NYTimes.com Article: Democracy? Let’s Lead by Example (4 Letters)

This article from NYTimes.com 
has been sent to you by threehegemons@aol.com.


Excellent letter from Chalmers Johnson--last one published.

Steven Sherman

threehegemons@aol.com

/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: IN AMERICA - IN THEATRES NOVEMBER 26

Fox Searchlight Pictures proudly presents IN AMERICA
directed by Academy Award(R) Nominee Jim Sheridan (My Left
Foot and In The Name of the Father). IN AMERICA stars Samantha
Morton, Paddy Considine and Djimon Hounsou. For more info:
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica

\----------------------------------------------------------/

Democracy? Let’s Lead by Example (4 Letters)

November 10, 2003
 


 

To the Editor: 

Re "Bush Asks Lands in Mideast to Try Democratic Ways"
(front page, Nov. 7): 

President Bush deserves congratulations for his speech
urging Middle Eastern countries to adopt democratic
traditions. His recommendations would have been more
persuasive had he provided examples. 

He might have apologized for the United States' support of
the overthrow of democratically elected governments in
Chile and Guatemala. 

He might have announced that he would immediately provide
the White House documents about the 9/11 attacks. 

And he would order Vice President Dick Cheney to furnish
the documents from the energy task force requested by
Congress, because transparency is a hallmark of democracy. 

The content of democratic traditions is best made by
example rather than by empty words. 

JEROME BALTER 

Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 2003 

• 

To the Editor: 

Re "Bush
Asks Lands in Mideast to Try Democratic Ways" (front page,
Nov. 7): 

President Bush's speech was well organized, admitted past
errors of foreign policy and asserted well- accepted
reasons why America should foster change not only within
Arab nations but other nations now governed by
dysfunctional regimes. 

One wonders, would things have been different with the
"coalition of the willing" had this speech been made a year
earlier? 

MIKE MARTIN 

Keller, Tex., Nov. 7, 2003 

• 

To the Editor: 

President Bush's speech urging Middle
Eastern countries to step up the pace of reforms that would
expand human rights and achieve greater democracy in
government would have a more positive impact if his own
administration were setting a better example ("Bush Asks
Lands in Mideast to Try Democratic Ways," front page, Nov.
7). 

How do we explain hundreds of prisoners being held without
explanation for nearly two years at Guantánamo Bay? 

How do we explain the shoddy treatment of hundreds of
Muslims in the United States by the Justice Department in
the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy? 

How do we explain our failure to curb Israel's expansion of
settlements in the West Bank and the extension of the
divisive barrier? 

How do we explain the thousands of Iraqis killed and maimed
as a result of an invasion we began on grounds that now
turn out to be largely unjustified? 

PHILIP DUTTER 

Greenwich, Conn., Nov. 7, 2003 

• 

To the Editor: 

"Bush
Asks Lands in Mideast to Try Democratic Ways" (front page,
Nov. 7) reports that in President Bush's speech on
Thursday, he "sought to position the American experiment in
remaking Iraq alongside the United States' efforts to
spread democracy in Asia after World War II." I don't know
of any such efforts. 

We either supported the defeated colonial powers (Britain,
France and the Netherlands) or indigenous militarists and
dictators like Chiang Kai-shek, Syngman Rhee, Ngo Dinh
Diem, General Suharto and Ferdinand E. Marcos. 

In Japan, we created a pro-American single-party regime not
so different from the Soviet satellites, and it is still in
power. In the few places where genuine popular democracy
did develop - the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan - it
was invariably directed from below against American-backed
tyrannies. 

President Bush may know nothing of these histories, but the
people on the receiving end assuredly do. 

CHALMERS JOHNSON 

President, Japan Policy Research
Institute 

Cardiff, Calif., Nov. 7, 2003 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/10/opinion/L10BUSH.html?ex=1069480555&ei=1&en=8c1f724e73b38439


---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!
Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy
now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html



HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters 
or other creative advertising opportunities with The 
New York Times on the Web, please contact
onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media 
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to 
help@nytimes.com.  

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company