Mühltal (Germany), October 12^th 2003

Dear Susan Sontag,

today you won the „Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels". Congratulations! I really appreciated the last 5 or 10 minutes of your speech where you proved to be a great story-teller, it was very touching to hear about the nightmares you had because of the nazi-camp in the north of Arizona and how one of the prisoners many years later became one of your best friends.

As for the rest: you fulfilled the expectations, Bush-bashing at it´s best - how boring! And you really believe ambassador Daniel Coats should have come to hear your insults and the applause of the German audience?

Obviously, this prize was not given to you for your writing skills but for your political views especially your criticism of President Bush. But a lot of questions remain open:

Dear Susan Sontag, tell me, what´s so bad about stopping mass-murder in Iraq? What´s so bad about liberating a people from a brutal dictator?

If the current American foreign policy is really radical, how do you call the foreign policy of North Korea, Russia, etc.?

You reproach to the U.S. to expect Europe to be grateful for having fought the nazis. What´s wrong with that? I am German, and I will eternally be grateful to the Americans for this liberation.

You blame Mr. Rumsfeld for the split in Europe, but the split has been there before! And I am relieved that Europe was divided on that question for I cannot imagine anything more hypocritical than the so-called „coalition of peace" between Germany, France and Russisa. Putin being responsible for the cruel war in Chechenia. I do not want to live in an anti-American Europe dominated by France and Germany treating the rest as vassals. I am glad that the other European countries like Spain, Italy and Poland spoke up and protested against this Franco-German arrogance.

In his laudatio Ivan Nagel called you a thinking intellectual, he should have added: thinking in one direction only.

A cultural ambassador between the U.S. and Europe? With speeches like the one you held today, you are broadening the gap between these two continents instead of bridging it.

Yours truly

Karin Quade

© Karin Quade October 12th 2003