Dear Pa Nderry,
 
You know I support your right to speak out and expose corruption in our  
country, but in the same manner, I never hold back when I feel that your paper  
has stepped beyond bounds. We cannot loose sight of the fact that there is  
patriotism that compels us to expose corruption and tyranny, but there is also  
patriotism that should compel us not to engage in revelations that can jeopadize 
 the very freedom we are fighting to preserve for our country.
 
Your reporting on what was discussed in meetings between the Gambia  
government and the  Iranian and the Venezuelan Presidents threads on  dangerous ground 
my good brother. Such alliances are forged between nations  looking to 
preserve their own national interest and discussions towards the  same occur daily 
behind closed doors in every country around the World  and indeed, in many of 
those nations we consider as our friends, but the details  of them are not put 
out there for public consumption even by those who oppose  these governments. 
There is such a thing as state secrets even if the APRC  has misused the term 
to violate the rights of our citizens many a  time. It is imperative to draw 
the line between what should be for public  consumption and what should not be 
in the interest of the nation. 
 
We may want the APRC regime out of power, but we do not want to expose our  
country to invasion by foreign powers and such an invasion will be for the  
preservation of their own interest and not to help us get rid of Jammeh, and  
even while such invasion may help us get rid of Jammeh, it may also bring us  
other things we would rather not have in our country. We have to be mindful  of 
what tactic we use to dislodge the dictators plaguing our continent because  
some of those tactics may bring us far deeper problems during the process  or 
afterwards.
 
All governments, some good and some bad and tyrannical like our present one  
must forge alliances that serve the interest of their respective nations for  
various reasons.
While the United States and other Western nations are seen to be our  friends 
and on our side etc, we must never loose sight of the fact that the  number 
one priority in any decision they make is to preserve their self  interest 
first and foremost.
 
Likewise, all other nations also have the responsibility to make decisions  
and forge alliances that protect their self interest, whether such alliances 
are  open or secret. 
 
While there is no doubt that terroristic acts have occurred around the  World 
and that no one condones these terrible acts, there is also no doubt that  a 
sincere effort to expose and  an effort made to fix all the root  causes that 
compel people to come to the conclusion that they must engage in  these acts 
of terror  must be part and parcel of any fight against  terrorism so that all 
nations can eventually enjoy a peaceful  existence in this World. This is what 
must occur in place of the fight against  terrorism being used by nations as 
a tool to wage a smear campaign against their  adversaries and some of us 
being swept in that undercurrent and lending  ourselves to being used as the 
vehicles to promote such an agenda.
 
The so-called fight against terrorism has been mis-used by the United  States 
as an excuse to invade and conquer to preserve their own economic and  
political agenda and likewise, other nations have also used the very same battle  
cry as a cover to wage war on their enemies both real and perceived.
 
So the so-called fight against terrorism and accusing individuals and  
nations of being terroristic states or harboring terrorists has become a  tool to be 
used by all to implement other hidden agendas. It has for  example become a 
tool to use to accuse other nations whose policies one may not  be happy with 
as being guilty of terrorism or sponsoring terrorism even in the  absence of 
credible evidence being presented to support such claims.
 
Hugo Chavez wants his country and his people to be the beneficiaries  of  the 
bulk of their oil revenues rather than forging alliances and  signing over 
their rights to the major oil companies and relegating his  compatriots to 
economic slavery. That is what makes him such a bad guy in the  eyes of the United 
States.
 
Likewise, the Iranians want to use nuclear technology to enhance their  
economic development and my personal view and that of many people around  the World 
is that even if, in addition, they wanted to use this technology  to acquire 
nuclear weapons, such weapons would serve as a deterrent  from anyone 
constantly threatening their national safety simply  because those threatening them 
will know that they can retaliate if anyone  should attack them and that very 
fact will remove this constant threat of  attack. That to me is common sense.
The U.S has termed them a rogue government because of this.
 
Have the question ever been asked why some nations who have acquired  nuclear 
weapons have taken it upon themselves to be the ones to then decide  that no 
one else but they can have these weapons?  Have we pondered the  thinking 
behind this? Does it not convey a very clear message that those who  have nuclear 
weapons are somehow superior and more mature than the rest  of the nations 
that do not have it, so that they can be trusted with  these weapons but the rest 
of the World are just too immature and untrustworthy  to be trusted with 
nuclear weapons? Who came up with such authority?
 
Therefore, one must exercise extreme caution so that one does not find  
oneself serving as a mechanism for the dissemination of serious accusations and  
allegations against other sovereign nations  that is agenda driven and in  the 
absence of concrete evidence to back such accusations. That is a very  serious 
matter indeed.
 
I do not think that any one of us can argue against the concept  of Africa 
and African leaders forging alliances and adopting economic  principles that 
will preserve the interest of Africa and for once in which  alliance we do not 
adopt the "lost little boy seeking to be protected role" in  view of the fact 
that Africa has since the advent of colonialism simply served  as a free for all 
when it comes to our natural resources, both human as well as  mineral.
 
We have also largely subscribed to and happily implemented the agenda  of 
other nations without questioning its' impact on us and also without  examining 
it to see whether it serves our interest.. I am particularly  disturbed when I 
see our young people being so eager to serve as vehicles for  the 
dissemination of other people's propaganda and rhetoric. Are we doomed to be  just vassals 
of other nations and have we given birth to a whole new generation  of people 
who see themselves as subservient so that we just live to tout the  agendas 
of others and are happy to be under someone else's perceived protection  rather 
than forging our own alliances and seeking to attain what is best for our  
own? I hope and pray this is not the case.
 
Both our leaders as well as our so-called educated people must wake up  to 
the fact that when the West makes a decision about Africa, even if that  
decision happens to serve our purpose in the fight against tyranny, it is not  
necessarily a decision that was made solely to serve our interest. We must wake  up 
to the fact that we cannot afford to just blindly adopt other people's  
agendas without dissecting it, understanding the reasoning and purpose  behind it 
and deciding whether it serves our interest to adopt it and  if we adopt it how 
do we participate in it for our own best interest.
 
Take a look at Hugo Chavez's statement about Africa and South America  
forging economic alliances to preserve our interest as quoted in your  paper:
 
Chavez, whose repeated criticism of America has raised  hackles in 
Washington, called on an African Union summit to cooperate with Latin  America in 
everything from oil production to university education to counter  "colonial" 
meddling in developing nations. 
Citing the example of Venezuela and Bolivia, he urged Africa  to seize 
greater control of its energy resources. He described the low royalty  payments made 
by some foreign oil companies as "robbery". 
"We should march together, Africa and Latin America, brother  continents with 
the same roots ... Only together can we change the direction of  the world," 
he told the opening day of the AU summit, to  applause. 
"The world is threatened by the hegemony of the North  American empire," said 
the former paratrooper, following speeches from African  leaders which had 
criticized colonialism. 
Africa's abundant natural resources -- ranging from precious  metals to iron 
ore and oil -- should make it a wealthy continent if it were  freed from 
outside exploitation, Chavez said. 
"Africa has everything to become a pole of world power in the  21st century. 
Latin America and the Caribbean are equipped to become another  pole," he 
said. 
In a nod to another outspoken opponent of U.S. foreign  policy, Chavez hailed 
Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful  purposes. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also attending the  summit in the 
Gambian capital Banjul. 
The Venezuelan leader called for a commission to evaluate  joint energy 
projects between Africa and Latin America, as well as a media  venture dubbed 
Telesur (TeleSouth) and a joint bank Banco del Sur (Bank of the  South). 
"In Venezuela, we were tired of all our oil going to Count  Dracula," said 
Chavez, referring his government's decision to raise taxes on  U.S. oil 
companies. "Now Venezuela is free and we have recovered control over  our oil." 
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil  exporter. 
It is unfortunate that the only commentary your paper had after this  
statement is that Chavez is a trouble maker at odds with Washington and that  Iran 
supports terrorists and that by our government associating with these  leaders, 
these countries may send terrorists via The Gambia on their way to  committ 
some act of terror, and that we should therefore distance ourselves from  these 
leaders and countries. 
Washington may have problems with these leaders, but must our national  
interest  and our association with other nations around the World be  dictated by 
what Washington or any other nation wants and their relationships  with those 
nations? Must our national agenda be geared towards serving the  interest of 
other nations and must we always serve as the little boy patted on  the head to 
go implement the agenda of the master to whom we will look for  salvation? 
How will we ever liberate our country and our continent if we adopt this mode 
 of thinking and if we lend ourselves to always take the role of implementing 
the  agendas of those who have and continue to hold Africa hostage both 
economically  and otherwise? It is indeed high time for Africans to start thinking 
outside of  the box. We must dare to re-think the economic organization of the 
World or we  will forever be locked in the box. 
Jabou Joh

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