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Even as millions marched on the streets of major world capitals to protest against war on Iraq they did not prevent the American and British government (democracies for sure). Now in 2007, the fourth year of this invasion, most Iraqis feel they had been better off under Saddam Hussein. Such are the rewards of freedom and democracy midwifed by the conquerors.
   If Iraq today is much worse than before, as indeed it is according to the latest polls jointly by BBC and ABC (of the US), it is the handiwork of the liberators. They had the Iraqi Constitution drafted under their tutelage, rushed through two elections in one year (a record of sorts), installed a majority rule fuelled by new-found dominance by one sect, and a government security apparatus infiltrated by militias. So the division and polarisation, the total lack of security and the raging civil strife come as an inevitable result.
   It should be a matter of shame and those who waged this war would have been under trial for crimes had they been lesser mortals of lesser powers. How many anniversaries of this reckless criminal war have to be recorded before the screen is finally drawn upon this sordid chapter of Iraq occupation? No, we are not impressed by clinical objectiveness of the polls and results. Those who clearly have no business in Iraq other than leaving Iraq must exit and atone their misadventure that destroyed millions of lives, killed so many for so little in such a short time. And while quitting Iraq, they could take the native collaborators and criminals and find safe havens for them.
   Imagine how the Bush war would have ended long before its fourth year had Saddam really had Weapons of Mass Destruction? Look how the US climbed down meekly on the money freezing issue because North Korea actually has a nuclear arsenal however modest. Alas! Blackmail, especially nuclear blackmail, works wonderfully well in a ‘civilised’ world.
   Husain
   Dhaka

Amid the World Cup cricket festivity in the West Indies, the cricketing world has been shocked by the sudden death of the Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer. It was a sad coincidence that Woolmer was found unconscious in the hotel room in Jamaica and breathed his last in the hospital afterwards on the day his team Pakistan suffered an upsetting loss to Ireland and was sent packing from the World Cup.
   Woolmer had been a remarkable cricketer in his youth, representing his native land England in the Test and the ODIs — he played nineteen Test matches and nine ODIs for his country. On top of all, Woolmer had been a remarkable cricket coach with innovative ideas. He brought in all kinds of modern thinking in training the players, both physically and mentally. He was the person to popularise the reverse sweep and brought a laptop in the dressing room at the field. He dedicated his life as a freethinking coach in search of innovations to improve the players’ skill in all levels of being a good player.  He had always been a great friend to his players and thus had been a guardian figure to the players. The point was very clearly echoed and fondly remembered by the Pakistan cricketers.
   Woolmer’s death, prefixed by a loss for his team or whatsoever the coincidences, upholds his love for the game. The death of a coach of Bob Woolmer’s stature is a huge and irreparable loss to the world cricket.  We mourn this great man’s sudden demise at just 58, we pray for his departed soul.
   Rafiqul Islam Rime
   Agrabad, Chittagong

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has by this time published two lists of persons who are allegedly corrupt. They have been asked by the commission to submit their wealth statements for verification. What surprises me is that these two lists of one hundred persons, or so, include only one woman. (She is Sigma Huda, wife of former minister Barrister Nazmul Huda.) Does that mean that the women in our society are all ‘dhoa tulshipata’ (innocent)? In our society we find most of the working and non-working women, especially the well-to-do ones, want to live their life as luxuriously as possible. We see them in a rat race for more money and more power. They take a kind of perverted pleasure in living beyond means. They suffer from a mental disease called exhibitionism and are fond of showing off their expensive houses, cars, dresses, ornaments etc. If these women could be motivated to live within their means, if the society could openly question and condemn such exhibitionism, I believe, their men would not have run after unearned and ‘haram’ (forbidden by religion) income to meet the insatiable greed of their wives. But the question is: how to motivate these ambitious and exceedingly greedy women and bring them to the path of modest living within the means?
   I have two humble suggestions. Firstly, women organisations of our country can initiate a movement to make the women aware of the far-reaching ill-effects of corruption on their families and on the society as a whole. They can tell the women that every married woman must prevail upon her husband to refrain him from acquiring wealth by illegal means by taking bribe or indulging in dishonest business. She must tell her husband that she is happy with his honest income, even if it causes her financial hardship. She can also tell her husband that it will never be good for their children if they are brought up with ‘haram’ money. Moreover, when these children will grow up and learn that their father was a corrupt man they will have no regard for the father. Can we expect to see our senior women social workers starting a movement in this line, or in a better line, by addressing our women through media, meetings, seminars and symposia?
   Secondly, the wife of a corrupt man, being the main co-beneficiary of the corruption of her husband, should be made a co-accused as an abettor in a corruption case. She may be acquitted by the court if she can prove that she tried her best to refrain her husband from making money by corrupt means. But the husband must be punished if found guilty. If necessary, the existing relevant laws may be amended to involve the wife of a corrupt man in such cases.
   Before I conclude I must make it clear that I do not write this letter to absolve the corrupt men of their crimes. Under all circumstances they must be punished as per law. They must be condemned by the society every time and everywhere. I write this letter to seek the active support of our mothers and sisters to combat corruption.
   Ashraf
   Dhaka