Dangerous Strategy - 4

My sentiments exactly! What belongs in the same editorial and worryingly so is that the methods used to discredit and obfuscate issues for political ends extend beyond presidential contests into the political issues of the day. Sadly, all over the globe, the governed appear to be helpless when facing the realities of spin’s surrealities.

Pieter A. Oosterhoff • Australia, published 12 August 2004

Dangerous Strategy - 5

A surprisingly well-balanced and unbiased leader. How I wish your site produced more factual and insightful pieces like this.

Ted Varani • USA, published 12 August 2004

Dangerous Strategy

Thank you for your excellent and insightful leader, “Dangerous Strategy” (Aug. 9). Your outsider perspective shows some legitimacy, but as an American who is seriously involved in the electoral process, I hardly think this scathing attack upon Kerry’s war record will have any serious consequences. We are used to dirty tricks in politics and the real test will come when Kerry squares off with the linguistically challenged Bush in a series of presidential debates. I believe that’s what most people are waiting for.

Also, Americans did not “rally around” Bush after his party mysteriously won the election in 2000. He was treated with scorn and contempt and was practically a lame-duck president until Sept. 11. That is when the rallying began. We all clung together in the face of a threat and naturally looked to our commander-in-chief for direction. But Bush has wasted the sympathy of the people by using deceit and secrecy and fear as a weapon and many Americans have once again become contemptuous of this administration. If something is fishy about this year’s election and surrounding events, I don’t think that you’ll see people just throwing in the towel and supporting a suspicious victory. There has been a tremendous grass-roots resistance organizing and it will continue to crystallize thanks mainly to the power of digital communications and the Internet.

John Byk • USA, published 12 August 2004

Dangerous Strategy - 3

Man, you’re picking up Radio Venus on your bridgework. The issue here is that Kerry seems to have gotten his medals without going through the usual channels. This will be a juicy story of its own. The surface of this has barely been scratched and none of it will reflect badly on Bush. Your knowledge of America and Americans must have come through American network news.

John Ortmann • USA, published 12 August 2004

Dangerous Strategy - 6

This is not the point, the point is that John Kerry testified, many believe falsely, against his fellow-servicemen in front of a nation that was still at war, severely hurting our efforts. Many of the men who served with him on the same swift boats said he fabricated and lied about these atrocities. The fact also remains that he left the country after only four months while all his comrades were still getting shot at.

This is dishonorable. I also take issue with the statement, “Bush with zero military record” because this is simply not true; he served honorably in the Air National Guard. While this can’t be compared to being a Marine Infantryman or Navy SEAL, this is still serving.

You also say “The Bush campaign must in someway have been party to this attack upon the integrity of their Democratic opponent.” The Bush team knows this would be a self-defeating strategy and has never made any negative remarks about John Kerry’s service in Vietnam. Please report facts.

Peter Rockland • USA, published 12 August 2004

Actions Against Iran?

According to a report you published on Aug. 9, the US is pondering “covert actions” against Iran. Shall we go back to 1990 when “covert actions” were authorized against Iraq? The UN then inflicted sanctions on an already war-torn country and for 12 years Iraqis died by the hundreds of thousands. Then Bush invaded Iraq in March 2003 — slapping the faces of the entire world leaders including the United Nations except Tony Blair. Now there is the threat of this same behavior against Iran. Bush and Co. are like 2-year-old kids who just do not seem to learn except the hard way. I hope I live to see the fall of the “Bush regime” before they destroy the entire Middle East. Of course they have to do this last-minute invasion before the “Bush regime” ends on Nov. 2, 2004.

Rebecca • USA, published 12 August 2004

Al-Sadr Factor

Concerning your leader Al-Sadr Factor (Aug. 8). This seems a reasonable opinion since none of us know what is going to happen. I think I can tell you that Bush will not be re-elected. I hope Kerry will help improve things.

Tom Curtis • USA, published 12 August 2004

Spirit of Islam

What Somayya Jabarti (Aug. 1) wrote reflects the true spirit of Islam! Thank you!

David Bradley • USA, published 12 August 2004

Unpaid and Far From Home

I am just glad that Arab News reported the chaotic situation of the employees of Chopstick Restaurant in Jubail (Essam Al-Ghalib’s report on Aug. 9). Is that business a small-scale establishment as classified in your previous article which will be the next job category to be Saudized? As for the owner’s comments, his alibi is so unscrupulous! How did it happen that the authorities owed him SR50,000-100,000? And which authorities does he mean? Whoever they are, they have been shamed. Why didn’t the owner take immediate action in case they really owed him that much? According to Islam, workers are to be paid before their sweat dries.

This is a good job by the Saudi media, particularly Arab News. I am now eager to see the current programs of the Human Right Association in the Kingdom on a website. More power and shukran!

Carmencita Perez, USA, published 12 August 2004

Unpaid and Far From Home - 2

“The worker should be paid before the sweat on his brow has dried”: This is what your religion directs. So the employers who withhold their workers’ money are going against Islam and its principles. Employees like this should be thrown in jail, their businesses sold and the proceeds given to the unfortunate employees who work for them.

Bill Wilson • USA, published 12 August 2004

All in One

A US military court is currently trying Lynndie England, the notorious US soldier at the center of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. Her face became familiar after she appeared in photographs pointing at Iraqi prisoners’ genitals and holding an Iraqi detainee on a dog leash; she was smiling with a cigarette hanging from her lips and giving a thumbs-up.

The scandal enraged the Arab world and lost the Americans whatever credibility they might have previously had in the Middle East. Private England has been charged along with six other US military police reservists. Her lawyers claimed she was a scapegoat and was acting under orders and called for dozens more witnesses, including top generals and politicians such as Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

I have reasons to believe Ms. England, rather than the US administration which claims the abuses were not widespread but were committed by a small group of soldiers. The reasons that give credence to Lynndie’s defense are:

• It is hard to conceive that six unruly soldiers could commit such atrocities in a war prison housing 8500 inmates without somebody in higher authority knowing and consenting to the abuses. The photographs showed American soldiers having never-ending parties, manipulating and degrading nude Iraqi prisoners.

• Washington’s total disregard for Arab and Muslim human rights. The American administration has repeatedly expressed the view that Muslim Guantnamo prisoners enjoyed no human rights, be they Geneva POW status or civil law rights. Former Guantnamo detainees have also made claims of mental, physical and sexual abuses. In Afghanistan and at the base in Cuba, detainees said they were repeatedly kicked and beaten, shackled in awkward positions, deprived of sleep, given painful anal searches, forcibly shaved, photographed naked, shown pornography and intimidated by barking dogs. All these allegations point to systematic US abuse of Muslim prisoners instead of isolated incidents such as US officials claim.

• The infiltration of Israeli intelligence services in Iraq at the request of its staunch US ally. It makes sense to suggest that the Americans were merely following normal Israeli torture procedures that have been successfully deployed against the Palestinians for the last few decades without complaints from the international community.

The main question here is: Will the abused Iraqi prisoners ever receive justice from their American tormentors? The top US officials in this scandal will never be brought to justice, especially since the US remains the accused, the police and the judge in this case.

Nizam Addien B. Yagoub • Dhahran, published 12 August 2004

Saudi Employment

Mr. Fahd (Page 3 comment on Aug. 9), I am not sure what your comments will achieve; the problem is not that there is no coordination between the different agencies that try to improve Saudi hiring.

The problem, which we in the private sector face, is that we can’t find Saudi nationals willing to learn a trade, starting with the basics and eventually reaching advance and even expert levels. Where are the people who know English? Where are the people who went through our schooling system and learned the value of an honest day’s work? Where are the people who realize that work is necessary in order to put food on the table? Where are the young Saudis who understand that they themselves are responsible for their futures? You give me answers to all these questions and then we can think about offices to promote the hiring of my fellow countrymen.

K. Alwassia • Saudi Arabia, published 12 August 2004