Editor,

With respect to Mr Ivan Simic's freedom of speech rights, his last two letters of 12/01/08 and 12/08/08 to the Matangi Tonga were, in my opinion, very sad and unfortunate. I felt that they had some reflections of anger and hatred, especially towards the United States of America. Although I was reluctant and forced to be impressed by the details and statistics of his letters, I frankly gained little but mostly pains and regrets from them. As I was pondering over his letters, I also was wondering if he really knows that the United States of America did some good deeds to his country and people.

In the Second World War, the United States of America played a major role in defeating the Axis Powers. Defeating of the Axis Powers incidentally resulted in the liberation of many countries from the tyranny of the Axis Powers. Among these liberated countries was Mr Ivan Smic's country, Serbia/Yugoslavia. As a result of these liberations brought about by the United States of America and the other Allies countries, outrageous human rights violations by the Nazi regime and the rest of the Axis Powers in Serbia/Yugoslavia and other countries were stopped.

In the 1990s, again the United States of America played a major role in stopping the ethnic cleansing of the Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosvo. The Serbian President, Milosevic, and his government were starting and conducting this ethnic cleansing even though the Dayton Accord had been in effect. To stop these atrocious human rights violations in Yugoslavia, the United States of America had to lead a multi-national military intervention forces to battle the Serbs.

These human rights violations included massacres of innocent civilians, mass burial of both live and dead people by bulldozers in large graves, destructions and robbing of refugee's properties and homes, rapes of mothers and their daughters, all kinds of persecutions and tortures, barbaric mutilations and maimings of men, burning of catholic churches, and indefinite disappearances of husbands, young men, and innocent people who were arrested by President Milosevic's men.

The United States of America is a very complex society and it is not easy for one person to criticize it without any or too many faults. What the United States of America does and doesn't do is the product of long studies, discussions, and analysis conducted by its most brilliant and intelligent people. Therefore, I really don't trust that Mr Ivan Simic's negative criticisms would, in any way, shape, or form, have any impact on how the United States of America and its people conduct things. Mr Ivan Simic is free to say all he want about the United States of America. But I know one thing for sure: the United States of America will continue to do what is in the best interests of its people, not Mr Ivan Simic.

Yours sincerely,

Siosaia Fatani