Time will tell
The war has started and will soon be over. The dictator Saddam will be gone. Bush said that the war is to disarm Iraq and remove all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Once Iraq is subdued, he will have achieved this end.
But in the process, Bush has made billions of people mad at him. Like battling the sorcerer's apprentice, smashing one danger may only create tens, hundreds, thousands, millions more angry Muslims and Arabs. The most important resource terrorists have is anger, and anger can only be created by their enemy. Without anger, terrorists do nothing.
If Bush is sincere in his wish to avoid future terrorism, he must stop when he has won and completely turn over Iraq to the UN or another neutral body to assist them to become a democracy. Bush should support Iraq's recovery with money only, not troops or administration.
Once the world sees that Bush was honest, that he has left Iraq after achieving his stated goal, only then will it grudgingly conclude that the US did the best thing and begin to believe again in US morality. But if the US stays in Iraq and takes all the contracts for US companies, then the world will realize that Bush's ideal is not democracy, but oil, and that his God is not Jesus Christ, but Mammon.
Tom A. Trottier
Ottawa, Canada
War is always a terrible thing. Equally terrible is the massacre of innocent civilians by a corrupt governing authority. Nobody can disagree that the regime of Saddam Hussein has performed monstrous and horrible acts against his own people, the soldiers of Iran and the civilians of Kuwait. How long can today's anti-war protesters wave their placards and shout 1960s slogans for peace, reliving their youthful days when it was hip to protest against Big Brother, while ignoring their own hypocrisy in not having been on the streets protesting a decade ago when Iraq invaded Kuwait. And where was their devotion to peace, justice and human rights when new reports of human rights violations in Iraq trickled out slowly but regularly?
More appropriate are the anti-war actions of the Buddhist Tzu Chi (慈濟) organization, which is sending supplies to help those fleeing the mayhem of the invasion. The Buddhist organization is offering real and positive action to help Iraqis and Kurds, rather than engaging in trendy and hypocritical media events that involve chanting and the burning of passports that serve as a thin veneer to hide a deeper anti-Americanism and jealousy for American power. My personal congratulations to President Chen Shui-bian (
Let us hope that the American intervention will help the Iraqi people achieve the same sense of liberty and democracy that Taiwan enjoys, and let us pray that their personal losses will be miraculously few.
Timothy Hu
Taipei
Referendums, no big deal
I don't understand your legislature's problem with referendums. The voters here in the US face as many as four referendums each vote, even in primaries. Here, even at the rural town level, it only takes 2 percent of the local registered voters to petition the election commission to include a referendum on the ballot. We vote on changes in law, taxes, projects and other issues. Our legislators are not afraid of the people's voice in matters of governance. It is time for the people of Taiwan to demand the right to referendum. Let the people be heard. The people should not be afraid of their own power.
Bode Bliss
Cleveland, Ohio
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
Strategic thinker Carl von Clausewitz has said that “war is politics by other means,” while investment guru Warren Buffett has said that “tariffs are an act of war.” Both aphorisms apply to China, which has long been engaged in a multifront political, economic and informational war against the US and the rest of the West. Kinetically also, China has launched the early stages of actual global conflict with its threats and aggressive moves against Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, and its support for North Korea’s reckless actions against South Korea that could reignite the Korean War. Former US presidents Barack Obama
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