Dear Friends,

The following piece was published in the Asia Sentinel on September 12.

Nobody seems to be weeping for hundreds of thousands of dead non-Americans

Sadly it’s that time of year again when we are subjected to Americans trumpeting the tragedy and misery caused by the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. I in turn say the same thing every year, it was sad, it was tragic and if I could have done anything in my power to have prevented it I would have done so.

My heart goes out to the people who lost fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands and friends when the passenger planes struck.

However, the greatest loss of lives has been caused by America’s continuing quest for vengeance.

Civilian deaths in Iraq: 655,000 and counting.

Renditions: What renditions? Never happened.

And what about Dr. Afia Siddiqui and her children? Kidnapped in Pakistan in March 2003 along with her children, she miraculously turned up in Bagram a few months ago after an international outcry. The fate of her children remains uncertain and she has been charged with attacking American soldiers after wresting a weapon away from one of them.

The last time I looked a fully armed and well trained American soldier would have had no problem with slightly build Pakistani lady who by that time had been incarcerated for five years.

Oil stolen from Iraq: 1,000 barrels a day valued at US$100 plus per barrel. Never acknowledged, never explained. Where is the money going?

And yet America is still seeking out terrorists, real or imagined. What right does any country have to carrying out bombing raids on another country’s sovereign territory? Apparently this most basic rule does not apply to America, which very recently carried out a bombing raid on Pakistan and some months ago bombed a wedding party in Afghanistan. What was their crime?

People are being killed and lives altered irreparably because of America’s war on terror. It is time that the international community pointed the finger at George Bush and addressed him for what he is; a murderer of innocents.