Letters to the Editor, November 11, 2003

No one wants to be fooled, especially governments responsible for the future of life on earth for jinn and men. If some governments made an error in the sixties, in face of inaccurate information, as time went on, new information attained in the eighties or nineties and the millennium, may impose upon those governments to make corrections, mutually with all the parties involved, in an effort to follow and/or move forward according to the highest truth and accurate information, for the best of and as a mercy to all beings. As time goes on, the different scenarios of the future become more visible, and the most accurate and beneficial of all is thus followed. God has mysterious ways of elongating life and providing mercy to beings, it is only the beings who do not appreciate and realize but only too late.

Fusion

Practise What You Preach Mr. Bush

Citizens International* welcomes President George Bush's speech to the National Endowment of Democracy in Washington yesterday where he unveiled what he called is a 'new policy, a Forward Strategy for Freedom in the Middle East.' He rightly said 'Islam is compatible with demcracy' and that the 'freedom deficit undermines human development.' However, democracy and freedom are not compatible with occupation and repression, and no 'Forward Strategy on Freedom in the Middle East' can grow from the barrel of a gun, and that too of an unpopular occupier, as is evident in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Further, Citizens International urges President Bush to match his pronouncements with his policies. The US, for instance, opposes the democratically-elected leadership in Palestine and Iran, supports unreservedly Sharon's repression in the occupied territories, violates the human rights of Muslim Americans under the guise of the 'Patriot Act' (with 762 Muslim Americans languishing in US prisons without charges, trial or access to lawyers) and has established a notorious colonial-style penal colony at Guantanamo Bay, where people are subjected to suffering without charges, trial or access to lawyers.

The main reason for this credibility gap is that the US President does not practise what he preaches. Hopefully, his speech should be a good opportunity to really embark on what is truly a 'new policy', not one that pays lip-service to democratic ideals but which are at variance with the ground realities of US Middle East policy.

Haji S. M. Mohamed Idris, J.P Chairman Citizens International

*Citizens International is a global initiative from Penang, Malaysia. It seeks to analyse the causes of increased militarization of the planet and to work towards an environment of peace and international security.

Email : cizs@tm.net.my

website: www.citizensint.org

RCMP passed along Arar's name, U.S. says

By JEFF SALLOT AND COLIN FREEZE From Saturday's Globe and Mail

(LINK)

The name of Ottawa software engineer Maher Arar name was entered on a U.S. border watch list because of intelligence that came originally from Canada, U.S. sources say.

Roy Ennis

Robert Fisk is the one of the best (if not the best) journalists covering the Middle East:

http://www.robert-fisk.com

US Journalist Charlie Reese writes (so accurately):

"The problem and danger to the United States is that Israel effectively dictates US foreign policy in the Middle East. Israel supporters were the architects of the war against Iraq, and if they can, they will get us into wars with Syria and Iran, thus eliminating Israel's enemies. They would like nothing better than the United States to be at war with the entire Muslim World."

- US journalist Charlie Reese (you can access articles by Charlie Reese at the following URL):

http://reese.king-online.com/

Morris

The 132-1933 Ukrainian Genocide

This coming week the Ukrainian community will be commemorating the Genocide of 1932-1933. In those two years, more than 7 million Ukrainians were deliberately starved to death. The amount of available information is staggering and the evidence irrefutable that a mass murder took place. In spite of the Ukrainian community's best efforts, this crime against humanity has never even been mentioned in the Western press.

In the name of natural justice and for principle that all men are equal, I ask that you undertake to tell the world what the Western press will not. You may do a web search under the keywords 'famine' 'genocide' 'Ukraine'. Please contact a Ukrainian organization and they will provide you with all the necessary information.

Be a beacon of light.

Sincerely,

Peter Lewycky

Bad Walls Make Bad Neighbors

Israel is now providing more services to more illegal West Bank settlements and carving its massive wall through the West Bank. The wall would be lawful and moral, as moral as the Berlin Wall, if the wall were along Israel's border, the "Green Line," but it is not. It bisects Arab properties, surrounds Arab villages, divides Arabs from the fields that they work, to keep the suicide bombers away from Israel and Israeli settlements.

Israeli West Bank settlements are hilltop garrisons in a hostile land, Masadas in waiting. Israeli West Bank settlers vote for their government, but West Bank Arabs have no vote. Israeli settlers travel freely, Arabs must queue endlessly. Arabs have no state safety net, poor jobs, no rights. Israelis have welfare, good jobs, rights. Israel the democracy becomes Israel the theocracy.

Do Israelis expect the Palestinians to disappear, as Israelis occupy more and more land? Unless the Israelis start their own pogroms of the Arabs, or start to taint Palestinian water with birth control hormones, the Palestinians will remain and multiply, and in a few years there will be more Arabs than Jews living under Israeli rule, destroying the theory of "Israeli democracy."

The Arabs must grant Israel the right for the Jewish state to exist, but so too must Israel grant Palestinians their right to be governed by a government they elect.

The wall must move to Israel's borders. Israelis must leave the West Bank. The US must tell Israel these grim truths, or the Intifada will go on and on, with all its costs, monetary and human, for both Israelis and Palestinians, for years and years and years to come.

Without US support, money transfers, weapons, and technology, Israel would still survive, but if these were denied to Israel, perhaps its ears would open. Israel does not listen to the UN General Assembly, but maybe, just maybe, they might listen to George Bush, if he would act instead of blathering.

The time has come for the US to tell Israel, "Enough!" and embargo Israel as it did Iraq, that other middle east occupying power.

Tom Trottier, Canada

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).