Forwarded letter re. sanctions

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Received: (from strider) by igc4.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.15 ) id VAA16060 for conf:reg.burma; Mon, 2 Oct 1995 21:45:54 -0700
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 21:45:54 -0700

[Original address of sender deleted]

Senator Mccain,

  It was with great displeasure and disappointment I learned of your 
heated and strenuous opposition to
Senator McConnell's bill that would impose sanctions against the 
Burmese State Law and Order Council
(SLORC).  

  Yes, Burma is very far away.  It is also peopled with quiet brown 
folk who are of little concern to us Americans.  There is some oil 
there, and some of our hard-working oil companies are wanting to 
eventually get as much of it as they can.  Heroin does also come from 
Burma, but it's only effect on America is that it seems to pacify 
some of our own indigenous brown folk, who would otherwise want jobs, 
decent housing and social justice.  And damn it, if we imposed 
sanctions with as much impact as those put forward by Sen. McConnell, 
then that would upset deals we've already worked out with other great 
democracies like the PRC, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.  And damn 
it again, we'd have to get up off our butts and at least pay lip 
service to the ideals of freedom and democracy.

  Having fought under this country's flag in different places at 
different times, I can tell you that what made it worthwhile was 
knowing that I did it for a country that had as it's national purpose 
the institution of freedom and democracy in nations that might have 
previously only known oppression and totalitarianism.  But I have 
since noted that our nation has abandoned these ideals for reasons of 
political expediency...It was no small wonder that we actually had to 
be shamed into taking an inconsequential government like Haiti's to 
task for its sins.  We are truly a nation in an advanced state of 
decline when we  so readily determine that assisting an oppressed 
people is not a task worth doing for its own merit.  

  But back to Burma.  The country's problems are many and complex, 
sorry to say that they are nearly as complex as those of the former 
Yugoslavia.  But the difference is that the SLORC fears and respects 
America's might, and would respond in the intended fashion if 
pressure is applied.  

  As for narcotics, the heroin is produced in parts of Burma that 
aren't properly under SLORC control, I'm afraid.  The truth of the 
matter is that the Thai government could be doing more to stem the 
flow of heroin through it's borders to the rest of the world.  The 
Thais also tacitly approve the transit of arms shipments through its 
territory to the narcotrafficking groups from PRC and Cambodian Khmer 
Rouge sources...Occasionally the Thai government will conduct a 
crackdown which it hopes will satisfy the U.S. and justify further 
aid given as "counternarcotics assistance".

  So Senator, when the Burma question is brought up for debate, I 
urge you to seek to become more knowledgeable of Burma's problems and 
their most appropriate solutions.  What has kept the SLORC on its 
feet this long is foreign investment from nations which simply aren't 
toeing the line, and these need to be brought to heel with our 
influence.

  Z.Z. Aung
SFC, U.S. Army (RET)