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Truth and Labels
By Bob Davidson, Canton
Speaking of the Truth
The article titled "Still Time to Speak the Truth?" by Gabrielle Bernard, which was printed in the February 14 issue of The Voice, was really food for thought. My first thought was that it must have been intended to be humorous. On reading further, I could only conclude that each of us sees the truth in far different ways.
The author seems to believe that the investigations of the Clintons proved they were not guilty. I never heard any such verdict. I heard investigators say that they were unable to find conclusive evidence to convict. The truth is that the two most powerful people in the world, with the FBI, CIA and government lawyers at their disposal, were more than a match for those searching for evidence.
The author implies, by some distorted logic, that the 9/11 disaster was somehow the fault of the political right. The truth much more likely is that the failure of Bill Clinton to accept Sudan's 1996 offer to turn over Osama allowed him to plan and execute that act of terror. The author also fails to mention that the band-aid approach of the Clinton/ Carter appeasement policy toward North Korea is responsible for the current crisis with that nation.
The author implies that the recent spacecraft accident was somehow directly the result of money spent on the Strategic Defense Initiative by the Bush administration. If shortage of funds was the problem, which it was not, it was starved during the Clinton administration.
The author asks us to imagine a "liberal Supreme Court." Truly she jests!
The author states as the truth that the UN inspectors are doing their job. The truth is that their job was to verify that Iraq had fully complied with Resolution 1441 to completely disarm. The truth is that the UN and the U.S. have been very patient, while Iraq has refused to comply with that resolution. The truth is that the real responsibility was Iraq's, not the inspectors'.
The author closes with: "We keep hoping there is still time to speak the truth to the men who seem to have a love affair with violence, suffering and death." On that thought, we can all agree, but will bin Laden and the madman ruling Iraq listen? They are clearly the ones who are in love with violence, suffering and death.
Ugly Americans?
It is easy to become annoyed, even angry, when we hear those two words. The immediate reaction often is how unfair, even ridiculous it is to call us names. Aren't we Americans the host country for the UN? Aren't we Americans the largest contributor to welfare in poor countries?
Yes, we don't often see ourselves as ugly. We rebuilt Japan and Europe. We saved our allies from dictators. We are expected to police the world's problems and frequently we are the only nation that does. Why then would others refer to us as the "ugly Americans"?
Until recently I felt such a label was unfair. It seemed (and often still is) not so much about how we respond to our nation's success and power, as it is about others' envy of what we have and are. Lately, however, I've heard many of my fellow Americans express views which are self-serving, narrow-minded, and show a lack of compassion for the suffering of others, and that are indeed ugly.
Regarding the resistance to becoming involved in a war when some think there is no real or immediate threat to our nation, clearly implied is the idea that we should let an evil dictator have his way. Let him poison, maim, torture and kill his own people and those of other nations as long as he does not pose any threat to us. We tried that years ago with Italy, Germany, Russia and Japan—it got ugly.
Some Americans have recently expressed concerns about the possible cost of a war with Iraq. "We can't have guns and butter," they say. Only a true capitalist would do a cost/ benefit analysis when deciding if going to war is justified. Is it not rather ugly to put a price tag on moral issues?
Perhaps these same people think the money we spent on World War II could have been better spent to reduce our local taxes. Apparently we are to tolerate murder, starving children, rape and torture unless eliminating them does not require any sacrifice on our part.
So there we have the picture of an ugly American: one who seldom cares what happens to people in other countries, and then only if the price is right.
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