Change U.S. foreign policy
The war is, for the most part, over. Iraq has been “liberated,” the country is in a shambles, but Halliburton is on hand to rebuild. With apparently overwhelming public support, why were those pesky demonstrators out there? After all, isn’t Saddam Hussein the most evil man on earth, a blight on the planet? Well, yes he is, as are Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, Manuel Noriega. All bad, bad men, with one thing in common – 20 years ago the U.S. armed, trained and financed them.
Osama bin Laden first surfaced in Afghanistan in 1979 with the U.S. armed trained and financed Mujahideen, a violent group of Islamic fundamentalists. They overthrew the Soviet-supported government in Kabul and replaced it with a number of successive theocracies notorious for their human rights abuses and treatment of women and girls. They evolved into the Taliban.
There are many more examples of similar U.S. conduct and foreign policy over the past half century. A change is needed. A change in which mutual respect, mutual benefit and compassion are paramount.
I’m proud to be an American, but many of our political leaders should be ashamed of themselves. Whether it were Nixon and Kissinger or Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld they should do the right thing, not the avaricious thing.
Brian McAfeeMuskegon MI
Marxist news analysis
I want to thank all the contributers to the People’s Weekly World for explaining the current situation in the world through Marxist ideas. The academic prose of Capital is coming alive before my eyes. There is a world to win.
I am planning on teaching a course in Marxist thought to a group in Brooklyn. Please give me suggestions.
I am currently working on an analysis of [NYC Mayor] Bloomberg’s “perestroika” in the Board of Education in N.Y. It follows up basically on the data presented by the Philadelphia School Worker’s Committee detailing the Edison takeover of Philadelphia Public Schools. Would you be interested in such an article?
Kim BroadieBrooklyn NY
Editor’s note: Thanks for the compliment! We haven’t reported on this in the pages of the paper, but the Communist Party is conducting a “book club” which might be helpful to your study group. The readings are Left-wing Communism by Vladimir Lenin and Against War and Fascism by Georgi Dimitrov. Both are available through International Publishers: (212) 366-9816.
Articles on the privatization of public education and other attacks are always needed. You can email submissions to pww@pww.org. While article word counts vary, 500 words is our favorite recommendation.
Hang your head ‘W’
As a follow-through to Ken Biggs’s suggestion for a song (PWW, June 7) here goes.
The Ballad of B-2 (i.e. Bush and Blair)
(Tune: Tom Dooley)
REFRAIN
Hang down your head George Dubya
Hang down your head Tony Blair
Hang down your heads you liars
‘Cause the weapons were never there.
We were lying to the people
Lying all the time
Lying to the people
To cover up our crimes.
REFRAIN
Damn all those people
Who shouted, marched and sang
If it hadn’t of been for those millions
We’d now be in Pyongyang.
REFRAIN
Heard them shouting: support our troops!
Support them all the way!
Support the troops right and proper!
Bring them home today!
REFRAIN
This time next year
We’ll be the only ones waving the flag
As they bundle us into an airplane
To the Courthouse in The Hague.
REFRAIN
Gary HicksBoston MA
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