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Letter to the Editors of American News Media

Cause for Concern

by Jerre Skog

Dissident Voice
November 8, 2003

Dear Sirs,

As a foreigner far removed from the intricacies of domestic American politics -– I come from Sweden, a country with no international significance whatsoever, and I live in Germany, a country on the verge of being included in the “axis of evil” -– I feel obliged to write to you to express my concerns and seek some answers to a few questions that have for some time caused me considerable confusion and, to put a not too fine point on it, worry.

Pro primo:

The president and his administration claimed as reason to embark on a, if I may say so, internationally highly unpopular and possibly, not to say probably, illegal war against Iraq, that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, was threatening the US and the world with them, had connections to terrorists, and tried to buy nuclear material from Nigeria. Eight months after the war started there seems to be some difficulty in justifiably assigning the epithet truth to the statements made by the administration, inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information it communicated and the facts insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated eight months later, is such as to cause epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language, a heavier burden than it can reasonably be expected to bear. In other words, the administration appears to have lied, willingly or not, to the American electorate. Is this accepted behavior, expected of the highest leaders of the nation, or are steps taken to render a repetition of such behavior impossible or at least very improbable?

Pro secundo:

Prominent members of the administration, most notably the president and his vice president have -- if we are to believe several eminent journalists with exemplary insight in such complicated matters -- connections, directly or through close family ties, to a number of private corporations which, in the later course of events and according to the same eminent journalists, have been awarded pecuniarily advantageous government contracts and are positioned to benefit from further such contracts -– in Mesopotamian areas and elsewhere. It has additionally been reported, again by reputed journalists of excellent integrity, that seventy corporations which generously donated to the president’s election campaign have been awarded lucrative contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq. This intimate interdependence and, one is sorely tempted to deduce, symbiotic coexistence between profit-seeking entrepreneurs and individuals, responsible for upholding law and ensuring unprejudiced governing, indicates that certain corruptive practices may well be inherent in the habitual exercise of the administration’s duties, whether the actual transfer of money has taken place or not. The close relationship to a financier is in itself disqualifying when making decisions concerning it, and no independent court in a civilized nation would accept a judge thus involved with the beneficiary. Is long term governing policy dictated or influenced by financial back scratching and if not, what steps are taken to eliminate undesired practices that are tantamount to corruption?

Pro tertio:

An unavoidable supplementary question appears to be: How come the ladies and gentlemen of American media in general have managed to avoid extensive, repeated and penetrative reporting on aforementioned themes? A clear, simple and straightforward answer will definitely be appreciated!

I may be forgiven for nursing unbecoming suspicions that certain words -- corruption, fraud, lie, sleaze and impeachment among them –- have been abolished from later versions of American dictionaries, perhaps to be replaced by others in order to lessen public worry over administrative tendencies and practices.

An assurance from you and your esteemed colleagues populating the exalted American media circles that my suspicions are unfounded, would set my mind at ease and bless me with the complete faith and trust that most of us foreigners have had in your great country since longer than most of us even dare to linger on.

Credible explanations from the same individuals of, no doubt impeccable honesty and integrity, which may point my further contemplative endeavors in a positive direction would undoubtly result in less numerous and less aggravated expostulations regarding the US of A thereby removing or at least decreasing the danger of the undersigned receiving personal attention from your extraordinarily efficient semisecret political enforcer, the CIA.

Eagerly awaiting your reply

Your most humble servant

-- Jerre Skog,

Lingen, Germany

The letter may be forwarded with or without impunity to editors of personal choice.

Jerre Skog is a Swedish writer, musician and independent observer living in Germany. His writings, politics and satire, can be found on www.skog.de and comments are welcome at jerre@skog.de.

Cause for Concern

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