May God bless America

THE EDITOR, Sir:

AFTER READING a letter in The Gleaner of Monday, September 17 written by Randolph Burgess, I felt compelled to respond. America leads the world in so many ways: space research, medical research, engineering, aviation and so many other ways. The rest of the world rides "piggy back" on America's investment in these areas. We benefit from their investments as we utilise their services and buy their products, which have made so much difference to our lives today.

Furthermore most of us share in this experience even more by seeking permission to live and work in the United States. What would life be without America's ingenuity, knowledge and brilliance?

Seventy per cent of our tourists come to us from the United States, a significant proportion of our remittances comes from those of us who have managed to make it to America one way or another. Mr. Burgess spoke of America being an aggressor and an initiator of wars, but I would like to ask him, to say which war America has been involved in where they were not either responding to aggression against themselves or against some weak nation or group of persons.

The Germans started World War Two and Japan drew America in with their attack on Pearl Harbour; the Gulf War was as a consequence of Iraq's aggression against a tiny helpless neighbour who had to ask the United Nations to help. Grenada had a regime that was so ruthless that they murdered their own leader, Maurice Bishop. Grenada was also part of the strategic effort to counter the Soviet communist expansionist plan. We have come to see communism fall as it was so wrong. In Kosovo we had a barbaric war that was being perpetuated along ethnic lines.

Is it that Mr. Burgess would have wanted to see the genocide continue in Kosovo? The world is not homogenous; there are many different countries that have distinctly different outlooks on life. Many times throughout history many wars have been fought on religious grounds resulting in entire countries being destroyed. The culture in the west has been one of tolerance, thus the reason why these vicious characters that executed this act could have entered the US and lived normal middle-class lives for years without arousing suspicion.

We enjoy religious freedom and have a rich democratic tradition that is not the norm in some other parts of the world. America must be supported in its stand against satanic regimes wherever they are in the world. We in Jamaica must decide what is in our interest. Whether it is in defence of freedom, in defence of powerless persons anywhere in the world or even if is for oil, I think it is in Jamaica's interest that America prevail.

This is a war between good and evil, a war between Satan and the good Lord. Fanatics anywhere in the world are a threat to our freedom and must be confronted. Jamaican brothers and sisters were murdered in this attack, hence we share the pain of the over sixty other countries whose nationals also perished in the attack. It is ironic to see so many persons always willing to label America as the wickedest place on earth but yet choose to aspire to go hell rather than heaven. May God continue to bless America.

I am, etc.,

JEROME HENRY

Buff Bay P.O.

Portland

Back to Terror Strikes US Letters