THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WOULD like to add my two cents to the raging controversy regarding the pending construction of the US Embassy in residential Bamboo Pen, Liguanea. I am a US citizen here in Jamaica for a short while on business, and family matters. I have been following the situation from the outset, however, via the Gleaner's Go-Jamaica website and of course, from friends' reports.
I must say that I am more than chagrined and quite embarrassed at the heavy-handed stance that the US has taken in this issue. Their seemingly pigheaded insistence on moving their embassy lock, stock and barrel and all it entails to this residential neighbourhood will only further alienate them at a time when they need all the friends they can get and keep, even in tiny Jamaica!
I would therefore like to use this medium to appeal to Ms. Cobb, the U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, the U.S. Foreign Affairs Department in Washington, and all the U.S. players in between, to reconsider this very vexing move, as there are many, many alternative venues elsewhere in Jamaica which are much more spacious and much more suitable, and which will not create the furore that this pending move has.
I see where one writer has suggested Twickenham Park as an alternative location, but there is a much better venue, in my humble opinion, that offers more than ample space, that is the Ferry Industrial Park. In fact, it is my belief that this is a much more suitable location, as it can be made even more secure given the mountainside perimeter along one side which the Americans could make impregnable to their heart's delight with bomb deflectors etc.
Given the current largely anti-American sentiment that abounds globally because of seeming American bullyism, it is foolhardy wilfully to antagonise a nation unnecessarily, albeit one as small as Jamaica. Remember, Britannia once ruled the waves!!
I am, etc.,
A CONCERNED
AMERICAN CITIZEN
