Editor, the Gauntlet,
Re: “Letters: Anti-Americanism misguided,” March 27, 2003.
I cannot help but say that the time Greg Clayton spent composing his letter would have been better spent educating himself on the realities and motives of the conflict. His letter provides nothing but the rhetoric available on the hourly CNN newscast.
With some research he may have found the following:
1. The expansive website of the Project for the New American Century, and specifically an open letter to President Clinton on January 26, 1998. In this letter the president is urged to turn his “…administration’s attention to implementing a strategy for removing Saddam’s regime from power..” in order to “…protect our vital interests in the Gulf. In any case, American policy cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council.” The letter was signed by, among others, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, the present chairman of the defense advisory board, secretary of cefense and the ceputy secretary of defense, respectively. (Reference http://www.newamericancentury. org/iraqclintonletter.htm)
2. An article by Robert Dreyfus in the independent media magazine Mother Jones. Titled “The Thirty Year Itch,” the article chronicles the plan for control of the Middle East hatched during the 1971 oil crisis, through its refinement over the years and its culmination in the present day war. Dreyfus states that “the region [Middle East] is crucial not simply for its share of the U.S. oil supply, but because it would allow the United States to maintain a lock on the wor>
nergy lifeline and potentially deny access to its global competitors.” Furthermore, Dr. Michael Clare, author of Resource Wars states that “Control over the Persian Gulf translates into control over Europe, Japan and China. It’s having our hand on the spigot.” Richard Dreyfus was named one of the “best unsung investigative journalists working in print” last year by the Columbia Journalism Review. (Reference http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/10/ma_273_01.html)
These two examples are only a drop in the barrel of information available to someone wishing to make an informed opinion on this, or any, issue. Sadly, Mr. Clayton’s reliance upon mass media for information is the norm rather than the exception in our society. To express a credible and informed opinion one must seek and investigate credible, informed and diverse sources.