Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 578 Editor's Choice: 5
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Hans b. @ l2:50 a.m. I agree with you completely
[Read the article: A new face for American diplomacy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]America breached international law in its invasion of Iraq and war crimes were committed at Abu Ghraib. Now, Americans want to do a Pontius Pilate act by washing their hands of all responsibility for electing Bush twice and falling for the ballyhoo. When there is a public outcry in the US for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and, yes, Colin Powell to appear before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Europeans might put some credence in your good intentions but we see no sign of that, do we? It's policies, not personalities that matter, and, speaking for myself, I don't give a hoot about the colour of your President's skin or the names his mother chose for him. A little more sophistication would help and a little less amnesia about such horrors as the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war. If you think that changing the cast is all that's necessary to change your world image you are wrong. You need to change the plot, radically. You have interfered in Kosovo and angered the Russians, you have had some dirty dealings in Central America, and it's American policy to persuade the European Union to include Turkey as a member state, for America's military advantage, of course. So far, Europe has baulked at this and, from what I've read and heard, will continue to do so. As this century proceeds, the US may find itself the wallflower at the global ball unless it looks closely in the mirror and acknowledges it's no longer the beauty it once believed itself to be. Cosmetic surgery just will not do for this new "face" because we all know far too much about the arrogance and ruthlessness.
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Dr. Feelgood trumps facts every time!
[Read the article: A new face for American diplomacy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's extraordinary that people would come to this site to discuss the Muslim world when it's perfectly clear that they have no knowledge of the protean nature of that world nor do they know anything about the historical clashes between a Muslim power such as the Ottoman Empire and the West. Instead they seize the opportunity to blow Senator Obama's trumpet. Well, here are some hard facts. The westward march of Ottamite Muslims had reached the gates of Vienna before a Turkish fleet was decisively beaten in the Battle of Lepanto in l57l and Europe was then allowed to make its own distinctive progress. What I'm talking about is militant Islam and not individuals who find spiritual solace in the Koran. I live in a tiny country on the most westerly rim of when Algeria Europe but even such a small place did not escape the attentions of the Algerines of North Africa at a time when Algeria was one of the outposts of the Ottoman Empire. They came over the sea, killed and kidnapped people from the south coast. The village is Baltimore (Bailte - Gaelic for towns) and those who were kidnapped were enslaved. This is no "fairytale". Furthermore, the Muslims of North Africa enslaved the animists of sub-Saharan Africa long before the Portuguese set foot on the African continent. Muslims are as entitled to their religious beliefs (or lack of them) as anyone else but militant Islam is quite another matter and Iran is basicly a theocracy, a fact which Hooman Majd chooses to ignore.
If some Americans have only a hazy idea of history, how about geography? North Africa, Arab and overwhelmingly Muslim, is only about 50 miles across the Mediterranean from Southern Spain. So far, apart from the bombing of the Madrid transport system in 2004, there have been no major incidents and long may that continue. The US has been attacked twice in the last seventy years - Pearl Harbour and 9/ll - and the response to the latter was utterly disproportionate. It is your Presidential election but the whole world has a stake in it. I'm sure that Senator Obama has many admirable qualities but he certainly does not have the mature judgment that is needed at this time in history. To suggest that having a Muslim father - one who had no input whatsoever into his life - makes him more eligible for the Presidency of the US is so facile as to be unbelievable. He's had what? Three years in Washington and now he knows it all? It frightens me that a once-great country like the US can be buffeted by such caprice as that evident in Hooman Majd's article. To regain respect in the world, the US has to clean out its Augean stables and the first step should be to prosecute those who led you into an unjstified war, has pauperised your economy and has caused the deats of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians while destroying Iraq itself which once had one of the most advanced health services and hospitals in the Middle East. If there were people in the United States anxious to impeach Bill Clinton for his wayward penis why isn't there even more determination to nail those ruffians who are responsible for so much worse? I read a few days ago that George W. Bush is very popular in Tanzania, East Africa, and wondered whether he'd like a few years ther after retirement but abandoned that idea almost immediately. There's enough trouble in Kenya at the moment without having George W. and his cronies in a neighbouring State.