wrmea.com

—Voices from the Sensible Center—

Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans—
Interpreting North America for the Middle East

Inside This Issue

1 Special ReportJerome Segal

2 Media—After weeks of congressional inquiry into the Iran-contra scandal, the mainstream media as well as Congress are still "dancing away" from Israel's role in instigating and continuing the whole sorry affair, writes Richard Curtiss.

4 Page 65Richard Curtiss

6 Other People's MailSometimes letters to or from other people can tell a story better than we can, and also provide tips for letters of our own.

8 Letters to (and From) the Editors

8 Trade and FinanceJohn T. Haldane writes that Hafez Al-Assad's recent openings to the US and the Gulf Arab states derive directly from Syria's precarious financial situation, but could lead to a major realignment.

9 Update on CongressDennis J. Wamsted examines blatant congressional double standards on US aid to Israel and the rest of world, mistreatment of Americans in the Middle East, and Israeli and Pakistani nuclear programs.

11 Shadows—Who is Abraham Sofaer and why is he so often the middleman when Israeli-US relations turn tense? Claudia Wright throws light on Israel's "shadow government" in Washington.

13 Waging Peace—Richard Curtiss

15 180 Degrees

16 Religion and the Middle East

17 Lobbies and Activists

22 Personality (Don Herdeck)

22 Seeing the LightWhen Aisha and Seema Ahmed moved to the US from Pakistan, they were afraid their classmates might be as hostile to Muslims as the US media seemed to be. The girls each took a chance, however, and both were pleasantly surprised.

23 Book Review (Sands of Sorrow)

24 Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

25 TIE Exchange

26 AET Book Club Catalog