Highway without facilities

The alternate freeway from Jeddah to Yanbu, about 350 km long, has none of the facilities that long-distance travelers require — no gas stations garages, no toilets or washrooms, no restaurants or rest houses, or anything else. This causes immense inconvenience to passengers traveling on the road.

Once, while driving on this freeway, I saw a minivan off the road selling beverages and other light refreshments. A number of vehicles were parked near the van in order to rest and enjoy a snack. This shows the urgent need for places to serve travelers. The total lack of facilities is so very unlike other highways in the Kingdom. Roads to Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Taif, Al-Baha etc., are well-equipped to take care of the needs of the traveling public and are provided with all needed facilities. I request the authorities to look into the matter.

Khadijah N. Khaja, Yanbu published 15 October 2008

Economic turmoil

Galal Fakkar’s story “Arab world generally safe from world economic turmoil” was a nicely written, but misleading, article. It is wishful thinking to say that the Arab world will be largely unaffected by the financial crisis. The GCC has extensive investments in the world’s interest-bearing financial institutions (and portfolios). A GCC national recently invested more than $300 million in an Icelandic bank. Five days later it was revealed that not only the bank but Iceland itself was near bankruptcy. This is one of the many examples that will come back to haunt the GCC in the coming year.

Ibrahim Khan, Jeddah published 15 October 2008

Escaping ‘friends’

Reports like “War in Afghanistan can’t be won: British general” (Oct. 6) should not mislead us into thinking that Britain is afraid of the Taleban. They are not. They are afraid of the “friendly fire” that comes from their allies. Naturally so. The friendly fire from their partners in the war, the American forces, must have killed more Britons than the Taleban.

Khalid Khan, Jeddah published 15 October 2008

Afghan war

That the “Afghan war is not winnable” is not exactly news. All of us knew that. Afghanistan should never have been used as the mat for America to rub its anger upon after the horror of 9/11. It was doomed to failure from the onset simply because the premise on which the logic of the war was built was wrong. The American perspective is centric: It believes that everything is tied together and anything can be destroyed by taking out the core of the network or several of its arms. The mythology that this particular Muslim nation was easy pickings should have been recognized by Washington as sheer stupidity, considering the countless failures of invading forces throughout history to control it. Yet the politicians in America, including both candidates for president, are convinced that military might, if applied with enough force, will be able to do the job. They are ignorant of the Soviet experience.

It is vulgar to continue the myth of the success of the surge in Iraq, unless one is willing to credit Iran as being instrumental in its success. Even if the surge is a success in Iraq, Afghanistan is not the same kind of scenario. A surge will only produce more American casualties.

While I would not dispute Linda’s assessment that America will pull out because of the financial crunch at home, I doubt it. The pullout will come because of the nature of the terrain, the weather, the people, the politics of an ally that harbors wanted criminals, the rising toll among the NATO forces, a growing resistance local to the presence of foreign troops and so on.

Jerry Copeland, United States published 15 October 2008

Race card

Barbara Ferguson’s report “Sarah Palin makes a pit bull look nice” (Oct. 8) makes me wonder again: Why is the race card always waved in the air when anyone but a black comments on a black person? I do not see Obama as a black person, but as a presidential candidate.

Obama and his supporters want you to see his blackness but act as though it is not nice to comment on it. Stop using blackness if you are too thin-skinned to accept comments about it. If Obama wants to be known as black, then stand up and shout it. Personally, I believe you are a racist if you vote for him because he is black, and I think you are a racist if you vote against him because he is black. I’m voting against him because I believe that McCain and Palin will lead the US in a more conservative way, and frankly I don’t care if their opponent is purple. Oh, dear, now I’ve upset the purple people!

Mary Gant, Jeddah published 15 October 2008

Way of secularism

This refers to M.J. Akbar’s “The parallel streams of anger” (Oct. 5) on the spreading inter-communal tensions in India. There is only one option for the country: Remain a secular nation where all men and women have the right and freedom to openly or privately preach their religion, and the duty and responsibility to avoid rebuking other religions and religious figures. There shall be no state-religion, thereby making India truly secular in nature. Every man should be given the freedom to leave his faith, and adopt another without fearing a violent backlash from the religious community he belonged to. However, conversion centers should be banned, as, in a country with probably the largest number of religious communities, their existence would cause immense havoc. All men should be free to teach their religion as a part of social and religious tolerance; whether a man wishes to convert should be his choice, independent of any pressure by any mission, individual or organization. Only one theology center should function legally under the principles of the constitution, with separate wings for various religions. Men and women can attend the sermons of any of these “wings” to understand each other’s religion. The teachers in them should be tolerant and registered by the government. Their aim should be to cater only to the well being of their communities and they should not allow force or compulsion in spreading any ideology. This system will make sure that Hindus, Christians and Muslims themselves will learn the true principles of their great religions. It will allow the government to eliminate rogue and dangerous religious organizations and individuals who use the cover of religion to profit from hate.

M.H.S., India published 15 October 2008

Riots in India

I always used to feel sad to hear about Hindu-Muslim riots in India. No longer. Hindus and Muslims have come a long way since independence when misunderstanding ruled and both communities genuinely believed that their cultures and identities were under threat. Unlike those days of innocence, they are fully aware of the fact that politicians are behind these riots and that they start them for their own personal gains. Still, they fall prey to the games of these unscrupulous politicians. Nobody can help them.

They will realize the seriousness of their folly only when they, at the end of their fight, find themselves, their children, their culture and their future destroyed. It is time that they, both Hindus and Muslims, stopped listening to the evil coming from their own leaders and started to work, together, to build a future for themselves.

Noel Frank, Jeddah published 15 October 2008