Letters to the Editor, December 16, 2003
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A Threat to the Al-Jazeerah Editor from Jeffrey Schuster of New York
-----Original Message-----
From: |Jeffrey Schuster [mailto:jgschuster@rcn.com]
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 4:11 PM
To: editor@aljazeerah.info
Subject: spider hole
Pro-Saddam is anti-American. Mr. El-Najjar, there will be consequences. Perhaps the US is not the safest place for you to be.
Jeffrey Schuster
Editor: I invite you to do something more positive for yourself, for America, and for the world than threatening an American, who is an editor of an independent publication that gives a free forum for Americans and people around the world to express hope and promote peace between nations, instead of war and hatred.
I hop that readers, particularly law enforcement agents, take notice that this was not your first threat.
Signing an Online Petition against de-legitimizing the Palestinian struggle in Canada
Against the Canadian Government Banning of Three Palestinian Resistance Groups
Al-Jazeerah coverage of the Saddam Capture
To The Editor,
I can see how unhappy the Iraqi people are at the capture of Saddam. Why don't you print the other side of the story once in a while. Most Iraqis support the US coalition that removed Saddam and Sons from power.
You on the other hand enjoy in making it appear as if all Iraqis are against US occupation. While most don't want the US to stay for long, most understand that if a stable situation is not forth coming. Men like Saddam can and will regain power again. Help the Arab world, not divided
I even heard that some Arabs think that this is copy of Saddam and a conspiracy to fool the Iraqis that Saddam has been caught. To be so ignorant must be so peaceful.
Thank You,
Mike Gutierrez
Editor: Majority of Iraqi Shi'a and Kurds did not like Saddam and his regime. Most Iraqi Sunnis do not share them their views on that. For Arabs, Muslims, and people around the world, the war was illegal and unjustified. Al-Jazeerah is supposed to inform you about that, which is not told by the pro-war corporate media.
By the way, there is a photo on the front page of the 12/16 issue of Iraqis who expressed their happiness of the Saddam capture.
But thank you, at least, for not threatening me like Jeffrey Schuster did, above.
The Capture of Saddam
It is clear, as was explicitly stated by an Anglo-European commentator whose identity escaped me, that properly scripted proceedings must be brought against Saddam Hussein to allow his captors and other enemies to appear historically justified.
Left almost entirely unstated, even in the few Arabic sources I have seen, is the fact that Saddam was well-respected by many in Iraq and elsewhere, not least for his development of Iraqi infrastructure, education - particularly its university system - and, I believe, true health care. On the other hand, apparently unlike Hitler, who also did much in these areas, weaponry and the military clearly were not high on Saddam Hussein's list of priorities.
Whether or not he has behaved against some as the USA, for example, has behaved against native Americans <sic>, Vietnamese, miscellaneous religious fanatics and assorted others may or may not be the major point here. But in any case I am inclined toward the idea of equal justice for all if we must have human "justice" at all.
One view of the situation is the following, quoted from an Arabic source:
"An elegantly dressed 70-year-old Lebanese woman named Lilie said she was sad 'because it's a victory for the Americans whom I detest. It will increase their arrogance.'"
Left slightly ambiguous in this statement is whether this probably charming woman detests all "Americans" or merely some of them.
Regards,
Nelson Campbell, USA
The Saddam Capture
Now that Saddam is in custody, US and British woes will deepen. The biggest troubles for them are yet to happen, because the BIG LIE is coming home to roost. No doubt Blair and Bush will crow about the capture of Saddam, but they must be quaking in their Gucci shoes. Now the question of why they went to war in Iraq will finally have to come to light, that it was all deception and lies, that Saddam was indeed telling the truth that there were no WMDs, and that Bush and Blair were the liars.
My biggest hope is that Saddam will keep spilling the beans about the US and Britain, and other countries, which supported and built him up. And now they want to look pristine by demonizing him.
Bush thinks he can fool us with his 'Christian' pietism, which makes a mockery of the gospel of love and peace in the same way that Islam is abused by religious fanatics, making a mockery of Islam, which is a religion of peace.
Jack Lakavich, Kelowna, BC Canada
It may eventually be a good thing that Saddam was caught- depending upon whether what the United States sets up in his place is any better (which is highly doubtful), but it will never be "right" that they started a war on the basis of a lie that they knew was a lie at the time- and they did it on the basis of a lie because they knew the truth wasn't a good enough reason to go in. This kind of trickery that works so well in the Homeland is probably the kind of democracy the U.S. has in mind for Iraq too. We shall see.
At any rate, they went in to a tiny little country using a lie as their reason, bombed it, invaded it, occupied it, sold it, murdered the relatives of the ruler, and finally captured the ruler himself. Congratulations. I guess.
Roy Ennis, Canada
Howard Dean's Flip-Flop Positions
I wish Arab and Muslim Americans would "put Mr. Deans feet to the fire" and invite him to speak as often as possible before active Arab and Muslim American groups. Make him explain his "flip-flop" in his mid-east policy position. Point out that there are millions of votes that could be his from the Arab and Muslim American community. Also it should be obvious the Jewish vote and money will flow to Liebeman and G. Bush not to Mr. Dean!
Regards,
John Cummings
Editor: Yes indeed. There are millions of Arab and Muslim American votes that will make a difference this time. But they are not going to be taken for granted. In 2000, Arab and Muslim Americans in Florida voted for Bush and made the difference for him. Now after the Bush betrayal, they are more likely to go to Dean if he persuades them to be even-handed in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by stopping his flip-flop activity. He has to show that he is really different from Bush in foreign policy. Yes, he needs to be invited on.
Arab paranoia, delusions of persecution, and a sense of being made war upon
Dear Editor,
The existence of Arab paranoia, delusions of persecution, and a sense of being made war upon. Prevents you from seeing the truth. It is the object of (Western) American politics to establish a democratic foot hold in the Arab world and leave. However, Arabs find this unbelievable, beyond total comprehension, and logic. Why, you ask? If the fruits of this war, can be a nation of Arab men/ women, that can think for themselves. It would be the West’s greatest ally in the region. Not a nation lead by bearded old men, which spend their lives chanting prayers. These men serve religion as if it was an opiate. But a nation of men and women with vision, hope, and of destiny. An Arabian peninsula with the grandeur of the days of Saladin, and when it was the cradle of civilization.
You claim we covet your oil, your lands, and your religions destruction. It is the ones among you who dare not strive for a free Arab world that are your worst enemy. The very men that would keep you shackled to a medieval existence. Our destiny is tied together; we must live together, or die. Those how have fear in their hearts are not capable of seeing the future. They are blind men. Their hate and fear makes them blind.
We in the west do not wish you harm or vie for your destruction. We do loathe the ignorance, and blind ones. Some of you choose terror as the instrument of diplomacy.
The world ever so slowly is seeing that Israel is not the victim. That they are a repressive, and brutal nation. Palestine, must now adapt a different road to victory. The name of terror must become synonymous with Israel.
Thank You,
Mike Cojones
Editor: I agree with several statements you made, such as your very last sentence. I want to respond to only one issue, the basic idea you have, the title of your letter written above: Arab paranoia, delusions of persecution, and a sense of being made war upon.
Many wars have been waged on Arabs throughout the 19th and the 20th centuries by Europeans and Americans. The French, the Spaniards, and the Italians invaded Arab north Africa. Bitter wars were fought to force them out, the fiercest one of them was in Algeria 1956-1962. Britain invaded Arab Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt and the Sudan.
Since it was established in 1948, Israel invaded and launched wars and air raids on the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Tunisia.
In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded the Egyptian Suez Canal Zone and Israel invaded the Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip.
In 1967, Israel invaded Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, which resulted in the continuous occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.
In 1978, Israel invaded south Lebanon, then invaded most Lebanon in 1982 and did not leave the south until forced out by Hizbullah.
In 1991, the US assembled a coalition to eject Iraq from Kuwait, then stayed in a military occupation of all the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula, which triggered September 11 attacks.
Between 1990 and 2003, the UN sanctions enforced by the US resulted in the death of 1.5 million Iraqis, half a million of them were children.
Do you still want to argue that Arabs have delusions of persecution, and a sense of being made war upon. Are all these wars delusions?
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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