Letters to the editor
Getting slippery
Sir-- The September 11 Commission's findings undercut one of the major rationales the Bush Administration put forward for the war against Iraq. Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, and George Bush himself all played up the alleged links between Al-Qaeda and Iraq. But the links, in any operational way, did not exist.
In October 2002, Bush said, "Iraq has trained Al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases." That was false.
Bush said, in his January 2003 State of the Union address, "Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al- Qaeda." That was false.
Bush said, on 8 February, 2003, "Iraq has also provided Al-Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training." That was false.
Powell, in his UN speech prior to the Iraq War, talked of the "sinister nexus between Iraq and the Al-Qaeda terrorist network". False again.
On 3 May, 2003, in his infamous end-of- major-combat-operations speech, Bush said, "We have removed an ally of Al-Qaeda." False again.
On 14 September, 2003, Vice President Cheney repeated Bush's claim that Iraq and Al-Qaeda were involved together in training with chemical and biological weapons, and added that the Iraqis were "providing bomb- making expertise and advice to the Al- Qaeda organisation". False again.
On 10 October, 2003, in a speech to the Heritage Foundation, Cheney said, "Saddam had an established relationship with Al-Qaeda, providing training to Al- Qaeda members in the areas of poisons, gases, making conventional weapons." False again.
This Monday, 14 June, Cheney said Saddam "had long established ties with Al-Qaeda."
And Bush on Thursday, 17 June, said, "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al-Qaeda, because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda."
Note how slippery Bush and Cheney are getting. Now they are talking about amorphous "ties" and "a relationship". But before they were talking about specifics, scary specifics, like joint work on chemical and biological weapons.
All of their falsehoods served a purpose: to scare the American people into going along with the Iraq War.
Nadhir Dean
Hastings, Ontario
Canada
Common horror
Sir-- I wonder if you plan to publish any letters about Mr Paul Johnson's death.
By letters, I mean a letter from an Egyptian national expressing the natural sense of shock and horror that is common to us all. A simple letter, one that does not touch on politics.
Should you not plan to publish anything about the death of this innocent man, I will conclude that no Egyptian among your readers has thought it important enough to comment on.
Nancy Stobie
Rogue River, OR
USA
Heinous crime
Sir -- This is a message to Paul Johnson's family:
I, among many Egyptians, was deeply shocked on seeing the beheading of the American hostage Paul Johnson. I want to say to his family that no true Muslim could perform this heinous crime; it is the work of terrorists and we feel much sorrow by it.
You have paid a high price in the confrontation against terrorism, as has everyone here in the Middle East in confronting the terrorism taking the shape of Israeli aggression in Palestine and the US forces in Iraq. The only help you can provide us with is not to vote for Bush come November.
Let's work and cooperate together in facing this danger, and surely we as human beings who love peace and hate violence will succeed.
Ahmad Abdel-Tawwab
Cairo
Egypt
Not of us
Sir-- This is an open letter to Al-Qaeda:
Your brutal deeds represent your wrong beliefs and your malicious aims, not ours.
You misunderstand the term "jihad" and therefore you misuse its meaning. What is taking place against our brothers in Saudi Arabia and what happened to the American citizens Nick Berg and Paul Johnson is hard evidence, uncovering your extremism. It goes without saying that you and the US's current government are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee; America occupies, tortures helpless people and covets another country's resources under the pretext of "liberation and democratisation". By the same logic, you murder innocents, destroy property and use violence to achieve political aims in the name of Islam.
Islam is far removed from your savage acts. It is the religion of tolerance, peace, equality, justice and fraternity. Islamic teachings order us to respect, protect and to be hospitable to our visitors, not harm or kill them as you do. Also, Islam urges us to respect the followers of other religions. At the same time, it forbids us from harming any person or animal under any baseless excuses.
Through your deeds, we realised that you are merely a group of assassins and fanatics. Our religion's spiritual values are contrary to your behaviour. These values set the path that needs to be walked when dealing with others through tolerance and affability.
My question is, why do you do this? What is it exactly that you want? Remember that all terrorists across the ages ended up in "the rubbish bin of the history", alongside all occupiers. You are like the US; the image is different, but the aim is the same. I know that you are beyond redemption, hence we insist on standing firmly against terrorism.
Your extremist ideas and acts represent you only.
Alaa Gamal Abd-Alhakim
Assiut
Egypt
End of empire
Sir-- I enjoyed reading John Seidlitz's letter 'Silence is over' ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 13-19 May). As a Christian, I'd like to join Mr Seidlitz in begging Muslims everywhere not to judge Christianity by the actions of the US president and his men, whether in Iraq or elsewhere. Perhaps the painful fact is that America has done more harm than good to Christians and Christianity everywhere.
The US has led most of the world to believe that it is playing the role of the "Good Samaritan" who has at last come to heal the wounds of the world. Instead of finding answers to the world's most pressing problems, the interference of the US in different places under the pretext of fighting terrorism has created even more serious tensions. What the US has been doing in the past few years has really scared the daylights out of both Muslims and Christians.
Let me stress the fact that the actions of some war criminals in Iraq must never be used as criteria for judging Christianity. Blessed are those who understand, for they help make our world a better place to live in.
In a recent issue, you published about 20 letters written by people from the US and other foreign countries, and most of them condemned what is going on in Iraq. It is, needless to say, gratifying to see how Americans themselves are against the horrific atrocities committed by their fellow-countrymen in Iraq. However, this is by no means sufficient. We all expected that the reaction of ordinary people in the US would be much stronger; it seems obvious that Americans never learn from their history.
The US made a fatal mistake when it used the atomic bomb against Japan in 1945, especially that the Japanese were going to surrender anyway. Again, the US suffered a mortal blow as a result of its military involvement in Vietnam. Finally, comes the US invasion of Iraq as the last nail in the American Empire's coffin; the US will never get away with what it has done in Iraq. Perhaps we are now capable of doing nothing, but a time will soon come when we will witness the fall of Imperial America.
Essam Hanna Wahba
Assiut
Egypt
Smoke and mirrors
Sir-- The more I study and the more I follow leads on the subject, I run into threads. Exxon, Halliburton, Unical, Bechtel and a host of smaller companies created in different parts of the world, with ex-members of one of the above on the board of directors of the smaller ones.
We just haven't tied the threads together.
This is a war about money: whether Electricité Français or Bechtel achieves dominance in the Middle East; about pipelines by Unical, Haliburton or Exxon -- one and the same, by the way -- or by a major European transnational. Like Arbusto, owned by Bush and financed by the Bin Ladens, the company dealt with the Taliban in 1998 over the Unical pipeline. The Taliban, parents of Al Qaeda, were fostered and financed by our government.
This is about powerful businessmen slicing the pie; they simply want dominance over withering oil fields. We know powerful people in Saudi Arabia have helped the terrorists, they are also stockholders, aren't they? These Saudis are not men in dark rooms, they are sophisticated graduates of the best universities in the world.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories. If it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, and has feathers... So, here we are, a bunch of idealists, all of us playing into the smoke and mirrors. They need to keep us bickering; we are the smoke to their mirrors. We are being used; all along we knew Bush couldn't be this stupid, well he's not, he's setting us up, squabbling over ideals, women's rights, the Baathists and Shias, the holy responsibility of the US to bring democracy to the world. Companies, holding companies, private armies, not so private armies... smoke and mirrors.
Christiane S Harrison
San Jose
Costa Rica
Kurdish roots
Sir-- In 'Battle of flags' ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 17-23 June), the author states: "It is interesting to note that many of these young people do not speak Arabic, perhaps an indication that a new generation of Kurdish Iraqis has little in common with their compatriots in the south." Let's ask ourselves, how many Arab youth in the south speak Kurdish? And would the author find that a point of worry, or take it for granted that this is the natural state of things.
It's a fact that the Kurds are a separate and ancient people whom the Arabs have attempted to dominate and relegate to the status of second class citizens. The author's article appears to echo an oft heard statement that Iraq is an Arab state, and that if only the Kurds would think of themselves as Iraqi first, everything would work out. History has shown that as long as the Kurds insist on being Kurds, the Arab people of Iraq in general will persecute them.
Honestly, this writer sees no future for the Kurds within an Arab- dominated state, as the Arab citizens of Iraq seem to lack the tolerance and magnanimity to peacefully allow the Kurds what is their right: the right to rule themselves in a homeland that, by all measures, the Kurds have lived in since long before the citizens of Mesopotamia even spoke Arabic.
Khosrow Berzinji
California
USA
Under Sharon's thumb
Sir-- It speaks volumes for freedom (or lack thereof) in "the country of the free" that in Israel more than 120,000 can protest the policies of their government in the occupied lands, but virtually not a single member of our Congress would dare.
Thomas Friedman of the New York Times states that "Ariel Sharon has Arafat under house arrest in Ramallah and Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office."
Tragic but true.
Fikry Boulos Salib
Stamford, CT
USA
Taking the reins
Sir-- I am not surprised that Al-Ahram Weekly has devoted so many articles to the role Egypt is expected to play in Israel's "no longer unilateral" withdrawal from Gaza. What surprises me is that with all of the hypothetical reasons your commentators have dreamed up as to why and how Egypt is going into Gaza, the obvious seems to escape everyone: With Israel gone, Egypt can no longer hide behind the veil of plausible deniability.
As long as Israel had control over the Gaza border with Egypt, the commonly accepted response to accusations that Egypt wasn't policing the border was much the same as Lebanon's response: It isn't their job to police Palestinians and protect Israelis. If Israel leaves Gaza -- including the border area -- then Egypt (by default) is responsible for the Egypt/Palestinian Gaza border, and Israel will be responsible for the Israel/Palestinian Gaza border.
To take the Lebanon analogy a step further, if Israel's border is attacked, there is no technical/political difference between arms and terrorists travelling from Egypt to Gaza -- and arms and terrorists travelling from Syria to Lebanon. Israel has already stated that they will (and have) take the fight directly to Lebanon and Syria if need be, so the Egyptian government has apparently drawn the conclusion that they will be held to the same standards of conduct as Lebanon and Syria.
If Egypt wants to avoid being dragged into a war with Israel by various unaligned Palestinian terrorist groups, they had better make an honest effort to reduce the possibility of cross border violations. That is the real reason for Egypt's involvement in Gaza.
Shep Fargotstein
Memphis, TN
USA
Think peace
Sir-- Regarding the withdrawal from Gaza, I believe it is absolutely correct. Since the two sides don't recognise each other, it seems obvious that the only way to effect a withdrawal is with Jordan and Egypt involved -- nothing new here.
And if Gaza is to be independent, then why -- since there is no recognition -- should any infrastructure be the responsibility of Israel? Jordan and Egypt can work this out. You can't have it both ways. Who had Gaza in the first place? What kind of infrastructure was there before Israel?
I remember being in Egypt and my Egyptian friends couldn't wait until there was peace so they could improve the economy. It is all really so stupid; imagine what peace would mean for the Middle East if everyone seriously desired it and stopped the killing. The Middle East could end up being a major focus and leading centre of the world. What a horrible waste of talent and life and loss of future for all the children. What a horrible way to have to live.
Anne Stevens
New York, NY
USA
Music for all
Sir-- Amal Choucri Catta's article 'Scared and profane' ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 17-23 April), where it is implied that playing Jewish inspired music is "offensive" at this time, actually offends me personally quite a bit. It pains me to read such bigotry. It is not a pleasant experience to hear it from somebody obviously as cultured as she is, but then so were the folks inhabiting the Weimar republic.
Barenboim played Wagner in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and still got the Israel prize, despite the protestations of Holocaust survivors and opportunist and nationalist politicians. Why can't people play Bloch in Cairo? And yes, by the way, Tel Aviv's Mann auditorium did present, repeatedly, Muslim inspired music (e.g. the Andalucian orchestra).
Israel has had a strong Arabic music revival in the last decade on the popular, "world" and classical fronts. Most auditoriums in Israel would be happy to host an Arabic music ensemble from Egypt. If it weren't for the "anti-normalisation" thought police, those musical groups who wished to would have played there decades ago.
The rhetorical question Ms Catta asks, while certain of a negative answer, reflects her ignorance and lack of curiosity. It results from blocking what is thought to be politically incorrect. It is the bigotry born of ignorance that sustains the conflict.
Amr El-Zant
Pasadena, CA
USA
Good presentation
Sir-- I am living here in Oklahoma, in Midwest USA, about as perplexed as a person can be. The turmoil in Iraq is not something anyone hoped for; Iraq deserves to live in peace. So, when I read articles by the enlightened ones, such as Mustafa El-Feki, I feel a glimmer of hope.
There is hope that Christians and Muslims can live side by side, with mutual respect for the best of those faiths. Most Americans understand that the extremist elements that kidnap and murder innocent people are not representatives of true Islam.
Thank you for presenting issues in a way that leads towards peace, rather than destruction.
Joe Mashburn
Oklahoma
USA
Parched in Tanta
Sir-- For four months I have been a resident of Tanta, since my marriage to an Egyptian in February. During this period the water supply has been cut off without warning twice, each for a period of two days. And gradually in the last three months the supply in general has become weaker and weaker, such that it is not possible to conduct basic hygiene or fulfil essential requirements. The department in Tanta responsible for maintaining the water supply cites maintenance as the reason for the poor supply, as though this were a proper or morally serious reason for depriving a whole area of a modern city of water.
I am widely travelled, and in any civilised country this condition would be considered an emergency and proper provisions would be made, at the very least to ensure that people had enough to cover their basic needs during any repair work. Should I assume that the authorities are not employing properly trained water engineers? Are they not sufficiently motivated to communicate the city's true condition to its populace, so that it can prepare in advance for sudden shortfall? Or do they assume that the populace is insufficiently important to require a proper service?
I would be most grateful to receive a reply and response from the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Supply.
Eleanor Acheson
Tanta
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