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Letters: Like father Bush, like son Bush By Nancy Littell Fox Talent Amazing! (Like father, like son) Here is the open letter I wrote ten years ago to President George Bush, Sr. after the first gulf war. Published in the Hilo Tribune Herald, It asked these eight questions; 1) Down the ages, has war - any war - insured a lasting peace? 2) When flag waving and fanfare eclipse the groans of death and destruction, can victory in war be claimed? 3) Does it comfort a mourning family to hear: "But on our side we had 'only a few' casualties?" 4) Those visible scenes of tortured Kuwaitis - are they any worse than those invisible scenes of mass torture inflicted by U.S. bombs? 5) Behind the smokescreen of "security needs," what war news was concealed? Why were we "kiddies" spoon-fed all that pureed Pentagon Pablum? 6) Quite magic how you, Mr. Bush, (in seeking control of Middle East oil), waved your wand and presto! U.S. greed was suddenly "a just war," "freedom," "God's cause," and abracadabra! "Democracy"! And then, in revising the U.N. resolution 678, how you claimed the United Nations approved our use of force! They never did. 7) Wasn't your vast troop buildup, in itself, a compelling excuse to push the war button? "Soldiers," you said, "don't just stand there bored. Do Something!" 8) Does this whiz-bang "victory" teach us that a president, anytime, anywhere, can butcherize whoever blocks U.S. greed? Egged on by a censored, ill-informed, bedazzled, hero-worshipping public, where will you strike again, Mr. Bush? Ponder these questions, Mr. President. War is the ultimate failure in human relations; the cop out of diplomacy, the pooh-poohing of the sanctity of life. Said Mark Twain: In praying for victory, you're asking: 'Lord, help us to shred them to bloody bits, terrorize their families, animals, birds, etc. and ruin their land. We ask it in the name of love. Amen.'" As we mourn the dead and injured on both sides, may we also, (as Ralph Chapin wrote); "Mourn the apathetic throng, the cowed and the meek, who see the world's great anguish, and dare not speak." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -