I was fascinated and not a little disturbed by Rodney E. Ward’s letter in the March 21 edition of The Pilot, in which he asserted that the United States does not trade with communist dictators, have relations with countries without free and open elections, or consistently violate the human rights of its citizens. What disturbed me was the convenient ignoring at least six very simple facts:

1. The United States supported a South Vietnam that was as oppressive as its northern neighbor during the Vietnam war.

2. The United States has relations with China.

3. The United States supported would-be fascist dictators with arms and money in Central America during the 1980s.

4. In 1990-91, the U.S. military was sent to support Kuwait, a feudal kingdom where women are stoned to death for adultery, where a thief is punished by having his hand amputated, where women can’t drive cars or swim in the same pool as men, and where Amnesty International reports that torture is routine. In 1992, 111 people were executed, 16 of them political prisoners, all but one by public beheading.

5. During the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s, the United States. sided with and sold arms to Iraq and continued this policy until 1990.

6. The United States will apparently support any dictator, no matter how shameful, to keep up an atmosphere of constant crisis, fear and uncertainty.

This, of course, ignores the United States’ rights violations against its own citizens. But it’s enough food for thought for those who accuse others of using “shady facts” while ignoring some ugly facts that undermine their own assertions. One can either do that or heed the advice of a great philosopher: “Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control.”

Matt Sides

Aberdeen