable war, as well as the pockets of those who profit from its continuance. Watch the mayhem that ensues while the infra-structure of your own country deteriorates for lack of funds. Reward the incompetent, the corrupt, the greedy, while pointing a finger at the inherent laziness of those whose back-breaking work created the wealth in the first place.
Widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, the educated and those kept deliberately dumbed-down, the power brokers and the powerless, those who are unwilling to surrender their birthright as Americans and those who will sell their own souls in exchange for the delusion of safety and security.
On this side of the world, the current ‘longing for paradise' has less to do with seventy-two virgins than it does with off-shore, tax-exempt bank accounts, stuffed to overflowing with funds that can hardly be described as ‘virgin’ cash.
”At its most extreme, liberal denial has found expression in a growing subculture of conspiracy theorists who believe that the atrocities of 9/11 were orchestrated by our own government.” Well, that’s what happens, sir, when ‘our own government’ refuses to answer the most obvious of questions, and instead proffers nonsensical explanations for their actions and whereabouts on the day in question – only to be proven to have lied when the facts eventually find their way into the light. Go figure.
“In their analyses of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy, liberals can be relied on to overlook the most basic moral distinctions. For instance, they ignore the fact that Muslims intentionally murder non-combatants, while we and the Israelis (as a rule) seek to avoid doing so.”Liberals overlook the most basic moral distinctions? Would that include overlooking the current admissions by Bush and his cohorts of what Americans have long suspected, but which has now been confirmed: secret prisons and the use of torture?
I haven’t noticed any Liberals overlooking that, have you? Again I suspect you didn’t read the last ‘official’ briefing, Mr. Harris. Torture is no longer the sole property of the non-Christian barbarians we have been urged to hate and fear. It is now as American as Coke and Pepsi – and I’m sure McTorture Happy Meals will be available to wholesome, family-values-oriented, rich white Christians just in time for this year’s War on Christmas festivities.
As for saying that we and the Israelis ‘as a rule’ try to avoid civilian casualties, that’s pretty much like saying that Hitler – despite six million deaths – was, ‘as a rule’, a steadfast protector of the Jews.
Unfortunately, Mr. Harris, the facts are in. Look at the number of civilian deaths caused by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those caused by the Israelis in Lebanon. If we are non-intentionally killing this many innocent civilians, US and Israeli forces must have the worst aim in military history.
As for the use of ‘human shields’, most Americans are familiar with the concept. That’s just another name for the US military casualties that Bush and his supporters hide behind, hoping that no one will recognize their incompetence, their lack of morals, and their ulterior motives.
As far as I know (all US law currently open to revision without warning), you are still perfectly free to quiver in the wake of the Muslim boogeymen this administration has created; free to hide under your bedcovers, convinced that every Muslim in the world wakes up in the morning thinking not of prayer nor a peaceful existence, not of watching their children grow and prosper, not of living in a world where they can worship God free of persecution, but are instead focused on destroying the American way of life – despite the fact that so-called patriotic Americans are already on-the-job.
Far be it from me to dissuade you from your paranoia, which you are obviously so heart-set on embracing.
But just a word to the wise: If you walk home through some dark alley late at night, and someone grabs you from behind and whisks you away – never to be seen nor heard from again – the chances are pretty slim it will be a crazed Islamic extremist, while the chances of it being some US government agency, unhappy with your position on any number of things, is a real possibility.
So while you worry about the enemy who allegedly lurks in your closet, Mr. Harris, I’ll keep my eyes focused on the real enemy who lurks in the White House, the Senate, the Congress, the churches, the courtrooms and the mainstream media.
While you tilt at the neo-con-induced windmills you are convinced are bent on your personal destruction, I and my fellow Liberals will keep a vigilant watch over the obvious foe.
The November mid-term elections are almost upon us, and I doubt you would dispute the importance of their outcome.
How many Islamic fundamentalists own electronic voting machines? How many Republican fat-cats and neocons, whose financial and political success depends on the vote outome, own electronic voting machines?
Food for thought, Mr. Harris. A little something for the incurably fearful to fill their bellies with while democracy starves.
Yours Most Truly,
Nancy Greggs
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