Arms Sales to Third World

* Two columns of May 3 (“Give the Boot to the Army’s Camp Despot” by Colman McCarthy, and “We’re No. 1 in the Arms Bazaar” by Bruce Allen and Michael Closson) were chilling in their depiction of the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy. While we call ourselves the “peacekeepers” in places like Somalia, Bosnia, and Latin America, we are “keeping the peace” against those who are taught in “schools of brutality” at taxpayer expense at Ft. Benning, Ga., and armed by U.S.-exported weaponry. How convenient for those who have become wealthy from the export of brutality and arms, or, like Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), who have built their political careers on the promotion of militarism. Yet, how unfortunate for citizens of those places and the young men and women of the U.S. armed forces who must face the savagery and weaponry that we export.

Two hundred years from now, when the place once known as the United States of America is a mere footnote in the history books, and after the ashes have settled and the corpses are buried, those footnotes will describe us as one of the most warlike and destructive nations in the history of humankind. For those of us who wish to see a better world for our children, grandchildren and the rest of the human race, I can only say that unless we join together with McCarthy and others to promote the creation of a really peaceful society, our hope for a better world will never materialize.

MARY TEXEIRA

Yucaipa

* As a conservative, I never expected to agree with a traditional liberal view on arms sales to the Third World. However, with the changes in world politics of late, we all need to re-evaluate our politics. Your article was right on about proliferation of ever-increasingly sophisticated weaponry to the Third World. The recent massacres in Africa between Hutus and Tutsis underscore this opinion. These two neighboring tribes have been murdering each other for centuries, but thanks to American know-how, now they can do it with an efficiency never before achieved. One can see that scenario evolving all over the world.

Your article missed the follow-up scenario to these guaranteed sales. More often than not, these countries default on these loans, and the U.S. taxpayers wind up footing the bill.

As my children grow without adequate health care, I find no comfort in knowing that the funds were expended somewhere else so some other nation’s children are killed with those funds. We should export grain and harvesting equipment, not death.

EDWARD DEMIAN

Desert Hot Springs