Loveable failures?

Here's an amusing letter in The Independent today:

Aggression? No, just an error

Your have referred to the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid convoy last year which killed nine men as "bungled", and I've lost count of the times commentators describe the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in terms such as "an error of judgement".

If, as the terms imply, these people have evidence that the aggressors in these cases had benevolent intentions that went awry through want of skill or foresight, would they please reveal it? Otherwise some of us cynics might continue to see in the smirks of Blair and Netenyahu something other than the philosophical resignation of loveable failures.

Mark Kesteven, York

Funny thing about Afghanistan

Compare and contrast: Palestine and Afghanistan

From today's Independent:

Is it any wonder the West is seen as cynical and opportunistic? We had huge pressure applied to Afghanistan's President Karzai because we could not be seen to be supporting a leader who has so obviously fiddled his election as President.

In contrast, the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006 were judged by international ob-servers to be free and fair. What happened? The wrong party won and the winners, Hamas, were banned even when a unity government with Fatah was established that year. Three years later, we still have the blockade of Gaza and the Israeli attack with all the misery and destruction these have caused.

Mike Barnes

Watford

Demonstrate at the G20 in London on 1 April

Demonstrate at the G20 on 1 April

Assemble US Embassy, Grosvenor Square at 2pm
The leaders of the world’s big powers will meet at the G20 summit in London on 2 April.
It is Barack Obama’s first visit to Britain. It is our chance to demand a change from Bush’s war policies.

• Get the troops out of Iraq & Afghanistan
• End the siege of Gaza – free Palestine
• Create jobs not bombs
• Stop arming Israel
• Abolish all nukes

Details of transport to the protest

Click to download flyer

Called by Stop the War, CND, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative

Our message will be ‘Yes We Can’. Yes we can end the siege of Gaza and free Palestine, get the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, make jobs not bombs, abolish nukes, and stop arming Israel.

This is a time of slump but the G20 are spending more and more on war. Despite the disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US and Britain are sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan.

They are spending more in Iraq. The total cost of the war will be around $6 trillion. The US spends $54 billion and Britain nearly £2 billion every year on nuclear weapons.

Most G20 leaders support Israel and refused to condemn the attack on Gaza or the siege. They sell arms to Israel. The US gives more aid to Israel than it gives to any other country. For all these reasons, join us to protest at the G20.

We will also be protesting on Thursday 2 April at the G20 summit, 11am at the Excel Centre.

Called by Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, The British Muslim Initiative and CND

• April 1 (afternoon): Protest March and rally in central London
• April 2: Protest march to G20 conference