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Letters:

Sept. 11; understanding why

On Sept. 11, we mourn the 3,000 Americans, Canadians, Swiss, Japanese, Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Irish, Mexi-cans and others who died a year ago. We see the images again and again and again -- of the buildings bursting into flames, then collapsing.

Can we gain anything from this beyond a burning anger and a bitter sorrow? Why did dedicated teams of terrorists sacrifice themselves to deliver a blow to the US?

I think we should do three things.

First, we should mourn not as Catholics or Protestants or Jews or Muslims. We should mourn all together and pray for understanding and peace.

Second, we should ask why do some people hate the US so deeply? Is it envy? Is it anger at cultural or economic imperialism? Why? Americans need to understand. We need to live in peace with our neighbors, because we are all neighbors now.

Third, we should be wary of dangers to our liberty and privacy with the excuse of secur-ity. However sincere the original motive, abuses for other motives and by other bureaucrats will appear. Benjamin Franklin said "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The meaning of Sept. 11 does not lie in the horror. For the first time in more than a century, the continental US has felt the scourge of war that so many other countries have suffered. We must learn from this how to prevent war, not how to wage it.

Tom A. Trottier
Ottawa, Canada

China's secret politics

It has become popular in the press recently to say China's upcoming party congress will mark the country's "first orderly political succession." Such plaudits should not be given so freely when it comes to the world's most oppressive government.

There is nothing orderly about a handful of members of a dictatorial government meeting in secret to handpick the next dictator, who will then control the lives of over 1.3 billion people. In most corners of the world this would be called shameful "oppression." For some reason, many people appear pleased the current head of China's dictatorial government will be succeeded without "bloodshed," almost as though closed meetings of the inner circle of the Communist Party constitute some form of praiseworthy democratic process.

With the disenfranchisement of over 1 billion Chinese, there can (and should) be no rejoicing. Nor should we deceive ourselves into thinking the Communist Party's political process has somehow become "enlightened." Enlightenment of the Chinese government will not occur until free democratic elections among her billions of citizens have taken place.

Why do we care? Because the Chinese government claims China is one of the most important countries in the world, constituting one sixth of the world's population. Its new approach to free markets means an influx of investment and widespread contact with the rest of the world.

At the same time, China continues such draconian practices as shamelessly censoring all outside information that it considers "unfavorable" (such as its blackmail of Yahoo and its blocking of Google), restricting travel, freedom of religion and thought, suppressing most other basic human rights, arresting all who evince even the slightest dissent from the party mantra (including those like Wan Yanhai [萬延海], who was involved in addressing something as "threat-ening" to Beijing as the AIDS epidemic in China) and continuing to threaten all (including Taiwan) who subscribe to different ideals.

It is one thing for China to take her place on the world stage as a world leader. It is another thing for China to take her place on the world stage as the largest example of totalitarian hopelessness. Let's call the political process in China what it truly is -- more communist dictatorship at its worst.

Lee Long Hwa
Pasadena, California
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