Taiwan has enough enemies
In response to your article about the possibility of sending troops to Iraq (Congressmen want Taiwanese marines to join US in Iraq, May 23, page 1), since the resolution "has been referred to the House Committee on International Relations for debate," here is my question: Not being a member of the UN, should Taiwan participate in any "global war," whether the US is involved or not? Without UN membership, I don't think Taiwan's participation in such a war would be valid in name or in reasoning.
At present, it is far more important for Taiwan to do away with the visible dictatorial-mindedness of the two political rogues in Taipei than to fight against the invisible and uncountable terrorists in Baghdad.
Iraq is too far away; as shaky as Taiwan's domestic political situation still is today, it needs no more terrorist enemies than the Communists in China and their power-thirsty pleasers in Taiwan.
US President George W. Bush should ask China to deploy troops to Iraq instead.
Taitzer Wang
Ohio
Guardians of democracy?
Let me see if I got this right: The two hold-overs from the dictatorial KMT regime are now the defenders of democracy. They do this by encouraging their followers to demonstrate, refusing to acknowledge the duly-elected government and comparing President Chen Shui-bian (
The government has bent over backward to accommodate them, yet the KMT stalwarts continue to tear down the country, causing stock market havoc, sullying Taiwan's name in the international community, enflaming ethnic disharmony, while cozying up to the PRC (one of the most repressive governments in modern history.) I wonder how many murders, let alone assaults, went unsolved on the KMT's 50-year watch.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) excel at disregarding rationality, wreaking havoc, pouting and demonstrating poor behavior for all the people in Taiwan; they are hardly guardians of democracy.
The people know the truth and they have spoken, so get over it, KMT, do some soul searching, get rid of your old baggage and become a party everyone can respect.
Denis Hayes
Huwei
Return of the US' hatchet man
Your story about US congressmen wanting Taiwanese marines to join the US in Iraq raises the worrying prospect of a renewal of the Taiwanese government's role as a US hatchet man. We must remember that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) military dictatorship provided bases used during the US invasion of Vietnam.
The KMT dictatorship's extensive experience of state terror, gained through the repression of Taiwanese, was disseminated through the World Anti-Communist League. For example, death squad leaders from US-backed military regimes were trained at the KMT's Political Warfare school in Peitou including El Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson, who was nicknamed "Blowtorch Bob" after his favorite torture tool.
How can Taiwan claim to be democratic if it becomes an agent once again of repressive violence on behalf of the American Empire?
Any renewed role as a US hatchet man would be interpreted by many as a sign that the claims of the Taiwanese government that it supports international human rights and democracy are a sham, something which would weaken Taiwan's international standing dramatically.
Mark Munsterhjelm
Victoria, Canada
Iraq war a moral failure
The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad represents an unequivocal and inadmissable contrast with the principles of a great democracy.
The horrible tortures and humiliations to which many Iraqi prisoners were subjected are a matter of crimes, real crimes, because even in war there are rules to be respected. The US appears to be imposing the same type of life upon Iraqi society that they said they were going to rescue them from.
Bush's words of regret to the Arab people did not go far enough. He must take bigger steps to heal the wounds and diminish the hatred being caused by the war.
We need to pray for the victims of these acts of torture and for those who committed them, so that they recognize what they have done before the US justice system, which I hope will run its course.
We need also to unite ourselves in prayer for those who are kidnapped in Iraq, for those who risk their lives, and for those who lose it in carrying out their duty. Ultimately, it's time to recognize that the war, initiated by US deception about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, was a moral failure. Is this not also a time to revisit the concept of a just war?
Paul Kokoski
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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