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Readers' Observations

November 25, 2006

Editor's Note: Below are readers' observations about some of our recent stories and other news events:

Your Chertoff article reminds that our national aspirations are (have long
been) high jacked and are veering toward a cowardly and narcissistic model
that reforms isolationism and substitutes imperialism and obnoxious
domination for our comfort blanket; in the alternative, they were never
widely embraced in the face of the cruder call to self-interest.

Though the tipping point perhaps has been finally reached it seems on topic
of the nation's, or at least its leadership's, lamentable retreat from even
the pretense of basic humanistic values... Your readers know that when
probative criticism was an endangered species in the states... you were
there.

George

Congrats on all recent your work re Gates' nomination.

I've been re-reading some of Martin Lee's work regarding Susurluk etc - including at ConsortiumNews - and thought that perhaps you could write an article about Gates from the context that he tried to cover up the Gray Wolves' papal shooting (by pushing the Bulgarian angle) and we could maybe peel off some support from christian types.

Perhaps you could use the imminent papal trip to Turkey as a hook for the story.

In other news, there have been some new developments in the Susurluk case. Mehmet Eymur is apparently now free to travel in Turkey again despite being on the most-wanted list, Mehmet Agar is one of the front-runners for the election in 2007, and Sedat Bucak (the sole survivor at Susurluk) was recently ' convicted' - and given a one year suspended sentence.

The situation in Turkey is starting to look the US - with the return of all the Iran-Contra/Susurluk criminals. That's the problem when people don't get convicted first time around. Let's hope we start to learn that lesson, and soon!

Cheers

Lukery.

--

I was very pleased to see Ray McGovern make reference to the comments of Rep. Rush Holt, D-NJ, concerning the Gates nomination. Many posters on Daily Kos, echoing a recent column by The Nation's David Corn, have proposed that Rep. Holt would make an outstanding Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Holt, a Ph.D. physicist who has taught at Princeton and Swarthmore, has an outstanding background in intelligence, having served in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, concentrating in the area of nuclear proliferation. Rep. Holt has been an aggressive opponent of some of the outrages of the Bush Adminstration, including the abuse of intelligence, the conduct of the war in Iraq, and the illegal electronic surveillance program. In every way, he is the ideal candidate to Chair the House Intelligence Committee. Thus far, media attention has concentrated on Rep. Jane Harman, who competes with Sen. Lieberman for the title of the Bush Administration's favorite Democrat and is properly opposed by Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. Alcee Hastings, whose checkered past would render his appointment a public relations catastrophe for the Democrats. This is a rare situation in which Speaker Pelosi can select a candidate who is both best qualified for the job and the best candidate in terms of political objectives: Rep. Holt. I would love to see a groundswell of support for Rep. Holt emanating from the internet.

Stuart Abrams

Ancramdale, NY

Tom Hayden, on HuffPost, asked: why is Cheney visiting S. Arabia?

S. Arabia is one of six M.Eastern countries to recently announce an intent to develop nuclear programs.
Cheney, as CEO of Halliburton in the 90s, sold centrifuges Oriental Oil Kish in Shiite Iran.
Rumsfeld, as a Director of ABB, sold 2 light-water nuclear reactors to Korea.
Bush agreed to exchange nuclear technology for Indian mangoes.
-India can share U.S. info with Iran as the Feingold/Feinstein amendment was defeated.

I think Cheney is taking "Atoms for Peace" into overdrive.
First arming the "Axis of Evil," then arming the "Allies."
Profit cycle>war>reconstruction>proliferation...("prolifers" alright)
When asked "what is the most dangerous threat facing the U.S.?," (during the Pres. debates) Kerry answered "WMD," Bush qualified "WMD, in the hands of terrorists"
If it is Cheney's plan, do the positives of reforming S. Arabia outweigh the negatives of proliferation?
Is it another political move that sacrifices security as was releasing nuke blueprints online to prove Iraq had WMD?

Regarding the Gulf War vs. Iraq War
H.W.'s war took 146 American lives and cost U.S. taxpayers $9BB
H.W. knew invading would be a mistake as did Cheney, his Sec. Def.
-their reasoning is so prescient, H.W.: "Saddam was no longer a threat to his neighbors" "We would be bogged down"
Cheney: "the cost was dear for the 146 families" "I would still have forces there today" how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth?" Cheney answered "not very damned many."
If only Cheney listened to himself and H.W., we would not have W.'s war taking 2900+ lives and costing $400BB+ ($2TT+ per Stieglitz).

Thanks, J.

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