‘Mental Ward Not Welcome’

Re: “Staten Island Mental Ward Not Welcome,” Alicia Colon, New York, September 2, 2005. The article states the St. Vincent’s mental ward is “a support residence for the mentally ill.”

To whom do you attribute your headline? It is not a universal opinion.

To integrate any discriminated-against group into a neighborhood one must be open, candid, clear. The onus of perceived deception is difficult to overcome, but from your article I know nothing about the individuals St. Vincent’s Medical Center is considering. I do know they are not “the” mentally ill (that is your expressed prejudice), as I know other community residents are not “the “Puerto Ricans,” the” African Americans or “the” Jews. They are people.

I do know from where some of them might come, but I know nothing of their history, their stability.

I read that some may come from jails or prisons. Are not people from jails and prisons already in this community? It would be very unusual if none were. I read some might come from mental institutions, or through mental health courts. Are there not already people in this community from both? It would be unusual if there were not.

HAROLD A. MAIO
Fort Myers, Fla.

‘A New Solidarity’

Eli Lake’s incisive commentary [“A New Solidarity,” Opinion, September 15, 2005] noted the supreme irony of the “United for Peace and Justice” demonstrators planning to employ civil disobedience in opposition to American foreign policy and the unwillingness of these so-called peace activists to bring their training and tactics to bear on behalf of truly subjugated people in the Middle East, Africa, Cuba, China, and other strongholds of dictators.

This is, indeed, a shame, for a concerted effort by Americans of all political views to support civil disobedience and building civil society in gulags like Iran and Cuba could have the same impact as did the support by concerned Americans in moving such diverse countries as Poland, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Lebanon toward freedom. Let’s not forget that it was the unlikely coalition of Pope John Paul II, the liberal AFL-CIO, and Ronald Reagan that gave Solidarity in Poland enough space and support to build civic institutions and an opposition to would-be totalitarians. And it was the concerted efforts of liberals and conservatives working together that persuaded Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos to stand down in the face of the “people power” that drove him from office.

So why wouldn’t Leslie Cagan and her cohorts in United for Peace and Justice want to stand up for democrats who are besieged around the world? The dirty little secret of America’s homegrown leftist opposition is that it has rarely met an anti-American dictator it wouldn’t support. For example, Ramsey Clark’s International ANSWER group is mostly a remnant of Trotskyites who have defended the reprehensible Kim dynasty in North Korea since the Korean War. And Ms. Cagan herself is a notorious apologist for Fidel Castro’s socialist paradise, and can never be bothered to offer succor to the thousands of political prisoners jailed and tortured in Cuban prisons. Instead, she calls for America to end its “inhumane” embargo of Cuba, and loyally supports Castro’s positions every time.

The key litmus test for United for Peace and Justice, International ANSWER, and the rest of today’s version of America First, is anti-Americanism, pure and simple. The ideological lineage is long and direct: From supporting Stalin in the 1940s and 1950s, calling for unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United States in the 1960s, and serving as a virtual Fifth Column in support of the genocidal communists of Indochina in the 1970s, America’s holier-than-thou peace movement can be counted on to blame America (and especially President Bush) for all the world’s ills and to give every anti-American dictator a pass – every single time. Expecting folks who have imbibed anti-Americanism like mother’s milk to make common cause with American patriots in helping enslaved peoples to build democracies abroad is a fool’s errand. It is much more fun to paint a Hitler moustache on a picture of President Bush or chain yourself to the Pentagon than to do the hard work of supporting brave democrats in Iraq, Iran, Cuba, or China.

Instead of expecting the Leslie Cagans and Cindy Sheehans to see the light, we might better recognize that at least in the 21st century the greatest liberating force – united for peace and justice in the world – is the American armed forces and the liberating ideology of the Bush Doctrine.

ERIK PETER AXELSON
Manhattan

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