Invaders vs. Defenders

The story “Talabani’s Wife Escapes Baghdad Bomb Attack” (May 5) reported the killing of 13 fighters by the US military using tanks and air support, and the killing of four US Marines by the resistance. These two killings should be seen in their right perspectives.

The death of the Marines was a natural byproduct of invasion, which happens — and should happen — to all invaders, when the indigenous people defend their country. Americans grieving for them should understand that their fellow Americans are dying because they are invaders, who have the choice to either leave or be killed.

As for the killing of 13 fighters, American and NATO commanders frequently declare that they have “liquidated” many “terrorists” in “heroic” operations conducted by their “brave” soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their declarations coincide with the cries of women and children in the villages of these invaded Muslim countries. While elaborating their “highly successful and heroic” operations, these commanders add that hundreds of their soldiers confronted five or 10 hard-core “terrorists,” that there was fierce fighting and it was then that the “intrepid” soldiers called for support from the air force, which soon took part in the “heroic” operation by conducting an air raid.

They presume that the bodies of those “terrorists” were among the scores of dead bodies spotted in that area. Newspapers also report that American fighter aircrafts flying at high altitude randomly dropped bombs and missiles on that area.

It is only with such cowardly air raids that these American and NATO soldiers survive in Iraq and Afghanistan. If those “terrorists” had possessed powerful antiaircraft and antimissile weapons, nearly all invaders would have returned home in body bags.

Although the number of invaders killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is less than those killed in Vietnam, where the insurgents had Chinese and Soviet support, it becomes significant considering the resistance is operating without the support of a country.

Muslim and anti-capitalist countries have a lot to learn from these American air raids and must develop a defense technology.

Hamza Mohammed, Dammam published 11 May 2008

Traffic Accidents

Reports such as “10 Die in Makkah Accident” (May 6) are becoming everyday stories in our media. It is about time that the Ministry of Transport and the traffic authorities imposed strict rules and harsh punishments for violations. I myself was involved, along with my sick mother who was dying from cancer, in a horrific accident in Jeddah last December. A 17-year-old kid was driving like a maniac. I was hospitalized with a fractured hip and skull, which prevented me from spending my mother’s last days with her. It is terrifying to be on the road in the Kingdom. No one respects traffic lights or roundabouts or anything else.

Something must be done about this. I believe we have the highest rate of mortality in traffic accidents in the whole world. May God be with all those who are on the Kingdom’s roads.

Gulshah Alireza, Jeddah published 11 May 2008

Good Work in Jubail

It was excellent on behalf of Jubail Municipality to order “the closure of 385 shops that were found repeatedly committing serious violations, including the selling of food harmful to human health” (May 5). However, a lot more needs to be done. There are many more eating-places in Jubail whose standard of hygiene remains extremely poor. The municipality must publish the names of offenders so that the public can be warned about them. Keep up the good work.

Syed Abul Hasan Jafri, Jubail published 11 May 2008

Israeli Settlements

If the US were serious about illegal settlements in the West Bank, it would do something about them. This farce of settlement construction and America’s public protestations with silent backing has been going on for a long time now. The US government is part of the problem. Only the Palestinian people can find a solution. The working class throughout the world supports the Palestinian people in their fight against the apartheid government of Israel.

Stan Squires, Vancouver, Canada published 11 May 2008

Israeli Settlements [2]

The Palestinian problem can be solved if there is an honest mediator genuinely committed to peace and a fair solution. The US cannot be that. It is the biggest supporter of Israel, as Americans of all political hues keep acknowledging. So, how can we expect sincere mediation from the US? All bullets shot from Israeli guns are made in the US and all American institutions help Israel. We need a broker who is totally neutral and who has credibility in the world. Russia can be that. If the Arab World can convince Moscow to take up the role of a genuine nonpartisan mediator, I am sure that the most explosive conflict of the world would be solved within months.

Niaz Khan, Dammam published 11 May 2008

Mere Rhetoric

Ziad Asli’s article, “Mideast Conflict: Need for a New Perspective” (May 5), made me wish that the author had said something relevant. The comments made in the article were all generalities that can be said about any conflict, anywhere, any time. The question is not about the intention of the people involved, but about the vision the parties to the conflict have of their future and if they have the courage to commit themselves to that vision.

With the continued Western interference in the matter and the continued procrastination and indifference on the part of Israel, how is it possible for anyone to expect Palestinian frustration not to turn into violence? It is quite apparent that the peaceful future for the children of the region lies firmly on the heads of the Israeli state. Its continued intransigence and foot-dragging confirm the suspicion that it is seeking only its future.

The on-the-ground realities of the life of Palestinian children make them little more than inmates in a prison created by Western apathy and cowardice. The Jewish hold over Western, conscience on account of its guilt associated with the Holocaust, is what impedes a more humanistic approach by the West in asserting the rights of the Palestinians. The guilt of the West in the Palestinian tragedy is no less. It was the West that removed the Palestinians from their ancestral land to replace them with Jews in order to rid their nations of their own racist problem.

Jerry Copeland, United States published 11 May 2008

‘Morbidly Obese’ Finger

It was only natural, as reported in the story “Bush’s Food Remark Irks India”(May 5), for Indian politicians of all parties to criticize George Bush for his remarks blaming India for the global food crisis. In fact, if the Americans could curb their own consumption and focus on growing more food in that vast land of theirs, they would not face a food crisis. It is ridiculous that the “land of the morbidly obese” points a finger at a poor but self-sufficient nation as the cause of their problems.mYes, there are approximately 350 million middleclass Indians with means to acquire food, but we eat less than one-third of the amount of food the fat Yanks do. I’m sure we waste even less.

I watch Oprah. I bet if everyone in the state of Mississippi alone went on a diet, then that would free up food stock for the rest of the US.

Kanaka Raman, Riyadh published 11 May 2008

‘Morbidly Obese’ Finger [2]

George Bush is a man whose mouth works the best when it is disconnected with his brain — which it is, most of the time. Those who claim that there is nothing up there to get connected with are exaggerating. My American friends tell me that there have been plenty of occasions when he proved the existence of a rudimentary prototype in the upper region. I myself can remember a couple of them — like when he declared, “Most of our imports come from foreign countries,” or when he announced, “Weapons of mass destruction kill in large numbers.” They are all profound observations that no man or woman, or even hermaphrodite for that matter, can question.

All the same, now that even the Americans have had enough of the man from the state where the best cows come from, it would be good for the world, and America itself, to keep the man from talking. Of course, it will be difficult for anyone to ask a US president to shut up. That will be an attack on the American way of life. The best way will be to put a pretzel into his mouth whenever he opens it. True, that may contribute to a global food shortage; but so what? If Indians can do that, why can’t the Americans?

Waheeb Anwar, Jeddah published 11 May 2008