AN OPEN LETTER TO NEW YORK GOVERNOR GEORGE E. PATAKI

by Roger E. Jones



April 11, 2003



Governor George E. Pataki

State Capitol

Albany, NY 12224



Dear Governor Pataki:

I read with shock and awe yesterday the report of a "pro-war" rally at the World Trade Center site. Just as shocking was the comment attributed to you: "The war started right here on Sept. 11, 2001," Gov. George Pataki said.

Let me advise you of two things: First, Saddam Hussein was never remotely implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks; even George W. Bush didn't have the guts to openly advance this point as an excuse for his war. Second, The WTC destruction was not the "cause" of the "War on Terrorism;" it was a convenient excuse used by the Administration to advance objectives that have been over 10 years in formulation. I won't even mention the fact that warnings of the Sept. 11 attacks were repeatedly ignored by our government.

You deserve official censure for spreading lies and disinformation. I hope that many of your New York constituents point this out to you. Let me summarize the results to date of Bush's "War on Terrorism:" Osama bin Laden is still alive; the people of Afghanistan, who are still be slaughtered in U.S. military attacks, have traded one oppressive regime for another; thousands of Iraqi civilians, many of them women and children, have died in someone's twisted vision of "liberation," while the U.S. imperialist regime has become an occupying force, its stated purpose to "impose democracy" (read: dictatorship).

How dare you suggest that the senseless deaths of those trapped in the WTC on Sept. 11 are being avenged by yet more savage, brutal murders of a defenseless people? How dare you use their memory in this way? How many more wrongs will finally make a right?

Sincerely,

Roger E. Jones

Los Angeles CA