A clear picture

Dear Editor,

The United States bombings in Kenya and Tanzania killed hundreds of innocent people, both American and African. I do not know how anyone could believe such acts could help further the United States' cause. In fact, acts like these create excuses for abrogation of democratic rights (happening in Ireland right now) and for the bombing in Sudan.

The evidence seems to indicate the Sudan plant was exactly what Sudan said it was, a pharmaceutical plant (Los Angeles Times, Aug. 9,1998) that produced badly-needed medications for people of an impoverished nation. Even those who believe terrorists should be punished must agree the United States should not strike out blindly against innocent people.

The role of the media? The Wall Street Journal openly campaigned for a retaliatory strike, even before the rubble was cold in Nairobi. Bin Laden now joins Saddam Hussein as another target against whom any crime is permissible.

A few weeks back, The London Observer presented evidence of a right-wing conspiracy against Clinton. It revealed ties between Ken Starr and right-wingers who were tied to the Arkansas Ku Klux Klan. Yet no mainstream paper bothered to comment on this.

One alternative is in the Internet pages of the World Socialist Web Site, http://www.wsws.org.

I think as students, we have an obligation to read the press critically.

­ Gerardo Nebbia

graduate student, economics