Following letter printed, Times-Colonist, September 26.
Editor, Times Colonist, letters@times-colonist.com
21.IX.01
Dear Sir,
Solidarity with the victims of terrorism to us means solidarity with
all the victims of terrorism. We
cannot be selective in this and separate the recent US victims from
victims of US-trained terrorists in
Latin America or Serbian victims or Iraqi victims. We do not accept
this "two-tier" view of the world
which seems to find victims in the USA more deserving of our sympathy
than victims elsewhere.
We do not see that further terrorist acts against the people of Afghanistan
without any process of
international law are called for. For the US to further victimise the
exhausted, starving people of
Afghanistan seems to us unconscionable. After all, it was the US, using
the Pakistani secret service
as cover, which armed the Mujahedin desert fighters against the Soviet
puppet government. When
they were successful, these half-crazed young thugs formed the Taliban
while Osama Bin Laden was
sent to destabilise the Moslem Soviet republics. There is even some
doubt whether he knew that he
was a tool of US foreign policy in his various "holy wars". Bin Laden
turned against the US when they
stopped Saddam Hussein, another former US client, from colonising Kuwait.
As students of history, we recall the Roman dictum: "Who is not with
us is against us". This
statement was made in defence of an empire which ended in moral decay
quite reminiscent of the
excesses of modern "democratic" societies.
We are neither with George Bush and his empire nor with any other exponents
of terror. We do not
support terrorism regardless of who practices it or what words it is
disguised with. What happened to
the innocent victims on September 11 is what US policy-makers call
"collateral damage" when they
kill innocents elsewhere in the world and we will not be party to that
terrorism either.
Your paper appears to support President Bush’s desire to "go to war",
whatever that may mean. We
disagree with you on that but we are in full agreement that the perpetrators
of this, most recent
attack, should be brought to justice. To justice, Mr. Editor, not to
George Bush. Justice demands
that the proofs of guilt come before sentence is declared.
We are proud of our Prime Minister that he has offered sympathy and
aid in the name of Canada
without belligerent rhetoric or religious fervour. He reached out warmly,
in friendship and grief and
dignity. We hope he will not be stampeded into unstatesmanlike action
by sabre rattling such as we
have been hearing.
Yours sincerely,
Albert & Marjorie Stewart,
7516 Lantzville Road, Lantzville, BC