The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

L E T T E R S 8 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 5 Seeing Red I was surprised by the obvious bias against their East Coast colleagues shown by former USIA FSOs Burson and Farmer in their joint letter in the January issue of the Journal . They cited that voters in the 30 so-called “red” states were influenced by the proposed federal Defense of Marriage Act and the 11 states that passed ref- erendums defining marriage as a union between men and women. This was contrasted with the voters in the east and west coasts who voted for Kerry. Evidently they have a narrow view of “moral values” that doesn’t include much compassion for the working poor who live in poverty. Farmer and Burson credit Ronald Reagan with winning the “Cold War” but overlook the Iran-Contra scandal and the failure of the “freedom fight- ers” in Central America. They also evidently support the current Bush administration’s disastrous pre-emp- tive war in Iraq with its tragic loss of life and huge economic cost, which may result in civil war and endless conflict. I feel strongly about this as I am a combat infantry veteran of World War II and know the human costs of war from personal experi- ence. These two also speak derogatively of Senator Kerry’s Vietnam combat experience, for which he received a Silver Star for bravery, but failed to mention George Bush’s evasion of combat duty and questionable record in the National Guard. I think these former USIA FSOs are influenced by the “Bubba” men- tality that exists in a lot of the western “red” states. I know it exists here, because I have lived in and loved Arizona for 30 years. I also like and respect those who live in the “north- east corridor” they mention. Joseph W. “Bill ” Thoman FSO-USIA, retired Tucson, Ariz. Blood in Pakistan Thanks to Douglas Kerr for his “Appreciation” of Arch Blood in the December 2004 issue, and thanks to the Journal for publishing it. In those dark days of early 1971, I was one of a few foreign journalists allowed in to East Pakistan for a tour organized by the Pakistan military — a tour intended to prove that what had really occurred was a mas- sacre of Muslims by the Hindu majority. We were flown in old Soviet-made crop-duster biplanes to two or three cities where such killings had indeed occurred. But as we flew at low altitude over the countryside we could see, every- where, evidence of the brutal repression by the Pakistani military, such as homes burned on both sides of every major road. Upon our return to Dacca (now Dhaka), we were ordered to take the next plane out. I balked, pretending to be too ill to fly, and remained as the others departed. The following day, I ventured out of the hotel, fol- lowed by a large and very obvious corps of military security and intelli- gence types. I went straight to the U.S. consulate and left my minders at the gate. Arch Blood welcomed me warmly, then informed me he had been officially “silenced” by Washington and could say nothing. He added, however, that he had dozens of Bengalis on staff at the consulate who had family and friends all across the country. He would let them know I was there and, if they so chose, they could visit with me individually. Mr. Blood gave me an office and the staff came, one at a time, to tell me what had happened to their fam- ilies. An accurate picture of the bru- tal repression by the military quickly took shape. On my flight out of East Pakistan the next day I wrote this lead: “Fear, fire and the sword are the only things holding East and West Pakistan together today.” In 16 years as a foreign and war corre- spondent (1964-1980) from Tokyo to Saigon to Jakarta to New Delhi to Singapore to Moscow, I never met a more courageous U.S. Foreign Service officer. We could use a lot more Arch Bloods today. Joseph L. Galloway Senior Military Correspondent Knight Ridder Newspapers Washington, D.C. Defining Human Rights Work I object to calling Lori Berenson “a jailed human rights worker” (in “A Blemished Latin American Record,” FSJ , February 2005). She is serving a 20-year sentence in Peru, despite strong U.S. support, because of her alleged involvement in terrorist activ- ities with the Movimiento Revolu- cionario Tupac Amaro. Many Web sites dedicated to Berenson’s defense play up her con- cern with human rights. But to earn the job title of human rights worker requires heavy work, not just concern. That title has been hard-won by hun- dreds of people worldwide — some in international groups, others in home- grown organizations, and a few loners — who carry on long, grinding, disci- plined advocacy for internationally- guaranteed human rights. They are vulnerable and often in danger; wit- ness the recent assassination in Brazil of a U.S. nun, Sister Dorothy Stang. Giving the job title to Berenson, well-meant though the gift may be, can raise the danger to real workers because their vicious opponents want to portray them all as guilty of the same activities for which she, rightly or wrongly, was convicted. (Think Mississippi in the civil rights struggles there.)