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Victims or Martyrs?

To the Editor:
I found it ironic that a letter in your April edition, (“Anti-Jewish Journalism?” by Dr. Meyer A. Rothberg), was followed by an article (“In Memoriam”) concerning Rachel Corrie. Truly, Corrie’s story is a tragic one—however, I do not think she should be viewed as a hero. But if she is a hero in the Palestinian state, she should not be seen as one in America.

It has become increasingly evident that the Palestinian state appreciates American sympathizers. Clearly your article on Rachel Corrie sympathized with the Palestinian “cause”. But how can you support a person like Corrie, who burned us flags in anti-American demonstrations and martyred herself in front of the home of a suicide bomber?

Yes, the bulldozer that accidentally ran Corrie over was "American- made", but she was defending the home of the same type of suicide bombers that crashed into the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
Anyone knows this has become one of the principle defenses employed by Israel against suicide bombers. The families of these suicide bombers are richly rewarded for their actions. Hardly remorseful conduct on the part of the Palestinian state, wouldn’t you say? Israel has expressed remorse over the death of Corrie, remorse you’d be hard-pressed to find in the Gaza strip.

In an article by Myles Kantor, posted on www.thefrontpage.com on April 2, 2003, Corrie is compared with another American who was living in the Middle East. Marla Bennett graduated from Berkeley, moved to Israel after graduation and described life there as “magical”. Sadly, Bennett was killed by a suicide bomber, a member of Hamas, in the cafeteria of Hebrew University, whose bomb killed four other Americans and five Israelis, and injured 85. As Kantor eulogizes, Bennett “was twenty-four, and she never set America’s flag on fire”.

In his April editorial commentary, Jason Stern quotes the Beastie Boys’ “In a World Gone Mad” as his epigraph to an idealized rant on politicians and war. Stern’s judgement of Bush (“battles waged by the Bushes and Husseins”) hypocritically embraces the “blame” that he calls an “example of violence.” Peace is not a static endeavor. Right now there are people celebrating a freedom they have not had in 30 years in Iraq, and exiled Iraqi-Americans returning to their homeland to help rebuild. We are actually helping our enemy rebuild. I encourage Chronogram to interview these Iraqi-Americans are about their view of the war! They are currently calling President Bush “a hero”, “the bringer of the peace”, and marching signs around the center circles of Baghdad that read “Go Home us Humanshields You Wankers”. Allow the same people who are waving American flags and giving flowers to American soldiers, our “enemies”, to speak.

Brad McDuffie, New Paltz

The Journey into the Self

We received this message regarding the Esteemed Reader column, 5/03.

To the Publisher:
Thank you for saying things that need to be said. I have been very saddened and confused by many around me who march in peace rallies but seem to have so much violence in their hearts. I actually broke up a fight that a person who was "against war" was having with an evangelizing Christian. The peace lover had actually picked the fight with this Christian. I had to point out to this "pacifist" that he was creating war by arguing hostilely with this man. Thankfully, and to his credit, the man became aware that what I was saying had merit. Actually, he looked as though I had woken him from a dream. He was quite unaware of what he was doing. Later he even thanked me.

Thank you for being a beacon in this darkness of fear and judgment.

Susan Linich