Concerning Jack Lessenberry’s column ("The liberal dilemma," Metro Times, Sept. 26-Oct. 2), the United States has sponsored or supported more state terror since World War II than any other country, except possibly the Soviet Union. There were thousands of Nicaraguans killed by mercenaries bought and paid for by the United States, thousands of Guatemalans and Chileans tortured and murdered after U.S.-supported overthrows of democratically elected governments, and there has been support for military and other dictatorships in South America and elsewhere.
I am opposed to violence by religious extremists, whether it’s the killing of abortion doctors or suicide bombings, and I oppose violence against innocent civilians. But we do not come to the tragedy in New York with clean hands. Even our new ambassador to the United Nations, John D. Negroponte, was a major defender of terrorism in Central America when he was ambassador to Honduras. Lessenberry thinks it impractical to oppose the upcoming war. So was the idea that we should oppose the Vietnam War, so was the idea to struggle against segregation in the South. Perhaps we should all take the cowardly way out and keep our mouths shut. —Martin Glaberman, Detroit
