cc: <counterpunch@counterpunch.org,
"Abdul-Rahman Ubraheem" <alenizy9403@yahoo.com,
"Charley Clark" <clarkc006@hawaii.rr.com>
August 6th, 2007
Dear Mr. President,
Today I received a phone call from Charley Clark, 80 years old, a Nagasaki veteran, and now the president of Irradiated Veterans of America. He has had ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE CANCERS removed from his face, He's lost one eye, and his two daughters have genetic defects. He's paying a direct price for America's use of nuclear weapons. His division (2nd Marine) was the FIRST Marine division into Nagasaki after The Bomb. He arrived there 45 days after Fat Man was dropped. He is a victim of the world's first nuclear war.
AND it's not like he hadn't ALREADY paid a high price to defend America. He was already a hardened combat veteran when he went into Nagasaki -- like all the Marines who went there. Good men who could be trusted. He arrived at first light on 23 September, 1945.
Access was via a 5 mile river bed. About 4 miles out from the city, the stench of the 70,000 dead -- mostly women and children -- was so powerful the Marines used their shirtsleeves to try to mask it. The stench was far worse than anything they had smelled on Iwo Jima or Saipan. More than 60 years later it still caws at his throat, just thinking about it.
The pimples that became carcinomas started much later. "I have to get four stitches removed tomorrow" he told me, "and four more put in somewhere else on my face at the same time. It never stops." Ouch, Mr. President!
But according to the government, Charley Clark's suffering could NOT have been caused by being stationed in Nagasaki soon after the first -- and last -- plutonium bomb was ever used on a human population center. The radiation would have subsided to nothing serious in 45 days, according to the government.
Additionally, Fat Man only had an efficiency of about 14%, so there would have been lots of radioactive plutonium and uranium isotopes around, too (and still are).
45 days was NOT enough! 1000 years is not enough! EVERYONE is a victim, to some extent, of Nagasaki. All of humanity suffers the pangs of radioactive decay within our bodies every day -- what a way to remember Nagasaki! But how can you deny proper compensation to our own soldiers?
Or to ANYONE who has been unjustly harmed by war? Regarding the correspondence shown below, I ask that you invite Hisham Ubraheem, nine years old, with tetraplegia, to testify to Congress about the need for proper infrastructure in Iraq. The rebuilding MUST start immediately -- by Iraqis, for Iraqis! I believe the war will be over as soon as we withdraw. If you are looking for a name for our maneuver, call it, "reassessing the cost-effectiveness of agitating a dragon." You make many pronouncements about who is fighting a civilized war. But that's all they are -- pronouncements. War is uncivilized. You coerced a few countries to join you, including one led at the time by your lapdog Blair, but you NEVER had true global support for "Shock and Awe" and its aftermath. (Imagine! The British PM YOUR lapdog! How low has society fallen when THAT can happen?!?)
Mr. Bush, you have managed to prove that democracy doesn't work in America. You and the Congress must start doing what the people want: Make peace, not war. Rebuild our infrastructure. Turn to clean, renewable energy (which does NOT include nuclear energy). Assure FREE education for ALL. Offer universal health care. End poverty. Clean the environment. Tell us no more lies.
All this was within your power to give America and the world, but in all cases, you gave us LESS, not MORE. Except the lies -- you gave us more of those.
On a personal basis, you violated my civil rights AND my sensibilities.
Hisham's father would like: "To bring Hisham to speak in front of Congress so that they will see, hear, and feel the real tragedy of the war." Please invite him! Let the scientists who claimed "655,000 dead in Iraq" come defend their numbers in Congress, so our representatives and the American people can understand that Hisham is but one of millions.
Mr. Bush, I cannot think of a rule of decency you and / or Dick Cheney have not violated, including failure to recognize, let alone atone or apologize for, your mistakes.
Mr. Bush, stop killing MY family. We are all related, or don't you believe in Adam and Eve OR evolution? Either way, we are ALL related. So stop killing MY FAMILY.
Your actions are SUICIDAL, too, because one morning, you will wake up and hate yourself, if you do not change your ways. What Randall "Duke" Cunningham did to cause his actions on November 25th, 2005 in San Marcos, California wasn't half as bad as what you are doing, and sooner or later, the walls WILL crumble around you, and you WILL realize that justice WILL prevail. For Hisham, 9, AND for Charley, 80.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman, Carlsbad, California USA (images added 2025)
P.S. Please visit my blog: www.acehoffman.blogspot.com
Sent to: abdul-rahman ubraheem <alenizy9403@yahoo.com>
(Re:) Re: Unsolicited suggested grammatical corrections for your web site
August 5th, 2007
Dear Dr. Ibraheem,
Thank you again for your letter (shown below). It is an honor to be able to communicate with you.
Regarding your story about the ultimate grief, I ask: Does not the child suffer more even than the mother, even if for less time? The child, who thought he was safe in his mother's arms, until the pain of death told him different, coming before even experiencing 99.99% of the joy of life. The child cannot express his pain, and the mother can, and adults can no longer think like children, but we can think like other adults (and men think they can think like women), so it is easier to identify with the mother's grief, than the child's.
When my parents (divorced ~30 years at the time and now both dead) buried my older brother more than a decade ago, I heard it said that the grief of a parent burying a child is, indeed, the greatest grief. (My brother died in his 30s of complications from leukemia, a disease which became rampant only recently in history, perhaps because of the nuclear age's damage to our cells.)
The grief of the parents is horrific, but I wish to side with the child: Surely it hurts the child to see the grief THEY are causing their parents! It must grieve Hisham to know he is causing YOU tremendous grief! The greatest injustice is what this war is doing to Iraqi children. Mr. Bush and his "neocons" have no idea how many Hishams there are. That is as close to not caring about an individual as I can imagine -- to not even count them!
Mr. Bush's army is fighting for a principle, but I'm not sure WHAT principle. I've talked to numerous soldiers. They actually want to help Iraq. (The ones I've talked to lately don't think they can.)
The American soldier always had ONE principle he could be sure he (usually a he, not a she) was fighting for -- and that was the principle of upholding the rules of war! The code book! It said, in essence, "If you follow these rules, then later on, humanity, for the most part, will not detest you for what you are doing now, regardless of which side ends up being considered 'right.' You are a soldier." Among many things, the "code book" prohibits the torture of prisoners, the murder of surrendering troops, and the wholesale killing of civilians (it seems that war these days always happens amongst civilian populations, and thus, by definition, war IS the approved killing of at least SOME civilians. So it seems, that it is only a matter of knowing when to stop.)
This military rule book is very, very important. Every soldier is supposed to have read it and is supposed to adhere to it utterly. They cannot obey illegal commands. They cannot poison the land. They cannot use poison gas.
And yet, it comes to pass, that violating the rules of war becomes the way of war! Depleted Uranium, as I mentioned before, produces utterly illegal poison gas and poisons the land. We have heard about illegal and widespread coercion of prisoners. On all sides, of course.
How do these violations occur? The story of the use of Depleted Uranium is this: If you admit that low level radiation is dangerous, then ALL low-level radiation is dangerous. Not just DU but emissions from nuclear power plants, and even medical x-rays are a much greater risk than once thought. The releases from Chernobyl, also, are more catastrophic than the pro-nuclear industry assumes -- they still say only about 28 people died because of Chernobyl -- the "heroes" of the fire department and so forth, who fought to save the reactor while absorbing hundreds of rems.
If they admitted any of this, a trillion-dollar industry -- the ENTIRE nuclear power industry -- would be RUINED!
They much prefer pretending that Depleted Uranium is "safe." Then, the nuclear industry can give their Uranium-238 waste to the military for use as bullets, bombs, shells, and armor! And they don't care if some U-235 and Pu-239 and so on are mixed in!
All this happens because the truth about the dangers of so-called "low-level radiation" cannot be faced in ANY of 40+ countries, which now have nuclear weapons and / or nuclear power plants, which all have people making money from the nuclear industry.
One lie leads to another lie, which leads to another. When does war become palatable for one society? When it is cost-effective? When it is "right"? How can "right" be defined when children by the thousands are dying and being maimed, good people like Hisham?
George Bush's Pentagon refuses to count the Iraqi dead. Mr. Bush had NOT assured the American public that 655,000 Iraqi civilian dead is not too high a number. But last year a scientific study estimated the number that high, and just as likely to be higher as lower. And it has probably grown by tens of thousands since then! But instead of assuring the American public that this war is WORTH 655,000 of your citizens dead, and 3,500 of our own, he says the report is not credible! But the study IS credible, and probably even "conservative" in its estimate.
I suspect that the delay that you write about will, these days, only cause the typical American citizen to say, "but I bet it's like that at Walter Reed Medical Hospital for our own veterans, after what I've been hearing about paint coming off the ceilings, and rats, and filth, and overcrowding and -- yes -- delays!"
And besides, they might add, OUR bridges are falling down, too. Never mind that yours fall down because we bombed them, and ours are falling down through neglect, and our veteran's hospitals are crumbling because of neglect, not war-time conditions not of our making.
Had we not gone to war, all our bridges, and all our dams, could have all been fixed. And all our rail lines could have been electrified AND repaired. And all our veterans' hospitals could have been refurbished and rebuilt, too.
All that, just with the money we lost (spent) fighting "an army of one" (Saddam). A personal grievance between George Bush and Saddam Hussein resulted in perhaps a million dead, and millions more like Hisham.
Of course, had we not gone to war, we would NOT have used the money to make America better. We would have bought more Hummers, instead. But we COULD HAVE done all those things. And all our bridges and all yours would now BOTH be intact. And your son would be playing with his toys, instead of just looking at them.
If George Bush does not care about me -- a U. S. citizen -- and he does not care about 655,000 Iraqi dead (as of the time of the report), and he does not care about a quarter of a million U.S. soldiers who will ALL have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, then I don't think he will care about Hisham. But I will ask him to bring Hisham to Congress anyway, to testify about the delays that Iraqis are incurring when trying to get medical care after errant bombs land among children.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman, Carlsbad, California USA
At 03:10 PM 8/4/2007 -0700, abdul-rahman ubraheem
<alenizy9403@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Dear Ace
>Good day
>
>I am happy to read your messege , indeede I read it many times
>thinking of every word & statement of it . Once they've asked one
>pereson what is the ultimate grieve that one may face , and the
>answer is that killing a mother's child while she is holding him
>between here arms is the deepest pain that one may suffer.
>Dear friend what ever l writ or speak it will never be able
>toexpress my deep grieve for the moment when l recieved my three
>children with their hot blood in the casuality department at the
>hospital where l work in , how can l explain a feeling of a father
>searching for his youngest sons amongest the innocent civilain
>victims and then he forund him thrown on the ground because thsy
>thoyght that he is dead!!!! Yes dear Ace Hisham was transported from
>the street where he was injured to the hospital in the trunk of the
>car because he thought he is dead !!! And then it took 2 hours to
>transpot him from the street to the hospital which is only 2km away
>& then 8 hours to transport him to Baghdad which is only 100 km away
>& 55 days to bring him to Jordan ????Why all this delay in
>transporting a war victim child ?? Do you know why my friend ?? This
>is because of the presence of the American military army in the
>streets that delay evacuating those innocent victims ??? l met the
>person responsible for the medical issue in iraq & asked him to help
>my son , he needs an urgent surgery in a specialized center , and
>there was no response , l've spend almost one year here in Jordan
>asking for an NGO , or any country to take us with Hisham to
>continue his treatment , no repaly ?? Can you tell this story to any
>congress man ??? Did they accept that for an animal & not a human
>being??? Do they want Hisham to give his testimony infront of the
>congress so that they will feel of the real crimes that are going on
>in Iraq under the umberalla of Democracy , Freedom , Liberaty , and
>these bullshits word that do'nt worth the suffering of one moment of
>any of my sons .
>Dear friend l do'nt want to bather you but l feel that you are
>understanding my situation , l have many stories of my son Hisham
>during the time of his illness , l write it in a note book & use to
>read it between now & then and cry for him for us , for this world
>of criminals that no one can punish them for their real crimes
>against civilian peoples , let me tell you one of these stories ,
>Hisham likes playing with the toys too much '' and that before his
>injury of coarse '' , and then after that he use to ask me every
>morining to push him on his wheel chair in front of his toys , and
>he keeps looking on them then l saw a line of tears on each side of
>his face , then he ask me to take him back to hsi bed !!!! Do you
>know what he says with himself while he looked to the toys . he
>says'' why l could'nt touch all these toys and l could'nt paly with
>them ??? what have l done ??? who is responsible ??
>
>Dear friend , tell any of the congress men that you know that Hisham
>is ready to speak about his story , story of an Iraqi war injured
>civilain child , that was injured without any cause , badly treated
>, and still now he is unable to recieve the treatment & care that he
>needs ??? Shall they listen to him ?? what will be their decision
>after that ?? To stay or to leave ??
>
>Thanks a lot friend , I hope that you will find the way to express
>your reall feeling to help other innocent human beings in a
>civilized , developed , democratic , humanatranian country ?
>
>
>Dr.A.M.Ibraheem ; Hisham's father
>
>Russell 'Ace' Hoffman <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com> wrote:
>August 3rd, 2007
>Dear Dr. A. M. Ibraheem,
>Thank you for your response (shown below). I have no good answer for you.
>Lately, I have not felt our democracy has been much to be proud
>of. For decades, I have looked for way for a citizen to make a
>difference here, mainly because of my opposition to nuclear power and
>nuclear weapons. So I know that having overwhelming scientific data,
>as well as logic, humanity, and economics (to name only a few
>advantages of a non-nuclear future) on my side has not been
>enough. The nuclear corruption runs too deep, so I've never called
>THIS democracy a complete success, and I've always asserted that its
>failures kill people needlessly.
>I know that THIS senseless war is only one mistake we've made. I
>know that those in power, even in a so-called democracy like mine,
>abuse their power. I've spent a lot of time learning these sad lessons.
>I know that our media in America are little better than uninformed
>sheep. The worst Russian Cold War government parrots in Moscow could
>do less damage than our own ignorant press does by not knowing truth
>when they see it, and not exposing lies when they don't. At least in
>Russia, everybody knew the press was controlled by the
>government. Here, where the press is supposedly free of government
>influence, many citizens assume the press is also free of influence
>by powerful corporate interests such as the nuclear industry, some of
>which actually OWN major press outlets. In reality, the American
>press are free from neither influence, and most are further
>debilitated by a lack of understanding of what the real issues are.
>I am free to write my thoughts. I can send them to the president,
>but he does nothing different after getting them. I wrote him
>opposing torture, and instead he made it the law of the land!
>They say the first casualty of war is truth. Citizens here are told
>many things about what is going on in Iraq, only some of which are
>true. Democracy is no more than a sham if the pubic does not have
>access to the truth. One word from you about the situation in your
>country is worth many books by American bystanders who don't know
>what's really going on. This is the power of the Internet -- to cut
>through the Poliburos and political machines and red tape and delays
>and get to the truth.
>As citizens of democracies, perhaps all you or I can do is tell the
>truth. I think that's why you posted the story of what happened to
>your sons and their friends. I think that was what made America
>become a "super-power." But we've abused that power. We have laws
>requiring us to be reasonably truthful in our business affairs, and
>nearly totally truthful if we win public office. These laws are
>sometimes flagrantly disobeyed, though. But at least we have the laws.
>For years, our businesses, for the most part, delivered what they
>promised around the world, and, perhaps, so did our politicians. At
>least, more so than other countries' businesses and politicians
>delivered. But times have certainly changed! If you do business
>with Americans now, you might be dealing with a secret government
>agency which wants to, for example, buy you out and steal your
>assets. Or a business that might want to do the same thing. Or you
>might make a good, fair deal with us, only to have a "treaty" broken
>later (ask the American Indians if we ever did a thing like that!).
>In ANY specific case, Americans are no better than anyone else -- we
>rob, cheat, and steal as much as the next world's citizen. But I
>think that all it really took to make us the sole remaining
>super-power was a little more honesty than the next guy, which was
>Russia, where honesty in government, or business, is almost
>unheard-of. If you want to get screwed, do business with the Russians.
>The degree of difference may be very small, indeed. My own
>Congressman, in 2005, tried to commit suicide by smashing the car he
>was driving, directly into another car -- MINE!!!
>Our leadership is human.
>Surely you do not think the American police, the FBI, the Department
>of Justice, or the Congress (of whom this man was a member in good
>standing at the time of the attack) have given my wife (who was in
>the car with me the night of the attack) and I the justice we
>deserve for this incident? So I am very, very well aware of how
>corrupt our seemingly-democratic system really is. California is
>famous for its "celebrity justice," and my wife and I are victims of
>a corrupt system which favors those already in power. THIS is
>democracy? Well, you called it that, not me!
> From what I hear, corruption is rampant in Iraq right now, and is
>one of the reasons Baghdad still has so little electricity, running
>water, etc.. All the American contractors are complaining that they
>cannot find anyone to make an honest deal with there. But we also
>know that the contractors themselves are often corrupt.
>I can call the Congressional switchboard and leave a message for my
>Congressperson (Brian Bilbray), telling him what I think he should
>do. I don't think he will listen, but, because his predecessor tried
>to kill my wife and I, I believe he will not be entirely able to
>ignore my message -- if he acts against it, he will do so knowing
>that is exactly what he is doing. Pretending to ignore his constituents.
>Given that circumstance, WHAT should I tell U. S. leaders the Iraqi
>people want America to do? As a citizen here, where the truth about
>what Iraqis want has not been made public in years, I have no idea
>what to say. So even if the system worked perfectly, I would be at
>a loss. I can assume every Iraqi citizen just wants us to "get out
>now." But is that what is best for Hisham and his brothers?
>Democracy depends on truth, and truth depends on knowledge. All I
>have is a sliver of hope that Democracy might some day work, after
>all its many failures. I have no knowledge that it will, only hope
>and desire, probably both of which are unreasonable.
>Given all that, please advise -- and thank you again for your correspondence.
>Warmest regards,
>Ace
>At 02:09 PM 8/3/2007 -0700, Dr.A.M.Ibraheem wrote:
> >Dear Russell
> >Good day
> >
> >You've asked a very good question '' Do you, in the thick of it,
> >have any suggestions on what American civilians can do to help end
> this war?
> >I do'nt know what to say , I asuume that your country is an ideal
> >example of the DEMOCRACY , while they say that we in the third
> >world or middle east as a civilian are under the compulsion of our
> >govermnets rules which means that the only choice we have is to obay
> >orders of our govermnts '' dectatoric rules '' , so I think if you
> >life in a civilized , democratic country you should already know
> >what to do to defend the innocent civilian victims that are paying
> >from the military thinking of those that have the political
> >desicions in your countries . My dear you should teach us what to do
> >in our countries instead of asking us what to do in your country ,
> >but let me tell you something , I believe that if any one wants to
> >do something he believe in it he always will find the ways how to do it .
> >
> >
> >Many thanks friend for your nice words.
> >
> >
> >Dr.A.M.Ibraheem ; Hisham's father
> >
> >Russell 'Ace' Hoffman wrote:
> >August 3rd, 2007
> >Dear Dr. Ibraheem,
> >Thank you for your response to my letter (shown below).
> >Usually, it seems that the most innocent victims among us pay the
> >highest price for war. Warriors never pay the full cost of war, in
> >money OR lives -- warriors have, after all, only one life to give,
> >while the civilian deaths they cause can go on for many generations,
> >as the Deleted Uranium (for example) continues to poison the
> >land. Was the shrapnel that hit your son DU?
> >Usually, civilians -- innocent by definition -- actually pay MOST of
> >the cost of war. In THIS war, civilian deaths are apparently 100
> >times or 200 times as many as the number of U.S. soldiers dead, and
> >apparently 10 or 20 times the number of "insurgents" killed. Yet
> >this is called "precision bombing in order to minimize civilian
> casualties"!
> >Bombs miss because they are poorly made and hard to aim, they miss
> >because the "targeting coordinates" were entered incorrectly into
> >the machine, they miss because the person giving the coordinates to
> >be bombed misreads the map. They miss because someone purposefully
> >gave bad information. They miss just because "something went wrong."
> >And when their bombs miss the targets, they say, "that's the
> >unfortunate price of war," if they say anything at all.
> >At the Marine base near where I live, a soldier was convicted
> >yesterday of murdering an Iraqi civilian.
> >I think Hisham was probably going to become a doctor. How many
> >lives could he have saved in the course of a 50+ year career? But
> >instead, before he knew anything about war, he became a victim of it.
> >It is very hard for American civilians to understand what "typical"
> >Iraqis think these days. I assume most Iraqis want us to leave, but
> >I fear increased bloodshed if we do, too. Do you, in the thick of
> >it, have any suggestions on what American civilians can do to help
> >end this war?
> >Thank you again for your letter.
> >Sincerely,
> >Ace Hoffman
> >Carlsbad, CA
> >At 01:59 AM 8/3/2007 -0700, abdul-rahman ubraheem
> > wrote:
> >>Dear Ace Hoffman
> >>Good day
> >>
> >>Many thanks for your suggestions & corrections that you've
> >>mentioned , l'll try to fix that very soon & if you've any further
> >>suggetions please let me know , Hisham is not only my son I believe
> >>that he is a son of any human beings that believes in humanity &
> >>refuses violence & unjustice for any person , after all he is only
> >>an innocent severely war injured child , so he needs any kind of
> >>help wether moral , by words or support , many thanks .
> >>
> >>
> >>Dr.A.M.Ibraheem ; Hisham's father
> >>Russell 'Ace' Hoffman wrote:
> >>August 2nd, 2007
> >>To Whom It May Concern,
> >>I saw a link (which didn't actually work, but I figured out how to
> >>fix it) to your web site from www.counterpunch.org , which
> >>occasionally publishes my essays.
> >>Upon visiting your web site, I felt compelled to correct the
> >>English, which I have done (below). Please accept this gesture as
> >>a friendly attempt to make the information more accessible to those
> >>who visit the site.
> >>Sometimes there were several choices of how to correct the
> >>English. I hope you like what I decided to use (in the first
> >>paragraph, I assumed he had lived there all his life). Also, I am
> >>not an English professor, so these corrects may in fact, be wrong,
> >>but I believe they are worthwhile improvements for readability,
> nothing more.
> >>I hope for the best for young Hisham and his brothers and friends.
> >>Sincerely,
> >>Ace Hoffman
> >>Carlsbad, CA
> >>
> >>Hisham.A.Mohammed is a 9 Years old Iraqi. He has lived in Alanbaar
> >>province, Alramadi city, in the west of Iraq, all his young
> >>life. He was a very active & clever boy, & he loved his school very much.
> >>
> >>Hisham loved playing football in his free time, helping his mother
> >>with her house work, & he loved playing with his brothers.
> >>
> >>
> >>The Angel
> >>
> >>
> >> Hisham is like an angel, he has very good stock, he loves life &
> >> he loves people. He also loves every thing good & beautiful in
> >> our life, he's really like an angel, as there are angels in the
> >> heavens there are also angels on the earth; Hisham is really one of them.
> >>
> >>On Wednesday March 22nd 2006 at 10:30 in the morning Hisham was
> >>playing in front of his house with his brothers & the neighborhood
> >>children. Around a dozen children were playing. They were near
> >>the end of their first semester break. Hisham was very happy. He
> >>didn't know what was happening in our world.
> >>Suddenly the children were struck by a missile explosion in the
> >>road, & everything went black. One child died and six children were
> >>injured, including Hisham and two of his brothers.
> >>
> >>
> >>What happen to Hisham
> >>
> >>
> >>Hisham suffered multiple injuries to his body as a result of
> >>shrapnel from the explosion. The most serious one resulted in
> >>injury to the right side of his neck, causing a fracture of the
> >>right pedicle of C5 & C6, with multiple fragments of bone within
> >>the spinal canal, which caused a spinal cord injury resulting in NO
> >>MOVEMENT IN HIS FOUR LIMBS (TETRAPLEGIA). As you see in the
> >>picture, he is always in bed in the hospital, without any movement.
> >>What could Hisham have done to deserve spending the rest of his
> >>life lying moveless in a hospital bed or in a wheel chair ??????
> >>
> >>WHO IS RESPONSIBLE ??
> >>WHO CAN HELP ??
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, California USA
Author, The Code Killers:
An Expose of the Nuclear Industry
Free download: acehoffman.org
Blog: acehoffman.blogspot.com
YouTube: youtube.com/user/AceHoffman
Email: ace [at] acehoffman.org
Founder & Owner, The Animated Software Company