Different places, different views
As an Egyptian Greek,.. .opposed to the war and living in Canada, I use your newspaper (both English and Greek versions) as one of my trusted sources of information on the Web. Reading your commentary «’Liberation’ by occupation» (April 8, 2003), I could not help being shocked by the difference in viewpoints coming from Greek newspapers, the European press and the American media (that we are exposed to here). In the American media, the civilian deaths are noted only in passing and the war is portrayed as a heroic American endeavor to bring democracy to a country strangled by its criminal leader (they actually believe it). If there is criticism, it is related to their own strategies and possibly the problematic aftermath of ruling Iraq: questions of process and, possibly, judgment but nothing to do with morality or justice. While Europeans are tormented by the pictures of dead children, their mothers and fathers, Americans will have nothing similar on their conscience. For them, it will be another surgically clean victory fought with «smart» weapons by a «compassionate» military. You cannot blame them; they were spared the grim details or the images of death and destruction. Like sheep, the vast majority of Americans are comfortable in their lack of knowledge, blindly trusting their shepherds to guide them through a terrifying world. ANWAR SOUSSA, Toronto, Canada.
