HoopDance

Dear Andrew,

I salute your “from the community” peice “How Many Crosses Will It Take” in the 2/24/07 Contra Costa Times. Not only was it superbly written, but also it zeroes in on the “cry wolf” propaganda technique the Bush administration used and continues to use in their war-mongering: see my peice “Guest Commentary” from the 1/27/07 Times: “Sick of Apologia for Bush’s Attack on Civil Liberties.” That more soldiers have died for Bush and his cronies’ profit and ideologically driven war, than civilians perished on 9/11 is appalling. That is only one reason why the Lafayette crosses are important. It is clear to most Americans by now, that the “neocons” understand nothing about arabs, the Middle East, or arabic history and culture. If they had, they would have known this misbegotten aggression would be their undoing. I am old enough to remember well that that same American ignorance led to so many deaths in Viet-Nam. I grew up in Indonesia, and even as I child I had a better sense of how the South Asian cultures worked than our American leaders back home. You cannot “bring democracy” to tribe-based, warlord driven, cultures that run on ingrained corruption. We have learned nothing since The Ugly American was written. And, Henry James was right: Americans’ political unsophistication and intellectual innocence continue to get us in trouble at home and abroard whenever we encounter older, more decadent cultures. I thank you for your passionate and thoughtful contribution to our national discussion.

Val Morehouse, Feb. 24, 2007.

The Crosses At Lafayette

© Val Morehouse, January 2007. All Rights Reserved