Dear Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:
I am writing to alert you of the possibility that we are becoming our enemy. I read with great horror and disbelief, as I know so many other people did too, about the three children in Baltimore who were partially beheaded. It was quite horrific enough to read and watch the news about the American contractor and journalist and the foreign contractors and soldiers who were beheaded or who are being kept in captivity with the threat of being beheaded.
In my survey of news sources on the internet*, I am struck by the analogies many writers make between Hydra, the nine-headed monster that challenged Hercules in his second trail, and Al-Qaeda-- the analogy being that like Hydra, Al Queida is a monster with many heads, and each time you cut one off (as Hercules found out the hard way) another one grows in its place. This is indeed a visual way to imagine the threat of global terrorism, a threat which has grown exponentially since we bombed Afghanistan and invaded Iraq. Sir, the heads are bursting and I do not feel safer than I did four years ago.
It is terrifying enough to know that the hatred against the U.S. is growing with renewed force. But to imagine that murderers in the U.S.-- ill people who embody all of the ills of this society -- are themselves using the techniques of terrorists to unleash their violent rages?
And this is only further reinforced by the torture techniques-- endorsed by you as a departure from the Geneva conventions-- that were implemented at Abu Ghraib and most likely Guantanamo. Torture, murder, humiliation: our own troops acting no better than Saddam Hussein’s henchmen!
Please Mr. Secretary, in your effort to protect the homeland, how are you going to quell the horrific violence happening within the minds of our own citizens, who seem to be learning new techniques from the horrible acts of violence endorsed by terrorists and dictators? In the future, please think about how bombing an enemy who has no visible nation and no visible leader is just cutting off one head and sprouting ten more. For now, like Hercules finally realizing that he couldn’t do it alone, I guess you’ll have to rely on the help of Nato.
Sincerely,
Citizen Kay
* google “Hydra and Al-Qaeda” to see these results.
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Hi --
Thinking about your blog site, you should address Ralph Nader's divisive insanity (what Howard Dean called rearranging the furniture while the house burns down), since I know there are many idealistic poets and artists who voted for him in 2000 and will most likely do so again.
I know many are saying that Nader supporters won't make the same mistake twice, but I wouldn't count on it. And according to NPR, 40,000+ Republicans have signed petitions to get Nader on the Michigan (swing state) ballot-- Republicans are doing everything they can to once again defeat the Democrats with the Nader factor. Nader doesn't seem to care that his base is coming from people who could give a damn about his issues, assuming that even Nader gives a damn at this point!
The political position of Nader voters reminds me of that Vietnam-era quote: "In order to save the village, it became necessary to destroy it." Voting should be a positive, creative act, not a negative, destructive act.
Something Nader and Nader voters don't understand: Politics is the art of the possible, not the art of the impossible. Given how close this election will be, voting "symbolically" for Nader will be tantamount to voting "actually" for Bush. I don't understand why Nader doesn't use his millions of dollars in a more constructive way, like forming lobbyist groups for electoral college reform versus what his campaign really amounts to: four more years of Bush.
All best,
Dan Featherston
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