Letters

>Archive - PWW Print Edition Archive - 2004 Editions - Jan 31, 2004


 

Illegal detentions

Conceivably, the United States government, by holding prisoners incommunicado at Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba, has relinquished legal responsibility for due process according to law.
With evidence that most detainees may not know the accusation against them after two years, such delinquent justice begs the question: Are these inmates in fact innocent? Did warlords kidnap them as a politically expedient way to blackmail U.S. voters into “signing off” on the Patriot Act?
If the U.S. Supreme Court fails in its duty to interpret whether human rights have been violated, there may be only one solution. Return jurisdiction over the naval base to its rightful owner – the Havana government that represents the Republic of Cuba.

Richard Grassl
Auburn WA


Questions on 9/11 remain

I’m writing to thank C.F. Niles and the People’s Weekly World (1/24-30) for the excellent report on the shameful failure of our government to inform the American people about the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks. Niles’ report is the clearest and most concise that I’ve found. It’s ever so clear that the Bush administration is doing everything it can get away with to keep the truth from being disclosed. They are certainly acting very guilty of something. And the Congress is just looking the other way.
Ever since a friend alerted me to a press release about Ellen Mariani’s RICO suit, I’ve had Google’s new News Service send me an e-mail notification each time it finds a news article that includes “Ellen Mariani” and “RICO.” There have been only a handful. That’s how I found the report at www.pww.org. It’s shocking and extremely depressing to find that the mainstream media has had a 100 percent blackout of news about her lawsuit. When Google searches all sites, not just the news sites, it comes up with 2,000 hits. So the word is slowly getting out, despite the news media blackout.
Keep up your good work.

Ward Clark
Via e-mail


Schools and food for Mars?

President Bush has proclaimed, “Mars or bust!” Apparently the U.S. Treasury Department is running off money on a non-stop basis to cover various billion-dollar ventures, including billions for Iraq and tax cuts for the U.S. rich. As if the “on earth” expenses that neglect U.S. families are not devastating enough. We will now be spending for “Mars or bust,” but at whose expense? Schools and food for the Martians?

Rohn Webb
Melba ID


Greetings from the U.K.

It was good to read the articles on your site. I live in England and share your views on both Bush and Blair. Fraternal greetings!

Win Lewis
Via e-mail


Others ignore Moon Treaty

Sir, I found Bruce Gagnon’s editorial (“Bush launches a dangerous space policy,” PWW, 1/17-23) a bit disingenuous regarding U.S. refusal to ratify the 1979 Moon Treaty. He conveniently neglected to mention that no other country with a significant space program (i.e. Russia and China) has signed it either. Only nine countries have ratified it (Australia, Austria, Chile, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Uruguay) and just five have signed it (France, Guatemala, India, Peru, and Romania).

Powell B. Cappel
Hong Kong


The author replies:

As is the case today, at the time that the U.S. refused to sign the Moon Treaty in 1979, we were the leader of the arms race pack. Then, as now, we were the country introducing new technologies of weapons of mass destruction and we had already made a highly acclaimed series of landings on the moon.
When the U.S. refuses to sign an important treaty like the Moon Treaty other nations sit back and hesitate as well.
We did sign the 1967 Outer Space Treaty when it was in our interest to do so because we feared that the former Soviet Union might also be able to put weapons of mass destruction into space. As we led the way into that treaty, other great nations followed.
Today the U.S. refuses to even discuss a global ban on weapons in space at the U.N. As a result there will be no such treaty until we, the leader of the arms race pack, decide to do it.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Global Network Against Weapons
& Nuclear Power in Space