The Democratic party, as it presented itself to the American electorate on November 2, 2004, is near death. The Party reached this moribund status because it appealed in part for its survival to a group of voters who are not so much supporters of the Republican right as much as they are its disciples.

Jerry Falwell claims that 30 million evangelicals voted for Bush and for Falwell, that is not enough. He is beginning a new recruitment campaign to gather an even larger flock so as to elect a Bush-type President in 2008. To preserve the country our founders created, that cannot be allowed to happen.

Bill Clinton is right when he says that Democrats need a clear national message. They do, and it must be aimed at the 41% of the voting population that did not participate in this year's election and that is not committed to a particular viewpoint. That's 80 million people (based on year 2000 Census data). Democrats must show the 80 million non-voters that, unless they begin to exercise their franchise, our country is in danger of slipping even further into a world defined by Karl Rove.

Mr. Rove and the Republican strategists understand the power of simple words and vivid images. And they use the Big Lie so effectively that a large segment of the American people still believe that Saddam had WMDs. A gullible population is the propagandist's dream. It is in the interest of the ruling class (which the conservative right now is) to promote a credulous citizenry that will not challenge their leader's message. The United States ranks 14th out of 15 industrialized countries in per capita education spending. This Administration and its corporate sponsors count on people not being prepared to think critically.

There is no time to lose in getting out the message. Peter Beinhof's excellent article in The New Republic (11/29) points out that prominent Christians have been "charging Democrats with bigotry against people of faith." This is the beginning of a new Big Lie designed to undercut criticism of the political goals of the religious right by demonizing any and all who disagree with them. The people of the United States must understand that the men who wrote our Constituion were men of faith who created a secular government to guarantee not only religious freedom for the people but freedom of the government from theocratic dogmatism.

The rallying cry must be "Make Yourself Heard" to build a future for all of us. Not a future for those who want to limit freedom (stem cell research, a woman's right to choose, gay rights, etc.) but for those who want to advance it. A future for all of us, not just for a vocal and well-organized minority. Democrats must turn to their roots as a party of the people and must point to their record of social accomplishment. They must tell the 80 million what their party stands for and how their vision of an inclusive future is brighter than the Republican vision of fear, endless war, reckless spending, and narrowing civil rights. With the right message, there is no reason that the Democrats could not reach enough of the 80 million to become a majority party again and to retake Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008.

Frank Hertle

The Problems Of Fahrenheit 9/11

Having just read Mr. Jensen's article on the problems with "Farenheit 9/11", may I congratulate you on an apparently level-headed and genuinely thoughtful newspaper. Right on, etc. As soon as I can dredge up the appropriate ten dollars from the change from that six-pack and navigate the exchange rate, I intend to subscribe. Of course, if COINTELPRO gets a bit frisky again, having one's name on a subscription list to the Albion might raise eyebrows, but why not live dangerously. Might as well go the whole hog and grow a beard too, remove any doubts, eh? Again my congratulations on some truly interesting and, in these times, surely necessary, journalism.

Jem Bloomfield (Lincoln College, Oxford)

U.S. Weapon Buy-Back Program In Iraq

George Bush, in his infinite wisdom, is paying the insurgents with American dollars for outdated weapons instead of issuing a special scrip that is only good in Iraq. Over $3 million has been given out that they can spend anywhere in the world to buy newer and more deadly weapons! We have never spent American dollars in a war zone before. We always have issued "occupation scrip" for the very reason that we don't want it to fund our enemies. George Bush is his own worst enemy and ours, too.

Brian Stettler (Tampa)

Voting To Join The Club Of Criminal Nations

Remember the Nuremberg trials? What we need in this country are the Washington D.C. trials. Trials that bring the murders of the present government to justice. Starting with the president and down through the congress. When the government uses lies and starts a war of killing innocent people in a country thousands of miles away without real justification or threat to the nation then that government should no longer hold the trust of the people.

Now the American citizenry has been led into an unjust war and we are all guilty for the murder of innocent human beings in Iraq. No justification can clear this guilt. In order to return our country to the path of honesty we need to bring the current government to trial. Just as we brought the Germans after the second world war to trial in Nuremberg.

Nick Houvras (Michigan)

Bush and the Christian Zionists

I read with great interest this story on your website and just want to thank you for your efforts to educate the public about the real forces at play in our government. If more voters understood the realities of our relationship with Israel and our real rationale for war with Iraq, our country would inevitably move toward a more progressive, compassionate, and balanced foreign policy.

Dianne Herrin (Pennsylvania)

America And Iran: Burning Bridges, Igniting Hatred

A few factual errors: Iran had been a monarchy for 2500 years. Prior to Reza Khan there were the Qajar Shahs. In fact in 1925, following the overthrow of the Qajar Shahs, Reza Khan wanted to establish a republic with himself as President, and it was the Shi'a clergy that urged him to take the crown and start a new dynasty.

The other point I suggest you add to your site is the negative equilibrium that the rulers of Iran, either Qajar or Pahlavi used to battle against Anglo / Russian control. Russian / Soviet spheres of influence battled the British for control of Iran and its oil. The British tried to control Iran via India and the Persian Gulf where the British protectorates of Bahrain and the Trucial States provided landing points for British army, airforce and naval forces.

It was always these outside forces which continually kept the country in a state of turmoil and I feel that your synopsis of the country and the failure of both Pahlavi Shahs is inaccurate if it does not mention these problems. It prevented the country from being independently run as Iran's leaders felt it needed strong and powerful friends in the west (namely the U.S. as the British could not be trusted) to ensure Iranian independence.Such support would prevent Iran being invaded by the Soviets who were always seeking access to a warm water port The only non-ice bound sea lane accessible to Soviet naval power was the Black Sea. The main weakness with this waterway was that to access the outside world, Soviet ships had to pass through the Bosphorous and NATO controlled Turkey. This was not a strategically palatable option of Soviet Naval command or Soviet political leadership. Iran as a Soviet satellite state would have resolved these problems for the Russians.

Mossadeq may have been partially popular with some sections of society but he was trapped by the Tuddah party (communists) AND REQUIRED THEIR SUPPORT TO RETAIN POWER. Tuddah were being funded and directed by Stalin in 1953 who saw them as a means of controlling Iran without the need for a Soviet invasion. Has Mossadeq been a true democrat, elections would have followed the Shah's departure and a popular mandate without Tuddah party may have been obtainable. The reason Mossadeq did not have an election was that he knew he would not have won, and pro-Shah forces would have resumed control on the Majlis via the peasant vote. The peasants held the Shah in high regard following the land reform act of early 1950.

The Shah had a hard road to hoe.

Paul Hickey

This October, 2001, article was part two of the series titled "Why They Hate Us" written in the months after 9/11. As such, its narrow focus is on American involvement in Iran starting in 1952 when the CIA began covert operations to undermine Mossadeq's government because he was considering selling oil to the Soviets. The communist Tudeh party (usual anglicized spelling) was a popular, powerful political force in Iran and campaigned for Mossadeq in the 1952 elections, but did not support him the following year. Finally, as the Monitor article explains, the Shah's "White Revolution" was a mixed bag; industrial workers were awarded profit-sharing while many peasants forced off their family farms, for example. -- Editor

Po'ouli is Three Birds Away from Extinction

I read in the local paper today that this little bird went extinct last month. I think time stood still for me for a second. I would like to thank all the people that tried to save them.

Judy Logan

Agent Orange Still Poisoning Vietnamese Children

Since America's 9/11, we have tried to understand how so much brutality could befall the United States. But history is always the great educator. The history of America's military policy has not always been honorable and the ghosts of the Vietnam War still haunt us. From 1965 to 1971, an estimated 11 million gallons of Agent Orange with dioxin were sprayed on Vietnam. Not only did this carcinogenic herbicide kill vegetation, it also poisoned 2.6 million U.S. Veterans, their children, and millions of Vietnamese and their children.

It was not until 1991 that the U.S. Veterans Administration was forced by Congress to admit a connection between exposure to Agent Orange and to over 30 kinds of cancer. In 1996, a genetic birth defect, spina bifida, was hesitantly added to the VA disability list. Leukemia and diabetes are now part of the Agent Orange legacy. Last year, conferences held at Yale University, Stockholm, and Hanoi brought to light new data and research issues in the Agent Orange debate. Researchers have begun to establish a correlation between Agent Orange and mental illness, Hodgkin's Disease, and cancer.

Ask any veteran who has had to deal with the Agent Orange issue and he or she will tell you about how the U.S. government has been either non-cooperative or complicit in trying to silence the persistent moans heard from this ghost.

It is now time to act. Recent research is now available to justify a major epidemiological study of America's Vietnam Veterans. Agent Orange was only sprayed on South Vietnam, excluding North Vietnam. This affords an excellent opportunity to compare the health of the two areas.

In the National Academy of Science Agent Orange Report for 2003, the Academy admits that "the lack of adequate data on Vietnam Veterans themselves makes it difficult to reach conclusions about increased risk of disease among Vietnam Veterans."

It is now time for the VA to initiate a study of all those exposed to Agent Orange, Vietnam Veterans and their children, as well as Vietnamese and their children. It is for the children that a nation goes to war. It is for the children that a nation seeks peace. It is for all children exposed to Agent Orange that we seek justice. Agent Orange was America's Weapon of Mass Destruction.

C.W. Brown, Ph.D, and William Dodge

Gulf Arabs Debate Aid For Tsunami Victims

The commentator who said that "Asia's earthquake, which hit the beaches of prostitution, tourism, immorality and nudity" -- how does this include children? Why doesn't the commentator just admit that he's just a mean spirited person with a cruel heart and just plain stingy? I can't believe how hypocritical people like this are, always saying how benevolent Islam is. He or she is nothing but a bigot and an asshole.

Dawn Anderson