I agree with Chad Hayward’s concern for the rights of Iraqis and others in the Middle East (“With Saddam, I can’t be free,” Sept. 13).

Remember, though, how very concerned Bush was about the human rights of women and others in the country of our last regime change: Afghanistan. See what has been accomplished there. The foremost organization for the rights of Afghan women, RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan), released a statement on the anniversary of Sept. 11: as RAWA and others warned beforehand, the Northern Alliance leaders are no better than the Taliban they replace. “For the people of Afghanistan, it is `out of the frying pan, into the fire'” (www.rawa.org).

The Bush administration isn’t aware of this, or doesn’t care. If we can believe their rhetoric, Bush and company think they’ve effected a great change in Afghanistan.

So now they want to liberate the Iraqis with a bombing campaign. We should ask: Will the bombs land on wedding parties, Red Cross buildings, leave cluster bomblets that children pick up and lose limbs to, kill some 3,700 civilians as in Afghanistan?

Does this administration feel more concern than former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright did? In 1996 she said that the death of 500,000 Iraqi children as `collateral damage’ from sanctions “is worth it.”

Remember, the Bush administration continues these devastating sanctions, despite a professed deep concern for human rights and well-being.

James Fiedler

Graduate Student

Mathematics