Diluting the Issue

Does anyone else find the Senate hearings on the torture and abuse of Iraqis an exercise in diluting the issue? Consider:

• The individual senators begin their allotted question period by making rambling speeches about what a wonderful job the military is doing despite the fact that after one year of occupation the resistance is growing, casualties are rising and they have a torture scandal on their hands. So how can they sit there and praise the military for a job well done?

• After that, the senators comment on what a splendid job the investigators are doing despite the fact that the investigators have only revealed that no one is really responsible. The closest they’ve come to laying the blame is by saying that one or two individual commanders were sort of responsible, but not really that responsible.

At the conclusion of that revelation, the senators will nod their heads wisely in enlightened understanding and then launch into another series of speeches about how America is doing a great job of building schools and orphanages in Iraq. Oddly, the senators don’t seem to realize that it was America who destroyed those schools and created those orphans in the first place.

• Having satisfied themselves on a job well done, the senators then pat themselves on the back and set about the monumental task of finding a new media hero, and they’ve found one in remarkably short order. He’s Gen. Taguba, the investigator. Taguba is the one who assures us that the torture scandal is only from brigade level down.

Regrettably, the general doesn’t seem to realize that there are also commanders above the brigade level, which may explain why he went no higher than that in his “investigation”.

At this point allow me to assist Taguba by pointing out that Gen. Sanchez is the commander in Iraq. Bush is the commander in chief, and Rumsfeld said that he didn’t care how prisoners were treated. I hope that information is of some help to Taguba, and if he isn’t too busy being the new American hero, perhaps he can find the time to investigate those three people.

Steve Corcoran • Abqaiq published 17 May 2004

Both Sides of the Story

Never have I seen an Arab writer put it so well as Khaled Al-Maeena did in his article “Say It Like It Is” (May 14). I have felt for years that Muslim nations fear to speak to the Western media. The American people are starving for information and welcome it openly. Of course, the Zionists do not want this to happen and will discredit it as much as possible. But Muslims must press on with their case through the media. The American people want to know both sides of the story. Right now they are getting only one side.

It would be very good if some Imams were to go on air and tell the world how Islam does not allow the murder of innocent people, like the slaughterhouse beheading of Nicholas Berg, who was simply a contractor trying to build communication towers in Iraq. Westerners are basically reasonable people, but they must know the truth. Hearing the Arab side of things will allow mutual understanding and possibly future peace.

R. Smith • Florida, US published 17 May 2004

Both Sides of the Story [2]

I agree with Khaled Al-Maeena about speaking our mind and correcting our mistakes. In order to create a better future we have to keep developing our political and economic situation with new ideas. I grew up in Saudi Arabia and am proud to be a Saudi. However, I found it difficult to express what I feel and believe there.

Development of human thinking starts from childhood. I grew up learning not to disagree with my elders and older brothers. When I disagreed with friends, I lost their friendship. Minds are restricted by rules and regulations. I consider myself a liberal and I am happy with that. Freedom to think and articulate makes people debate issues. When a society opens up, there may be some crises and uncertainties in the beginning, but in the long run it will stabilize the society and the country.

Rashid Alhomaid •Arizona, US published 17 May 2004

Both Sides of the Story [3]

I find it amusing that Khaled Al-Maeena thought that C.S, the author whose letter he published, represents “many Americans”. I have to say that most Americans may not be thrilled with the war in Iraq but we stand behind our president against most opposition; when elections come, we freely vote how we feel. The author of the letter represents a small fraction of our population and I feel Al-Maeena misled the readers by claiming otherwise. Loyalty comes at a cost, but that is what makes our nation what it is. My hope is that one day you will realize that it is impossible to gather the sentiment of Americans. We are all individuals with individual thoughts and opinions with the freedom to express them.

McNary • United States published 17 May 2004

Blaming Women

In all my life I have never read a more absurd article than “Women Are to Blame” by Abdul Rahman Al-Samari (Local Press, May 12). Al-Samari’s obvious hatred of women has prompted him to blame them even for the country’s labor problems. We are blamed for traffic accidents, destruction of family values, and now we are blamed for the unemployment problem. What next? I am very keen to know how he came up with the statistic that 30 to 50 percent of things purchased by women are thrown away. Did he conduct a survey?

In fact, from an economic perspective, it makes more sense to claim that women help sustain the Saudi economy as they create demand for services and products without which private enterprise would be threatened.

Perhaps women in the Kingdom spend so much time shopping because the restrictions placed on their work opportunities and other activities are so pervasive that they have nothing else to do with their time. I think the people who should really take the blame for the current economic condition in the country are those who, instead of doing anything to correct the situation, look for somebody to blame — and choose to ignore half of the country’s citizens, who could be the engines and tools of national development.

Faiza Al-Husseini • Riyadh published 17 May 2004

Berg’s Killing

Your editorial “Trophies of Inhumanity’” (May 13) stated “US legislators, sickened by the beheading video, are saying that however vile the photographed mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners was, it was not on a par with the filmed hacking off the head of the luckless Nick Berg”.

Sure, American lawmakers will definitely see the killing of an American as a horrible crimes while seeing killing of Arabs as unfortunate mistakes. When they killed 10,000 Iraqis and 30,000 Afghans and gave material, moral and diplomatic support to the killing of thousands of Palestinians, they called it “collateral damage”. Is killing by bombs, missiles, artillery shells and depleted uranium better than killing by knife? When you mourn, mourn all the dead. Not only the American dead.

And when bending over backward to condemn the death of Americans, you forget the fact that this is happening in Iraq, not in America. No person has the right to attack your home, kill your people and steal your wealth — and also tell you how you should behave. If such tragedies are not to happen, America must stop killing Iraqis for oil and leave Iraq.

Ahmed Ahmed • Aden, Yemen published 17 May 2004

Prison Violations

It is evident now that there has been inhuman treatment of people by both sides in the Iraq war. So I can appreciate Bin Humaid’s Blasting Iraq prison violations as “hideous” (May 13). But that set me wondering: were there any comments by him about abuses in Iraqi prisons before the overthrow of the Hussein family? Were there any comments from Bulent Arinc, speaker of Turkish Parliament, on Turkey’s imprisonment of Kurds for the crime of speaking Kurdish? I’m not trying to make any comment to lighten the situation or to apologize for anything. I just feel that, as happened here in the West after seeing the Berg video and the Palestinian “trophy” display, things are getting politically polarized for the wrong reasons.

Mike Goldthorpe • United Kingdom published 17 May 2004

Get Out of Iraq

In his column “Politicians Don’t Deserve a Second Chance” (May 13) Dr. Mohammad T. Al-Rasheed stated the problem eloquently: If Americans didn’t believe that the Sept. 11 incident was the work of few misguided individuals, why should Muslims believe American officials who keep repeating that the prison abuses were the work of a few low-ranking, civilian private members?

The Muslim world sees the American invasion of Iraq as nothing but “oil grabbing”. Muslims see Iraqis being killed in their own country simply because they resisted the occupying force that had come to steal their oil. America has denied Iraqis any employment in their country. It has brought a workforce from Thailand, the Philippines, Russia, America, Poland, Italy, South Africa and so on. And now Iraqis see Americans killing, torturing and raping Iraqis.

If America wants to do the right thing, it must leave Iraq now, hand over these criminal Americans to the UN, pay for Iraqi reconstruction because they destroyed it, and apologize to the Iraqis for invading their country to steal oil.

Haibe Dirie • Mogadishu, Somalia published 17 May 2004

Sonia Gandhi’s Victory

The BJP leaders who made Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin the key election issue are now claiming that the Congress party did not tell the voters that Sonia would be their prime ministerial candidate. Can chicanery be any cruder?

The Congress party’s victory was an endorsement of Sonia’s leadership by the Indian electorate and a mandate for her to lead the country. It was her personal victory against all odds and she deserves the credit for bringing Congress back to power. by de-fanging communal forces. In the process, it was also proved how little influence people like the “shahi” Imam of Juma Masjid had on Muslims.

Sonia’s victory establishes India once again as a democratic and secular nation.

K.J. Haroon Basha • Alkhobar published 17 May 2004