Indonesia-Iraq parallel was off mark

In response to Mr. Tarnowski's letter ("Hypocrisy on tsunami, sweatshops," Jan. 31), the distinction that the Left makes between intervention in Indonesia and intervention in Iraq is a distinction between "monetary aid" and "military intervention." You state that while some people criticize the Bush Administration for not being more philanthropic in regards to the Indonesian crisis, they do not see the chance to do an "honorable thing" in Iraq. Speaking for myself, I must say, sir, that what we are doing in Iraq is anything but honorable.

This is not to disparage the troops in Iraq. However, our leaders have made statements that we need to use our military pre-eminence to "bring democracy and freedom" to Iraq.

White supremacy is generally marginalized as something practiced by the KKK and neo-Nazis. However, I believe that white supremacy is a real, tangible force in our everyday relationships interpersonally and internationally. When we enter Iraq to "bring them freedom" I can only hear echoes of the Rudyard Kipling poem "White Man's Burden," a white supremacist, hegemonic assumption that we know better than they do because they are "fluttered folk and wild." I do not mean that many are actively thinking this when they say "we need to free Iraq," but it is a deep-seeded ideology in the American psyche.

When President Bush pledges only a fraction of the amount in Indonesia that he spent on Iraq, the Left clearly sees that the United States is far more interested in propagating empire than in truly helping those who are in need.

I have heard some say that "we already give a lot of money to Indonesia annually in foreign aid, so those who criticize our already generous aid obviously don't understand the issues." That statement overlooks the fact that a lot of that aid goes to Indonesian military campaigns of ethnic cleansing of the people of East Timor (for more info, go to www.etan.org). Therefore, any aid that goes to tsunami relief we know (or at least hope) will be directed to help people, not kill them.