Letter: London attacks don't compare to Iraq violence

Editor,

How hollow must the sound of President Bush's and Prime Minister Blair's empty words ring, even in the trustful ears of the staunchest patriot in the face of Madrid last year and now London.

We should not forget that all terrorists are human. There are specific reasons behind their actions, which must be understood and acknowledged. Understanding the terrorist rationalization is not justification, but indispensable if the world wants to break out of this seemingly endless cycle of violence.

It is significant that the condemnation of the latest terrorist attacks out of such mouths as Bush's sounds like a self-indictment. Everything that is said about the authors of the horrific deeds in London and elsewhere applies to the leaders of the free world and their policies. Their misdeeds are epitomized in and symbolized by Fallujah, a city of 300,000, now totally destroyed.

What happened in London happens daily in Iraq, more than two years after Bush proudly declared his adventure a mission accomplished. What happened in London and Madrid is nothing compared to what the people of Iraq suffered during the months of the invasion. Since Arab lives do not seem to count in such judgments and calculations, the real human costs did not come out until much later.

Where has the public outcry been against these crimes? Where has the public sympathy been for the victims of these crimes? Must it take the slaughter of yet more innocent lives at home to awaken the public consciousness to the horrific reality of war abroad?

However, as long as the crude black-and-white, good-and-evil American justice trumps the objective justice of the International Criminal Court, such prospect of peace lies in the distant future.

Joachim L. Oberst

UNM staff