THE EDITOR: I would be grateful if you would highlight the plight of the forgotten Army Pensioners, who are disgruntled over the government’s insensitivity over the non-adjustment of cost of living allowances since 1986.

We were told on many occasions that it is being pursued, and still nothing is forthcoming up to this time. As early as two or three years ago, we were being told that paysheets were being prepared and soon after that a buy-out was initiated for the serving soldiers and we were forgotten.

Finally the protective services were paid back pay from 1986, among them – The Police Service, The Prisons, The Fire Services and the teachers who were regarded as public servants. I assume that army pensioners are not public servants, which I believe is totally unfair, seeing that we have not had a Cola adjustment since 1986. It is for this reason that I ask you kindly to highlight our plight, so that someone in the government may be sensitive to the atrocity that is being meted out to Army pensioners.

EDDY DARRO
Diego Martin

THE EDITOR: I should be most grateful if you would pass this on to Pastor Dr Winston Cuffie. The Pastor would agree that wars are usually caused by religious extremism – Christian, Judaic, Islamic or other – and greed. Massacre, for whatever reason, could never be justified, not by the God in whom I believe.

PAT SAVORY
Port-of-Spain

THE EDITOR: To Mr Darryl AM King of Cascade. Panorama competition killing steelbands? I say. No, steelbands are killing themselves, and why, because they don’t have a resident arranger within the band and secondly they don’t have a stage side to rehearse and perform throughout the year. So come Panorama time they depend on a recognised arranger to come and do their music (one Panorama tune which they pay for), and hope to reach the finals, failing that it’s on the road Carnival Monday and Tuesday with one tune. The alternative for the bands is to have an identity in its music ie Phase II, All Stars, Exodus, Renegades, Desperadoes, Fonclaire, to name a few will always have a variety of tunes for Carnival.

MILTON WIRE AUSTIN HBM
PRO Pan Trinbago
Manager NLCB Fonclaire

THE EDITOR: The human liver is the main organ of our blood supply. If it fails to operate for any reason we can get a fever that envelops the entire body. The same thing applies to the body politic wherever and whatever is the organic source of that complaint. The fever envelops the entire political body and eventually devours it. That is the type of fever that we have to deal with today.

If we are not careful in dealing with this malady at its source and to correct what is wrong, then the whole body politic would go to pieces and die a feverish death. The body politic in this country is unhealthy. We are slowly dying of a fever that we cannot control. We are like the patient who cannot help himself and has to go from doctor to doctor at great expense if he can afford it. Where and when will all of this end? When shall we get out of our misery on our own legs and do something about ourselves? The poor are getting poorer everyday and people are being laid off while the rich are getting richer. This ever-widening gap between the rich and poor has got to be narrowed to control this fever that now envelops our nation.

ELLIS MAINGOT
Trincity

THE EDITOR: The Toco Main Road from Matura to the Toco Junction is in a horrible state with a rough surface, numerous potholes, dangerous edges and corners, narrow bridges and sometimes no shoulder.

Recently I have noticed the edges and verges neatly cleaned up by CEPEP workers. This is a colossal waste of taxpayers money as the bush would spring up uncontrollably once the rainy season begins. I wonder what is the point of keeping the roadsides clean and leaving the road itself in such a horrible state! The millions of dollars which are being spent on CEPEP workers could be more profitably spent on improving the road surface itself and even if this is done at a rate of about five miles per year at least we will be sure that in three years time we will have a decent road to Toco.

CONRAD CASTENADA
18? Mile Post
Rampanalgas Village
on the Toco Main Road

THE EDITOR: I would like to humbly make a few comments on a letter published in the Newsday on 28/03/2003 by Haji Ralph D Khan.

America has not declared war on Iraq. The present conflict is a resumption of hostilities that began in 1990 with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. At the cease-fire following the first war the Saddam regime agreed to certain disarmament conditions. The United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq to force compliance with this agreement. The fact that the sanctions are still in place 12 years later implies that the United Nations have not been convinced that the Saddam regime has fulfilled their obligations under the cease-fire agreement. Violation of a cease-fire agreement is the resumption of war. As the major contributors to obtaining the cease-fire agreement the British and the Americans have every right to enforce its compliance.

It is not correct to say that the current action is a violation of sovereignty. It is equally incorrect to assert that ‘America’ has crippled the country. At any point over the last 12 years the regime could have had the sanctions lifted, simply by doing what it had agreed to do. Clearly the Saddam regime had a greater interest in protecting their weapons programme than in feeding the people of Iraq. There is further dishonesty in ‘war for oil’ argument. Nothing could have stopped the United States from occupying Iraq during the last war. They could have made a deal with Saddam to get as much oil as they wanted, at any price they wanted. All they needed to do was to supply Saddam with arms, at a profit, and look the other way, as he conquered all the countries of the Middle East. The no fly zones were established to prevent the regime from butchering Iraqi civilians. Iraqi civilians do live in the no fly zones so again it is wrong to claim that they do not have access to the zones.

As to the weapons inspectors, there is at least one standard, against which the jobs they were doing were less than commendable. This is the standard set by the United Nations resolutions. I would have like to deal with the ‘might is right’ assertion but the writer provided no indications as to the meaning of ‘right’. I guess any discussion of rights would be very embarrassing to the writer’s position, as he might have to tell us what right the Saddam regime has to govern Iraq.

KIRK RAMNANAN
Trincity

THE EDITOR: I am a retired senior police officer, I live in the San Fernando area and I am now involved in social work in the said area and environs.

As an ex-crime fighter, I am taken by “shock and awe” at the way illicit drugs are sold in this division and also illegal firearms seem to be in the possession of a lot of these drug dealers.
What is shocking is that the police seem unable to deal with the drug dealers and gun runners in areas like La Romaine, Pleasantville, Marabella, Mon Repos, Ste Madeleine, Embacadere and even Debe and Claxton Bay.

Very often I read in the press about the success of various police units against crime in Northern Eastern Division, Port-of-Spain and recently Central and South-Western divisions. What is wrong with Southern Division? The drug dealers and drug lords and gun runners seem to be on top and the police in south have no answers. What is wrong with the CID (South) and Divisional Task Force? I would like to know what is their crime detection rates and how many illegal firearms have been seized and how many persons arrested and convicted for illegal firearms and drugs.

ACP Crime (Allard) and Mr Guy (COP) should do something now. The taxpaying citizens in San Fernando and to a greater extent Southern Division deserve better from the police. Put the right people in the right places and encourage the senior officers in charge of the division to stop playing politics. Time to change the guard. (Now)

ANDY A MUNROE
Retired Supt

THE EDITOR: Modern history should really be taught in schools and made more accessible to all as common knowledge. Only then can one make an informed judgment.

In the days of Nazi Germany, Adolph Hitler started building his war machine while the world idly looked on with some concern, but no nation wanted to interfere. At the eleventh hour there was some diplomatic activity but it was too little too late. One morning Hitler sent his armies to overrun the neighbouring countries of Europe. His goal was to create the ‘Third Reich’ (The third world Empire) A nation of which, the blue eyed, blonde hair peoples of the world was going to be the ruling `master race’ (The Arian Race) every one else was going to be subservient to his ‘master race’ The jews were destined for extinction. Six million were sent to the gas chambers. Dark skinned people were destined to be `hewers of wood and drawers of water.’ Doomed to slavery with no rights whatsoever men like Jesse Owens and Joe Louis black heroes of the day, he totally despised, this is all recorded history. The amazing thing is that Hitler almost won had it not been for giant men like Churchill and Roosevelt and Montgomery and Eisenhower.

To Britain and America and the millions of men who died that we might live in peace and freedom: The whole world should be grateful. It is estimated that some 50 million souls lost their lives before the dust cleared. Now why did Saddam overrun Kuwait? Why is he building chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction? Who is he aiming at? Since he invaded Kuwait he has continued to build and plan for who or what? Why has he tortured and killed his opponents? I am saying that there is a distinct link between Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler.  Their pattern and methods are the same.

A people who forget history and past mistakes are doomed to repeat it. Saddam Hussein must be stopped, and the whole world should be grateful to America, Britain and all the other nations who are taking a firm stand against Saddam Hussein the modern day Adolph Hitler.
                          
V FELIX
Maracas

THE EDITOR: There can be no doubt that the United States has done a lot of good in the world.

There can equally be no doubt that they will continue to do good. But if your justification for doing wrong is that you have done good in the past and will do good in the future, there is something dangerously wrong with your mental balance. Because you were right before and will be right again means that you are right this time is reasoning worthy of David Koresh or Jim Jones. And more and more George Bush is taking on the complexion of a dangerous megalomaniac of the same type.

It is regrettable that one of the consequences of the megalomania is that good people are being forced to promote George Bush’s agenda, no longer reluctantly on the part of Colin Powell, it appears. In defence of Bush’s irrationality, they ignore the reality of the thousands of Iraqis who will be killed in this war. Not to mention the millions who will die after the war, as they are dying now because of war sanctions. No consideration is given to the destruction of buildings, utilities, schools, hospitals, infrastructure that the Iraqi people have been painfully restoring since the Gulf War. After all, what is that to the United States? It’s just another Third World country where lives are of no consequence; it’s not as if they are real people, like US citizens.

The irony of it is that Bush’s rabidity is giving Saddam Hussein the opportunity to claim the moral high ground and to whip up hysteria among Muslims who justifiably feel that the western world is against them. None of this will matter to George Bush who has an agenda to fulfil, that is, to finish the job his father could not. Incidentally, Nelson Mandela has earned the right to criticise the US actions. The overthrow of apartheid came about as a result of the struggles of people like Mandela.

During the twenty-seven years of his incarceration, the US actively supported the South African government. Its change of heart did not come about as a result of a spirit lash or any qualms of conscience; it was as a result of international embarrassment over its support of racism. Long after the world has forgotten George Bush as another non-entity US president, (which is the real problem), Nelson Mandela will be revered as a hero. If people like George Bush had their way, Colin Powell would never be the US Secretary of State, nor Roy Austin US Ambassador to TT.

KARAN MAHABIRSINGH
Chase Village

THE EDITOR: Challenged to present evidence from Hansard to support his categorical statement of “vividly recall(ing) some of Overand Padmore’s pointed (racist) remarks during the 1981-1986 Parliament”, incredibly Trevor Sudama responded they were made soto voce. Are we to conclude that all such remarks that were made soto voce were heard only by Trevor Sudama? After all he did not suggest hearing Overand Padmore making such a remark only once, he implied such remarks were made more than once.

To say that he sat opposite to me concealed from his readers the relevant fact that the Hansard reporters sat closer to me than he did. How come they did not hear what he claims to have heard? And they do record as cross talk the interruptions of members. His credibility has taken a beating on this one. I wonder what inference he wishes to draw in enquiring how I voted in the contest for Political Leader of the PNM in 1974 between Kamaluddin Mohammed and Karl Hudson-Phillips. I will satisfy his curiosity. I supported the continuation in office of Dr Eric Williams, but if he insisted on resigning, I then indicated I would support Hudson-Phillips. The simple reason being that I considered Hudson-Phillips the better of the two candidates to lead the PNM. Sudama can draw whatever conclusions he wishes from my assessment.

No Mr Sudama, read Malik’s book again, dated though you claim it to be, its analysis still offers insights which are helpful to the discerning reader in understanding why the UNC found itself in the predicament it did after six years in office. Its claim to be a party of national unity was pure rhetoric and your own utterances contributed in shaping the public’s perception of your erstwhile party.

OVERAND PADMORE
Port-of-Spain