Guyana should support the US in whatever actions it takes against terrorists
Stabroek News
September 15, 2001

Dear Editor,

As a passenger on an airplane scheduled for take-off at 9:40am on Tuesday from New York, I saw the smoke coming from the first incident from the runway. After we had evacuated La Guardia airport by 10:30 we could see, even from miles away, the huge smoke cloud billowing from the damage.

Believe me, the pictures which the Guyanese public saw on television do not match the horror of seeing it live, albeit we were miles away. I want to offer my sincere feelings of sorrow and grief to the US embassy staff in Guyana.

As a Guyanese-American, the carnage, destruction and death which this terrorist attack has caused, has instilled in me a profound hatred for the people who committed this vile deed and for those who harbour and nourish them. I have quite a few Guyanese friends who lost their lives in this terrible nightmare and the innocence of going to work to support your family and then having to die like this is to be supplanted by the satisfaction that a war has been declared - a war against these criminal terrorists and those who harbour them.

All Guyanese who live and work in America will support in all ways, including military service, the call to war by President Bush. To defend America is to defend Guyana from a future nightmarish holocaust in this hemisphere. And there will be war, let no one be doubtful as to the intentions of President Bush. I have repeatedly praised Mr Bush as a good leader and a man of vision and Americans are fortunate to have such leadership in the White House along with the excellent team he has put together with the complete support he has been given by the American people.

I have read quite a bit of American history and the ghosts of great men who lived and led America will not allow this international criminality to go unpunished. The greatest of Americans, George Washington, fought for his people's rights without using terrorist tactics and indiscriminate terror against the enemy and he was one of the greatest revolutionaries in history. Abraham Lincoln, another great American leader, led the Union States in a terrible war and never used terror tactics against the enemy. But, as President Bush said, the people who committed these airplane attacks, are really cowards and therefore they should be hunted down.

Guyanese everywhere should support totally the actions which the

United States will now take to eradicate these international criminals. Imagine in Palestine people were dancing in the streets and the Palestinian authorities did nothing. We Guyanese, even though a poor people and country, have to convey to the American people that we will give any help, no matter how little, no matter how unimportant it might seem, no matter how it might impact on our country, no matter how it might affect our lives, no matter if we pay a bitter price, no matter - because America is our friend and ally.

Any countries which are identified by the Americans to be hiding

international terrorists and which are subjected to actions by the American government in the near future and which have relations with Guyana should be subjected to possible ejection of all their trade and consular representatives from Guyana. We have to join this war on international terrorism by supporting the United States in every way possible. To those criminals who committed these vile acts, let me quote from the Bible, the Book of Psalms: Psalm 73:

"He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,

And from the river to the ends of the earth.

Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust."

Yours faithfully,

Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)