While it was certainly appreciated, his comments were even more profound. His comments were: "I wish they could do more. I wish in someway they could participate in understanding what we are doing, what we are faced with in Iraq, Afghanistan and worldwide. They don't have to serve in the military, but they could volunteer for community-service projects. Anything that would make them aware of what America in its world leadership position means."

In World War II, we had war-bond drives, ration cards and, most prominent, "Rosie the Riveter".

So here is an idea that on a daily basis would inform Americans of what is going on, in particular in Iraq.

The United States has a geographical north, south, east and west. Iraq also has a north, east, south and west.

All deaths in Iraq on any given day would be superimposed on a map of America the next day. For example, Baghdad corresponds to either Saint Louis or Kansas City as being geographically centre. Atlanta corresponds to Basra as southern cities.

News item: "Twenty-six deaths were reported yesterday in Saint Louis; 17 bodies bound hand and foot showing signs of torture and being killed by having their throats slit were found dumped in the Des Peres River at the western city limits. A suicide bomber in the Soulard Market killed three women and one man. Five more were killed at Union Station by another suicide bomber; three were children.

"In Atlanta, a huge truck bomb that drove through the perimeter fence exploded next to a fully fuelled 747 at a departing gate. While the 747 was empty, the ensuing explosion killed three military guards and 32 passengers in the waiting area."

Ideally, all the compass points of the US and Iraq could be used. Kirkut could be Madison, Wisconsin; Mosul could be Duluth. Virtually all of America could be substituted for Iraqi cities.

Our military represents one-tenth of 1 per cent of our population. They are all that stands between "us" and "them".

We have our World Series, Super Bowl, vacations, children home for the summer, extreme sports (try going to Baghdad for an extreme experience). We must tell our soldiers they are respected, thought of and loved for what they represent and for what they are doing.

Remember, every day at least two of our soldiers in Iraq are paying the 9/11 Twin Towers price. They are dying to keep citizen US safe.

Al Eberhardt

Bangkok

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Public participation key to success of new government

Prime Minister Surayud is on the right track in promoting public participation in vital policy issues; eg, a new constitution, political reform and combating graft. Active participation by We the People in government decisions is essential in a democracy, for as Kay Maxwell said, "Democracy is not a spectator sport."

I also strongly support the government's promise to use state-owned media to encourage people's input during the political reform process. Universities should encourage or organise debates and seminars on issues of the day, to be broadcast pro bono by television and radio stations, giving voters - especially outside of Bangkok - both sides of each issue, so they may make informed decisions. This will help break the vicious cycle of the countryside electing PMs and Bangkok booting the rascals out.

On two issues, though, PM Surayud need not wait for more public input before taking action. At Tak Bai, 78 protesters suffocated while tied up, stacked like firewood and under Army guard - yet no general has been court-martialled for manslaughter. How can we promote reconciliation without the rule of law? What shall protect us against our guardians, if not our laws?

Also, Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit's kidnap and murder happened more than two years ago. How can we have reconciliation when the suspects remain at large - unless PM Surayud moves decisively to unmask the true masterminds of this heinous crime and shows the people of the South they can trust Bangkok to enforce the Rule of Law?

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Chaturon makes no friends in defending the old regime

Re: "People were disappointed in us", News, October 19.

After reading The Nation's exclusive interview with former Deputy PM Chaturon Chaisang, I feel I didn't learn anything new from him. He believes he has to maintain the party's strength in order to fight for democracy. In fact, during the Thai Rak Thai administration, Thai democracy took a back seat. It was no secret that MPs under Thai Rak Thai were not allowed to express their views even in Parliament - to do their jobs as representatives of the people.

Opposition parties were not even guaranteed safety when they campaigned in Chiang Mai or other provinces under Thai Rak Thai control. Almost 100 people died in the South, put on top of one another in military trucks, and no one cares even now. Newspapers expressing views opposing Thai Rak Thai were not given advertising business by state enterprises. Is this the democracy Chaturon is fighting to keep? People can say they want to keep democracy alive, but mostly on terms only they believe to be correct.

In the same interview, he also said Thai Rak Thai policy did not lead to corruption. If so, I just want to know, in his opinion, what really caused the corruption on a scale we never experienced before.

I think the general public has a different opinion from Chaturon on this issue. Chaturon probably will not make changes at Thai Rak Thai, because he did not see anything wrong during [the party's] rule.

One question for Chaturon: is that if he eventually becomes prime minister in the future, what priority will he give to corruption charges against the Thai Rak Thai Cabinet, and how he will handle this important issue?

This question is also for anyone who might take that job after the next election as well.

Prichar

Bangkok

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'Dear Leader' vulnerable to  pressure from within 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is a small man of, in the end, familiar pretensions.

Forced to weigh the uncomfortable implications of the North Korean situation, has China perhaps at long last decided its own interests are better served by a regional status quo attuned to stability and trade, rather than by Maoist-era provocation choreographed by a relic dynasty that has grown entirely too troublesome?

Any dissolution of his allied Chinese flank could bring Kim closer to the snowy gates of his own Canossa and present to others within his regime their moment finally to hook this embarrassing tyrant off the world stage - even as a Greek chorus of international leftists and media allies labour cynically to allay pressure on North Korea by demanding a return to the bankrupt and discredited two-party talks of the past.

President George W Bush's diplomatic progress towards a political sea change in Northeast Asia is as heartening as it is uncertain. Yet how welcome such a sea change will be to both the region and the world at large.

And how isolated the left will be denying Bush and his strategies as its authors.

Ron Goodden

Atlanta, Georgia

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Ecological, environmental and social impact of airport

I am a Thai citizen with a business based in Thailand. I travel a lot during the course of my work and, having seen most airports round the world, have a collection of pleasant tales and horror stories similar to those I have been following in The Nation about our new airport.

Just recently, I passed through Suvarnabhumi Airport for the first time. I could not help but make comparisons with other international airports in terms of availability of ATM machines (none on the whole departure floor), washrooms (one for the whole C bay, with six tiny stalls, two sinks - one without water - and no paper towels) and chairs (five near gate C for the longest departure terminal in the world).

The only other chairs are positioned so that people will spend money on drinks, food and duty-free goods. I was charged Bt460 for chicken, papaya salad and sticky rice that would usually cost Bt100 or much less anywhere else.

The roof, said to look like sails but which reminds me more of a huge black-and-white caterpillar, has started to leak in many places.

While I understand that all airports go through growing pains, I must say there is more to the problems of our new airport. The roof, toilets and ATM machines are one thing (structural deficiencies that can be fixed); the ecological, environmental and social impact are another, and more importantly they cannot be fixed.

I don't know if Suvarnabhumi Airport is cursed by the 275 species of birds it displaced from their natural environment.

Or by the spirits of the land and rivers that watch over the natural water reservoir at Cobra Swamp (as the site of the airport was known), which was dammed up when it was constructed, thus causing people in Bangkok and nearby provinces to suffer from unprecedented flooding.

Or by the farmers in the surrounding areas whose rice fields were taken by greedy businessmen and who now suffer from noise pollution so bad that an entire temple had to be moved elsewhere.

Whatever the case, the new Thai airport does not please my sensibilities or politics. It may look pretty, but it is offensive in many ways.

I am ashamed as a Thai to see land and water resources, as well as the livelihood and culture of communities built round them, sacrificed for the benefit of a few "privileged" self-serving businessmen and politicians.

Our natural resources are irreplaceable; environmental and ecological plunder is irreversible; and economic, social and cultural damage is unpardonable.

Sally Ananya Surangpimol

Bangkok

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