Dear George Loper & Fellow Democrats:

George Bush, the famed National Guard nonwar hero, has done his best to bring peace to the Middle East by pouring, you should pardon the expression, oil on the flames, and things are worse there than ever, including 7,000 dead Iraqi civilians, thousands of dead Iraqi soldiers, and hundreds of Americans.

Where I grew up, we fought fire with water, not gasoline. Ask yourself, "What do you call a nation that attacks another country that has not attacked it? The answer is an aggressor, and that's what GWB has made of the United States. Remember, Hitler said he was invading Russia to rid it of a dangerous Bolishevik dictator. Does that sound familiar?

This country needs another Jimmy Carter, somebody whose military experience, if he has it, is incidental to what they are about, not a professional militarist, to work toward a just and lasting peace for all peoples. As Ruth Conniff points out in the November The Progressive Magazine, "He (Clark) voted for Nixon and Reagan and effusively praised Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice." (Subscribe: For $12 a year order toll free at 1-800-827-0555).

Speaking of Carter, his Administration gave South Americans a four-year breathing spell from the CIA, which, in case you didn't know, has contributed to the wholesale slaughter of more Latin Americans than the chaps who ran the Spanish Inquisition. (Ever ask why the Iranians hated us? Maybe it was because the CIA overthrew their Democratically elected government! Ditto, Chile! Ditto, Guatamala!) The number of Latin Americans killed by U.S.-trained, or funded, Death Squads must easily be approaching 300,000 or more. And the CIA's war is going full blast in Colombia destroying the country under the guise of a war on drugs -- drugs which the CIA itself has smuggled in from the ends of the earth whenever it wanted a snort. Over the years the CIA has either attempted to overthrow or meddle in the domestic politics of dozens of foreign governments.

Question: What do you call a country that operates a Gestapo overseas? I repeat my suggestion: better start registering voters because this may be the last chance you have to vote in a Democratic election. What they inflict on prisoners of war in Guantanamo, so shall they do unto you. Have a good day.

All best,

Sherwood Ross, Charlottesville (electronic mail, October 16, 2003)