Hamas Victory

I refer to your editorial “Hamas Victory” (Jan. 29) and would say that Israel’s destruction of the Palestinian Authority and its infrastructure had boosted the position of Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank. As you rightly pointed out, Hamas is not just a resistance movement; it is also a secondary provider of much needed social services that the Palestinian Authority has been unable to provide. It does not do much good for the USA to say that notwithstanding the results of the local elections, Hamas is still a terrorist organization, thus echoing Israel’s position. Somehow the White House has transformed itself into being a spokesperson for Sharon. After all, Hamas was the creation of Israel in the late 1980s as a counterbalance to the PLO. Now that Hamas has turned into a nationalistic movement, it has become a target of vilification and attack. I am not a supporter of Hamas, and I criticized some of its actions and practices in the past, but to be fair, Hamas is doing a decent job for the community under extremely adverse conditions.

Nehad Ismail, London, UK published 1 February 2005

Hamas Victory [2]

Your assessment of the elections in Gaza is correct. The votes reflect an interest in local issues and services. While Hamas was delivering a wide range of public services, Arafat and his PLO and Fatah were stealing the country blind. Arafat and his mafia were out stealing public funds, public lands and public properties. While the owners of homes destroyed in Dir-Albalah were asking and waiting for Arafat to give them $2,500 in emergency aid, he was spending millions of dollars on his wife in Paris, and was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in getting public support for himself. Hamas won because the Palestinian people believe that it will serve the public and clean jup the mess and corruption. Fatah which has been the beneficiary of such corruption was not expected to do that. It will take the Palestinians a long time to clean up the mess left by Arafat.

Sami Jamil, West Bank, Palestine published 1 February 2005

Hamas Victory [3]

I was born in a poor part of America. In fact there was a shantytown nearby back then. From my experience, I think it’s normal for some people to look to Hamas. Wealthy people know they can replace it all again. Poor people know how hard it is to come by plywood. They are very desperate, determined and pliable fighters. If they lose what little they have, it’s everything forever most likely. This is the absolute dream of every wealthy RPG manufacturer. Yasser Arafat was a billionaire who never ran a business wasn’t he? At least not a normal one.

Bob Falkner, United States published 1 February 2005

Conference on Terror

While it is good to have an anti-terrorist conference (your front-page report on Jan. 29) care should be taken to avoid using it for anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda. This will not put an end to terrorism but only encourage it. Nor should the conference identify causes and remedies that are already well known.

The conference should be courageous and unravel the deep issues that are still unresolved: The fiery jihadi rhetoric of illiterate clerics and imams who take no responsibility for their words. It should also demand that financial support for so-called charitable organizations be stopped forthwith and this includes funding for organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Let us hope the anti-terrorism conference comes up with something useful and not just clichés and platitudes. Too many lives have been lost because of the uncontrolled jihadi impulses of young fanatics who contribute nothing to society except destruction.

ACC, United States published 1 February 2005

Johnny Carson

Reading Ray Hanania’s article on Johnny Carson (Jan. 28), it appears he suffers from watching too much TV. Get outside; read a book — whatever it takes. Talk shows, movies, sitcoms, etc., are all geared to getting a rise out of the watcher. Just watch the news. Isn’t it fishy that 90 percent of the news reported on major networks has to do with some kind of tragedy? I can’t tell you how many stupid TV shows are on nowadays. For Hanania to bring out a couple of instances where morons are on TV telling their audience stuff that he doesn’t like is like me saying I don’t like some items on a menu. It’s funny how “racism” on TV can only go one way — to the benefit of the minority. For example, when was the last time you watched a Chris Rock show in which he did not make fun of white people? Furthermore, when was the last time you watched a minority comedian not make fun of white people?

Hanania doesn’t pay any attention to such evidence. America is a free country and people can air whatever they like. Comedy is comedy; it’s supposed to make you laugh.

I’m willing to bet that if Chris Rock had made the same comments Dennis Miller made about Muslims a couple weeks ago, you wouldn’t have a problem. You must ask yourself this question: Why can the member of a minority make jokes about white people in America and get away with it while the opposite is not true?

And by the way, I laugh when Chris Rock makes fun of white people even though I am “white” myself. Why? Because it is comedy! Lighten up.

Aaron Benfield, Texas, US published 1 February 2005

America and Europe

In the article, “America and Europe as Far Apart as Ever”, Adrian Hamilton (Jan. 29) writes essentially that the hesitancy of France and Germany reflected the will of the people, shown in “poll after poll,” against the invasion of Iraq planned by America. Democracy at work.

Also, the article states how in tune with “middle America,” Bush apparently was leading up to the war.

Two things occurred that might support this conclusion:

1. American amnesia about the documents Iraqi officials produced to show Iraq’s compliance and which were stolen by American operatives right off the tables of the UN/IAEA, and then returned minus some 700 pages of evidence.

2. Diebold and other brands of computerized voting machines, ripe with easy ways to distort voting results. Merely two minor premises. American agents stole the evidence, and then others stole the election. 100,000 dead, democracy destroyed.

John M. Smith, Jr., United States published 1 February 2005

Camphone

Lubna Hussain’s article (Jan. 28) was great — conclusion ... well exactly right! Silly the thing is: Have you ever tried to take a surreptitious photo with a camphone? You either look like you are taking a photo, in which case you might just as well use a camera (legal), or you look pretty spastic! Just imagine trying to “see” through your ear, lining up the shot. Just try it and you will see what I mean.

Peter, United States published 1 February 2005

Message and the Media

A very good article that tells it like it is (James Zogby — Jan. 28). Unfortunately the media reported things that were not true during the campaign and these things influenced many voters. When Bush was banging the drums of war instead of searching for the truth, they took him at his word about WMDs and scared the people half to death. Many years ago Julius Caesar used the same strategy to control his people. I am 75 years old and I was brought up always to tell the truth. I never believed Bush and I still don’t. I believed the inspectors who were telling us all along that there were no weapons. I hope and pray that Bush’s zeal to control the world does not start World War III and bring about Armageddon.

Valerie Harrison, United States published 1 February 2005

Straw Against War?

According to some press reports, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw fears the UK being sucked into another US war. Ha Ha! Straw is one of those responsible for Britain’s being in Iraq in the first place, so he has already sponsored one illegal and criminal war and now he “fears” getting into another one?

In the mafia, it is reported, that one does not “choose” when to participate or when to leave the group. Once in, always in — otherwise the group sees you as a potential traitor and steps are taken to limit the potential damage. Straw is a warmonger as has been proven. His posturing now is only a smoke screen to attempt to keep him away from a well-deserved war crimes trial.

Legal Eagle, London published 1 February 2005

Killed by Father

I refer to the report about the murder of the young girl in Kuwait (Jan. 29). Your reporter says that the murder was the talk of the town, especially after people learned that forensic tests proved the girl was still a virgin and that she had not suffered any sexual assault.

Does this imply that if the girl had not been a virgin or if the girl had been raped, it would have been OK for the father to kill his daughter? If this reflects the mentality of the people, it is time that things changed and that these people realized that we are now living in a civilized society where there are rules that respect the human rights. In my opinion, it is certainly not an indication of mental soundness that the murderer was eating greedily during his interrogation as was mentioned further in the article. The most savage beasts need food!

Louis Wing, Belgium published 1 February 2005

Iraqi Concerns

Amir Taheri’s article about Iraqi elections (Jan. 29) was extremely well-written. He outlines a great many issues that the new Iraq will face. That said, it does not give sufficient weight to the very high probability that the architects of the Sunni insurgency have already planted the seeds of a Shiite/Kurd-driven pogrom aimed squarely at the Sunni Arab community. By boycotting the elections, the Sunni Arabs may have squandered their only chance of avoiding a bloody future confrontation which will be one they cannot win.

Paul Veil, United States published 1 February 2005

Markazu Plans

Thanks for Arab News and its reporter Mr. Abdul Majeed for publishing a report about a plan by Kerala’s Markazu organization to adopt tsunami orphans in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is a very good introduction to Sheikh Abu Bakr (Kanthapuram) and Markazu.

Muhammed Suhair, Abu Dhabi, UAE published 1 February 2005