To the Editor:

If one could reflect on the past year, something is blatantly obvious in the Middle East. George Bush's foreign policy is a dismal failure and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi innocents have paid the price.

Having failed in the "phony" war to grab all the oil in Iraq now the hawks have embarked on a new strategy. Some are even subtly acknowledging American complicity in the sudden, almost inexplicable cry for democracy in the Arab world. When we spend millions prosecuting African and European dictators for their war crimes, how do we justify murdering Mummar Ghadafi? Wasn't he, regardless of his crimes, entitled to due process?

Probably the worst consequences of American foreign policy under the Bush administration is the successful perpetuation of the myth of the evil "Muslim." It's a black eye in foreign relations when one group of politicians can program their nation to embrace racial profiling and naively --- believe that a small group of peace loving peoples actually want to destroy our way of life and hurt citizens of western democracies.

Bin Laden, like Karl Marx, was just another rich kid with nothing better to do, but start revolution. Like Marx, he created the myth of him being the champion of the little guy bringing down the system that had made him rich. Bin Laden had been on American ally during the Afghanistan-Soviet war; and why he turned against his American friends we may never know.

But we should bear in mind that on Sept. 12, 2001, members of Bin Laden's family were in Texas with the president's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, and it was decided to charter a 707 to fly them back to Saudi Arabia, based solely on the fact that it might look a little questionable to have the instigators (Bin Laden's) people in the United States with a former president.

The cracks in George Junior's foreign policy began to surface in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The administration found itself so over-extended by pressure put to bear on the war in Iraq, that resources were not available the help the citizens in New Orleans.

Contrary to what people of George Bush's mentality would have us believe most people in the world simply desire peace, regardless of their religious convictions. The struggle by Americans to occupy and control the oil wealth of the Arab states has been too costly in terms of waste of military resources and human lives lost. China and Russia are attempting to force the Americans to cool their heels to prevent would conflict.

Simply put in the words of one of the Sixties' greatest singer-songwriters, John Lennon, "Give peace a chance."

Angus Campbell
Thompson