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=> An Open Letter to “The Chaldean News”

An Open Letter to “The Chaldean News”
Posted by Jeff (Guest) jeff@attoz.com - Saturday, March 13 2004, 17:08:27 (EST)
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Dear Chaldean News,
I have read everything that you have put out so far and I have to say that I do admit, as others have said, that “it’s about time”. I will also admit, however, that if you do a job, you should do it right and to the best of your ability.

I’ve seen articles about the Chaldean Church Hierarchy (“A New Leader”), articles about how Saddam was a bad leader (“Abuse of Power”), and articles expressing patriotism (“Proud to be an American”), etc. among others. I have to say, however, that your periodical isn’t doing a good job of presenting all sides of every story.

For example, I read about a Chaldean woman in AlQosh who extolled the virtues of the American Soldiers in Iraq (and in her village in particular). Ostensibly the underlying motive behind this article was to show that Chaldeans are benefiting from this recent war and the subsequent occupation of Iraq. What I haven’t seen is an article about the Chaldean casualties of this war such as Majdolin Yonan of Iraq (now living in California) who was blinded and her children killed, during the US Bombing. The California News Media wrote about her and her husband (who was blinded in one eye) during the US Attack. What about the wave of violence that has killed over 50 Chaldean (probably many more) liquor store owners in Iraq after the war was declared over? What about the fact that a significant number of Chaldeans were part of the Ba-ath party (even if they were just members so that they would be able to find jobs, etc.)?

I haven’t seen any articles about the dangerous precedent set by the US with this new unilateral “go at it alone” policy of pre-emptive war without justification. Look at how directly this policy has affected our people in Iraq.

I haven’t seen any articles about the tightening of civil liberties and unlawful, unconstitutional detainment of Americans of Middle Eastern descent as a direct result of the “war on terror” as it’s called. This issue is, of course, directly and importantly related to our community here in the US.

Your question of the month last month was “How Should Saddam Hussein Be Punished?” I would say this is a rather biased and juvenile question. “How did Saddam get into power in the first place and who provided him with weapons?” would be more appropriate. The answer, of course, is that the CIA put Saddam into power (this is an undisputed fact), and that the US provided Iraq with biological elements back when he was considered an ally (check the congressional record for more information about this).

Remember after the Gulf War when America urged Iraqis to revolt against Saddam? Well, they did revolt, and they took control of over 75% of Iraq. The Americans who urged Iraqis to revolt promised them that they would come assist if such a revolt happened, but instead sat idly by and even allowed Saddam to put down the rebellion with helicopter gunships. It makes you wonder why they allowed Saddam to do that...doesn't it?

How about an article about the Sanctions which killed over 500,000 Iraqi children aged 5 and below (This is an undisputed UN figure) during the past ten years. This is one-third the amount of children that Hitler succeeded in killing during World War II. Many refer to this as "the silent genocide", while others choose to ignore the issue altogether.

I met Dr. Katrin Michael last year and I have an immense amount of respect for her. You wrote about her terrible experience with a chemical/biological weapons attack. Perhaps you could also note that the US was allied with Iraq at that time and that our government turned a blind eye to these attacks (and, as was mentioned before, often provided Iraq with these very deadly weapons).

From Iraqi citizens to Chaldean Americans? One of the most important aspects of being an American is having a respect for the Constitution and the country, yet at the same time questioning aspects of the government and country that seem to be going off this Constitutionally-defined path. What I see from our Chaldean community and your publication in particular is a blindly patriotic mentality that is quite contrived and dangerous.

I implore you to please look at the “other side” of each story. If you do, it will result in a much better periodical instead of the white-washed version of news that we are currently receiving.

It’s obvious that you have created quite a professional paper. It looks visually appealing and the articles are interesting. There are no grammatical or spelling errors (The Detroit News and Free Press are rife with errors all the time), and most everything else about the paper is admirable. The question is…can you dig deeper? Can you talk about “all sides” of an issue…can you write about more controversial issues? Do you even have the freedom to do so, or is there some sort of owner who dictates what is and is not acceptable for you to write about?

P.S. I trust that anyone reading this will immediately call me a “Ba-athie agent”, or say that I am a “bad, bad man” or something along those lines… such is life in the Chaldean community. I also am quite confident that this note will be interpreted by some as “Un-American”, but of course this would be an incorrect simplification and a grossly foolish interpretation of what I have written.

Obviously I don’t expect you to publish this in the “letters to the editor” section. That wasn’t the purpose of this letter at all. I just wanted to share my thoughts with you on a few subjects relating to our community and I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Jeffrey J. Atto
Royal Oak, Michigan



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