December 1995, Pages 3, 94-98

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor are selected, edited and abridged on the basis of relevance, accuracy, taste and available space. The editors do not have facilities to respond to individual letters, or to clear in advance published letters, as edited, with the writers.

Commendable Presentation on Oman

The article "Oman: A Model For All Developing Nations," by Richard Curtiss in the Washington Report is indeed welcome news and a commendable presentation of a country that is hardly in the news because it is plodding along building its infrastructure quietly and methodically.

As an Arab-American I am privileged to be serving as a volunteer Envoy of the Atlanta Committee of the Olympic Games (ACOG) to the Sultanate of Oman. Having met the Omani Chef de Mission and other delegates from Oman I can testify to the enthusiasm manifested in the July/August article on this very fascinating land and its people.

The Washington Report continues as a beacon of light in an otherwise dark arena of objective and courageous reporting.

Dr. Abdallah Najjar, Atlanta, GA

Spreading the Word to Teachers

I am enclosing for your information a copy of our recent Middle East Outreach Notes. As you can see, I have taken the liberty of including an extract from your excellent article, "Oman: A Model for all Developing Nations" plus some of the additional data on Oman in your July/August issue.

These Notes are published during the academic year and are sent primarily to over 500 Utah K-12 teachers to inform them about upcoming events, new acquisitions to our Resource Room, and brief information about the Middle East (religion, society, culture, politics, etc.).

Also, thanks to your circulation department, we have distributed back issues of the Washington Report to each participant attending our teachers' in-service workshop over the past three years (recent workshop brochure enclosed). I don't know whether this has resulted in any new subscriptions but at least we have made a lot of teachers aware of your fine publication (I have been a subscriber for a number of years and I found it especially helpful when I was teaching full-time).

We very much appreciate your release to print, without charge, material from the Washington Report with proper attributions, and we are deeply indebted to the many contributors for their outstanding articles which provide the reading public with concise and accurate information about U.S. relations with Middle East states.

L. Kent Kimball, Professor Emeritus, Political Science Outreach Coordinator, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Thanks for your kind words and, if you send us regularly issues of your Outreach Notes, we will include upcoming events in our "Bulletin Board" at the end of each issue of the magazine. We do have a large number of subscribers in Utah, and undoubtedly you deserve some of the credit.

My Friend on the Cover

This is regarding the individual who is portrayed on the cover of the June issue with his children. I personally know him. His name is Eid Al-Anazi (Abu-Sultan). I used to go to school with him in the United States, but after the Gulf war we lost all contact. His phone number was changed and it is a coincidence that I saw his picture on the cover of this issue. I was wondering if you could provide me with information on how to reach him in Kuwait. I will take any information that you can provide.

Mamoon R. Khan, P.O. Box 16196, Hooksett, NH 03106

At the time we photographed him at a Kuwait amusement park he gave us an address to which we sent some extra copies of that issue, but which we did not retain. We had no idea he had studied in the U.S., but just thought he had awfully cute kids who were enjoying an afternoon with Dad.

The Tribute to Margie Dodge

What a perfectly beautiful tribute Andrew Killgore wrote in your October/November issue for my late sister, Margie! Bringing in so many different causes and subjects was appropriate for her international point of view. Although I have not had time to read all of that issue of the magazine yet—yes, I do peruse every page—I wanted to thank you immediately for putting so much thought and effort into a fine piece. I particularly liked your ending: the comparison of the "last WASP" to Santayana's the "Last Puritan." I was very touched. That inspires me to reread the book, which lies right near me in the bookcase.

Grace Guthrie, Falls Church, VA

Why Neglect Human Rights?

I thank the Washington Report for this wonderful publication. When I first read this magazine two years ago, I decided to subscribe, mainly because of the objectivity of the reporters. However, a recent article in the September issue did not reinforce my opinion.

In the September 1995 issue, there was an article titled "Four Years After Massive War Expenses, Saudi Arabia Gets Its Second Wind," by Richard Curtiss. I felt the author judged Saudi Arabia's success solely by its economic growth.

I was expecting the author to emphasize the human rights issue as a sign of development. To be constructive in our criticism, we have to point out the good and the bad. Human rights and freedom of speech are lacking in Saudi Arabia and until they improve in these areas, the country remains far from competing with developed countries as the author suggested.

Finally, thanks again for this magazine that I can't wait to get my hands on each month.

Fadi Bany Almarjeh, Mass Communication School, Central Missouri State University, Warrensberg, MO

We're not aware of any Middle Eastern country that has a record either with parliamentary democracy or with human rights comparable to that of most Western countries, as attested by secular Turkey's problems in meeting European Union requirements in these respects. That is why we chose to examine the recovery of Saudi Arabia (and Oman and Kuwait in earlier issues and the UAE in this issue) from the unprecedented outlays of the Gulf war from an economic viewpoint. In this field Saudi Arabia is competing very successfully with countries everywhere on earth. So far as we can tell, Saudi Arabia provides an extremely comfortable life for its citizens, total health care, educational opportunities for all that are comparable to or better than those provided by any country in the world, and it is working very hard to create jobs for its burgeoning crop of young graduates, while dealing as fairly as possible with the expatriates they are replacing. Its human rights problems, to which we did allude, seem mostly to be with xenophobic Islamists in an already strictly Islamic country. We suspect that these dissidents, who we assume are responsible for the recent explosions in Riyadh in which Americans died, are not much interested in the economic liberalization we discussed, and certainly are not calling for the political, social, or religious liberalization that, in our opinion and yours, augments economic development. On the contrary, they would turn back the clock on the unprecedented progress already made.

The Posters are Offensive

A number of friends and acquaintances in Cairo and I were perplexed by the recent "renovation" of the entrance to the U.S. embassy in Cairo. There are a couple of "Wanted" posters of Abdel Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah that now greet visitors as they pass through security, and these eye-catching, four-color posters have screaming headlines of "Four Million Dollars." I was not alone in finding these posters offensive.

Frankly, I just don't understand why our misguided policy against Libya has to assault everyone who enters our embassy. Since I haven't traveled to many of our embassies, do you know whether these posters now adorn every U.S. embassy or just the one in Cairo—or maybe only those in Arab or Muslim countries?

Mary Knight, New York, NY

We don't necessarily agree that U.S. policy toward Libya is "misguided," but your letter is thought-provoking. We'll let our readers answer your question about placement of the posters in other embassies.

The "Controlled" Press

Yours is the only publication that's honest on Middle East affairs. The American press is totally controlled by persons who place Israel before America!

James Stroman, III, Washington, DC

The Premier Magazine

To me the Washington Report is simply the premier magazine on Middle East issues. Keep up the excellent work and long live the Washington Report.

Valerie Vaughan, Denver, CO

The Arab/Muslim Story

Keep up the good work. We all (Arabs and Muslims) are counting on you to get our side of the story heard.

Isam Jaber, St. Petersburg, FL

All we're doing is helping you get some time at the microphone that the other guys think they've paid for for life.

Knowledge and Truth

You provide the only place I get know-ledge and truth on Middle Eastern matters.

David Silk, Stonington, CT

So long as you keep reading, we and those who follow will keep writing.

National vs. Special Interests

I have found the Washington Report to be the most reliable source of information in determining whether U.S. Middle East policy is serving our national interests as opposed to special interests. I am not an activist or a specialist in this field, but I do write letters to editors and politicians, and want my letters to reflect reality.

John W. Kennedy, Bethesda, MD

We're here to help with exactly that problem. Meanwhile, if there were a few thousand more informed and concerned "non-activists" and "non-specialists" like you writing letters to editors and politicians, maybe the mainstream media wouldn't be so quick to believe the self-appointed "terrorism experts" and other disinformation specialists now rampaging across the television screens and op-ed pages.

A Zig-Zag Course

When an astronomer, tracking a distant star, sees it on a zig-zag course, he postulates an unseen body and is called a "scientist." When an American, tracking his country's recent history, sees it follow an erratic course, he theorizes an unseen influence and is called a "conspiracy nut."

Thomas Dewey stood at 58 percent in the polls. Truman recognized the state of Israel and won in an upset. President Eisenhower stood at 65 percent when the Tripartite invasion of Egypt started in 1956. He ordered Israel to get out of Egypt. By the time the New York Times unloaded its canister of false accusations—from vicuna coat to the missile gap—Ike's popularity stood at 49 percent.

Nixon, Carter and Reagan also met with misfortune for offending Israel. And President Bush's fate was sealed when he postponed legislation to provide loan guarantees to Israel. National leaders like John Lindsey, William Fulbright, Pete McCloskey and Charles Percy had to be taught too.

I used to subscribe to an excellent monthly magazine. One month it ran an article so well-documented that I thought, "That editor is finished." Sure enough, the masthead of the very next issue displayed all new names. Is it any wonder why your readers appreciate the Washington Report?—why we watch with baited breath? I never expect the next issue to arrive, and I'm happy when it does.

Scott Nicholson, Bradenton, FL

Sometimes around 3 a.m. during long nights on our two "deadline weekends" we wonder if the next issue will ever be finished, but it is. Probably what finally will get us is not the harassing telephone calls from people so foul-mouthed and disgusting that even their mothers must hate them, the threats, nor even the two postage-paid envelopes of excrement that arrive like clockwork after each issue from two Zionazis in New York and California (the identity of one of them is known to us, but neither the FBI nor postal inspectors have as yet taken action against him), but just plain overwork. Meanwhile, we'll keep writing so long as you keep subscribing.

Give More Information on Iran

I rely on your magazine to give me the inside story. Your articles provide me with a depth and point of view that is often—if not always—missing from the media and other publications. I find you informative on all the issues presented, but please, more on Iran.

Ms. Kathryn Miller, Lake Elsinore, CA

OK. See the article by an Iranian American on page 12 of this issue on Iranian singer Marzieh's October concert in California.

More About Islamic States

The Washington Report keeps me informed by providing proper perspectives on Middle Eastern developments. If it's possible, the scope of the reports should cover important events throughout the Islamic states. In its present form the Washington Report is doing a very good job.

Rehan Basham, Wheatley Heights, NY

We do consider our Middle Eastern "beat" to include the Islamic countries from Morocco to Bangladesh and beyond to Malaysia and Indonesia, and also the important neighboring non-Islamic countries such as Ethiopia, Israel and India.

Mideast Educational Opportunities

Your publication is essential to me because it keeps me informed about issues that I find important. Please include in the Middle East Bulletin Board work, study and travel opportunities. Thanks!

Mike Messina, Johnstown, PA

We will, and don't forget to check out Betsy Barlow's regular education column, a new feature this year.

Keep Your Format

I like the present 124-page format of the Washington Report and I would not be without it.

George Darmstadt, Wheeling, IL

Senator Simpson and AIPAC

After I telephoned the Washington Report requesting information on Senator Simpson and AIPAC, I received from you Stealth PACs and the Washington Report for June 1995. The marked material was very helpful. A copy of my letter to Senator Simpson is enclosed.

H. Keith Beebe, Professor Emeritus,
Occidental College, Eagle Rock, CA

Foot in Mouth Disease

Senator Jesse Helms has put his foot in his mouth again. After reading the May issue of Report on Israeli Settlements published by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, I wrote to Senator Helms to disagree with his position that the Fourth Geneva Convention permitted Israel to establish settlements in the occupied territories. His reply is attached. His remarks on U.N. bias are appalling.

Robert J. Pisapia, Westlake Village, CA

Senator Helms' response reveals the pro-Israel agenda that motivates this ersatz "fiscal conservative" to preserve every penny of Israel's $6.3 billion total of annual U.S. government grants and loan guarantees while his fellow Republicans reduce so many other programs that benefit Americans. Senator Helms ignores the fact that the per capita incomes of Americans who provide the taxpayer aid and Israelis who receive it now are roughly equal, according to the Israeli press.

I Don't Want to Miss an Issue!

I regret that my renewal for your wonderful magazine is late in reaching you. I have just returned home from six weeks in the hospital following open heart surgery. I do not want to miss receiving a single issue. I read it every day. After I have been able to pay medical bills I am hoping to be able to send you a gift for your "Angels' Choir" or the AET Library Endowment.

James Clarke, Portland, OR

We hope our articles weren't responsible for your heart condition. As for the contribution, get well first. We owe it to each other to hang in there just to spite the folks who wish we all would disappear until they've finished transferring the contents of the U.S. Treasury to you know where.

An Alert About Jerusalem is Needed

Dan McGowan's article "Teaching About Palestine" in your September issue very eloquently describes the symptoms and not the cause of a very major problem facing Arab Americans and their friends in the U.S. Zionism has been allowed to freely define Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular.

Arab Americans' silence is acquiescence in the prevailing order that has resulted in dehumanizing and demonizing Palestinians and other Arabs. Particularly dangerous is Zionism's ability to get away with blaming the victims with impunity, a technique that many colonialists and racists, like the Nazis, have used effectively.

Zionism is not the sole culprit. Most Arab Americans are equally guilty. They have allowed this situation to endure without an equally powerful and consistent campaign to define themselves and the causes of their forefathers' homelands.

Moreover, even Arab-American lobbying in D.C. is not as effective as it could be because Washington's potentates know that Arab-American institutions do not really represent a strong and active constituency.

The answer is not new. Many of us have said it and heard it before. It was reiterated recently in the concluding words of Prof. Walid Khalidi's seminar at the last ADC convention—"Organize. Organize. Organize."

Such organization will help, I hope, end Arab Americans' most deafening silence on the issue of Jerusalem, Zionism's latest attempt to steal the world's heritage from under its nose. Israeli consuls have asked Jewish Americans not to talk publicly about Jerusalem for many reasons. Let Dan McGowan's eloquence prompt us to rise to the occasion, organize and tell America the truth about Jerusalem before there is no one left in Jerusalem to tell the true history of the Holy Land.

Issam M. Nashashibi, Newport Beach, CA

We're Aboard for Three More Years

This three-year subscription and additional contribution are for your excellence in reporting and for a job very well done. Thanks to the publisher, the most able executive editor and all of the editorial staff.

Mr. & Mrs. Aref Jabr, St. Paul, MN

To Show My Faith

To show my faith in the future of WRMEA and thank you for your efforts and sacrifice over the years, I am renewing my subscription for three years—the maximum available. God bless you and keep up the faith.

Adam M. Nassar, Roswell, GA

P.S. Please use my $12.50 Gift Certificate for somebody who needs it.

Guess that obligates us all to hang in there for three more years. St. Peter take note—whatever your plans, we've still got earthly obligations.

Planting the Seeds of Reconciliation

Thank you for covering our action in Hebron in your September issue. Our Christian beliefs give us faith that actions such as this one do make a difference—that they uncover injustice and in so doing plant the seeds of an eventual reconciliation between peoples. We believe that God is at work in the small, often symbolic ways that people resist the whole demonic system of attack and counterattack that spirals between terrorist bomb and IDF brutality, between settlers' confiscation of land and resources and Palestinians' militancy.

We could make use of 25 copies of this issue if you would have extra ones to give us. Please consider this assistance of our training and publicity. Our mission-oriented supporting churches like to hear that, in your words "the image of...Christians has markedly improved."

Thank you and God bless you.

Joshua Yoder, Christian Peacemaker Teams Staff, Chicago, IL

A compliment from people like you, who put your beliefs into action in the service of God's creatures on earth, is a compliment indeed. Your 25 copies should have arrived by the time you read this response. (Since you wrote, Jeffrey Heie of your Hebron team has presented us with some great photos of its courageous work in Hebron which our readers will be seeing in future issues.)

Remembering Count Bernadotte

I was stunned to receive the magazine so promptly today (something unheard of with my experience of our mail system) and thank you very much.

I was so pleased you remembered Count Bernadotte. He saved 500 Jewish women in Ravensbruck but I have often wondered why the Gentile women there weren't worth a similar effort. Your article on the negotiations stall was very strong. Can you get it on Internet? Also your article on Bosnia, which is why I'm sending a copy of the Report to a friend and potential subscriber. The Mennonite-Quaker-Brethren action in Hebron was fascinating; they were lucky to get off as well as they did.

Regarding Senator Biden's defense of Bosnia. I would like to write and ask him what's in it for him. I don't hear him reacting with passion (except for Israel) for the long misery of the Palestinians. I loved the letter about Jesus and the Talmud. It must be the same as Dr. Shahak's translation! And I'm so glad to read the Rev. Walz's listing of the period of Jewish rule in Jerusalem, which tallies with mine. I'm puzzled about the name, though. I thought it was supposed to mean the City of Peace (the ending being shalom, but I still have much to learn).

Anyway, you don't want to hear all this. I'm enclosing a check for the magazine and postage with a tiny bit extra for whatever it will do. All the best.

Marion Fitch, Washington, DC

Don't give the post office too much credit. The issue you received on Sept. 12 went into the mail Aug. 28. And of course we want "to hear all this," particularly since you were one of the first to catch an error in the caption in our June back cover. We've benefited from many of your ideas for articles or activities in the past, as have CNI and ADC, and we more than appreciate your determination to help us financially as well. As for getting our articles on the Internet, see page 116.

You've Proved Yourselves Again

I read with interest the six views on the desperate situation in Bosnia and the tragedy of the world's inaction. Again, WRMEA proved to be in the front-lines with respect to the issues that are most important to most of us.

I must, however, express my feelings of disgust at the remarks of Senator Joseph Biden in his otherwise seemingly well-intentioned speech to the Senate. Particularly, Biden argues that the Bosnian government must be helped because it is "not a Muslim government. It is a multiethnic government." Does he mean to say that a Muslim government is somehow less than worthy? He continues by adding that, in addition to being only a slight majority, the Bosnian Muslims are not even real Muslims. He questions their sincerity of belief by making some obviously poorly researched remark about their ancestors' conversion to Islam on the basis of material gain, and by reminding the listeners that these Bosnians are Slavs, and not Turks. Biden also tries to comfort his opponents by making them believe that Bosnian Muslims drink liquor and that the women among them do not wear the veil, which should make them eligible for Western generosity.

It is quite unfortunate that in order to convince policy makers to allow people to have the means to protect themselves their true identity must be twisted to fit the mold of the typical European. However, as Biden achieves his noble goal in the Senate, he seems to be planting seeds of hate and insulting the observant Muslim population in this country and around the world. Such obviously bigoted remarks cannot be ignored, and I just hope that they do not reflect Biden's real feelings. I think it is high time Muslims expect more from their elected officials.

Nemr Kanafani, Columbia, MO

Your points are well taken. We hope Senator Biden's point was that the Bosnian government grants identical civil rights to all of its citizens, regardless of religion, unlike the rump government of Christian Orthodox Serbs in Bosnia, which discriminates openly against Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians (by killing them); the government of Israel, which discriminates openly against Christians and Muslims; and the government of Iran, which discriminates openly against Baha'is, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians.

They Bear Looking Into

Dear people at WRMEA. I thought you might want to "investigate" this FLAME group—obviously a Likud-oriented thing! Keep up your good work! Best wishes,

Elizabeth A. Bernstein, Paradise, CA

Thanks for the Flame (Facts and Logic About the Middle East) advertisement from the September Atlantic Monthly. Flame's "facts" (and for that matter the Mort Zuckerman-owned Atlantic Monthly's "facts" as well) provide the myths for our occasional columns, "Myths and Facts About the Middle East" and "Quatsch Watch."

Get Those Dates Right

Since Teheran, Iran was my last Middle East post before returning to Washington, DC, I am cognizant of the accuracy concerning dates (and per friend James Bill's book).

* Jan. 16, 1979—Shah fled Iran

* Feb. 1, 1979—Khomeini arrived at Mehrabad Airport

Your September Washington Report states on the inside front cover, "some 25 years after assumption of power...by the late Khomeini," etc. Don't you have a problem there?

Dorothy Weaver, (former USIA Cultural Officer), Portland, OR

Yep, it was 16-going-on-17-years ago. Thanks for keeping us accurate.

Copies to Go

May I have written permission to send copies of various articles from your excellent publication to local newspapers, national magazines and my elected representatives in Congress?

Thank you very much and keep up the great job of shedding light on what would otherwise be hidden from the voting public!

R.L. Gabler, Kingwood, TX

Written permission is granted on page 3 of each issue, precisely so that our articles can be distributed as widely as possible. There is no problem at all with distributing clippings or photocopies of anything in the magazine.

Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. By-lined material must also be attributed to the author. This republication release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications.

Thanks for your kind words about the Washington Report. It's readers like you who are the crucial links in the expanding chain of informed Americans.

Anti-Muslim Stereotyping

As a long-time supporter of the Washington Report and an American Muslim who wears Islamic dress, I was both hurt and disappointed by the inference in Richard Curtiss' article, "What Jordanians Say About Israelis and the Peace Agreement" (July/Aug., 1995). Frankly, I expect better of both Mr. Curtiss and your publication. In an otherwise interesting article he wrote: "I cringed when my young driver turned for instructions and I realized he was wearing the long beard marking an Islamist...for the first and only time in two days of wandering alone around Amman I suddenly felt uneasy...What a difference a beard, and what it seems to represent in Jordan, makes." The inference to be drawn from this passage is that bearded Muslims are potentially hostile and dangerous.

It is recommended—some say obligatory—in Islamic law for a man to wear a beard. While it is true that there has been a tendency for the beard or women's dress (hijab) to be viewed as a political statement in the Middle East, for most of those displaying such visible signs of Islamic piety, the beard or the dress is an attempt to conform with the will of God and not an expression of hostility to the West or Westerners. Mr. Curtiss is intelligent and well-versed enough in Islam to know that Muslims—even those with beards—ought to be regarded as individuals. No one benefits by the inference that practicing Muslims are to be feared.

As an American who wears the hijab I have had over a half-dozen "hostile" incidents in the last three years—such as name calling when walking with my kids in Los Angeles. Because of my negative personal experiences I feel compelled to respond to what appears to be negative anti-Muslim stereotyping in the pages of the Washington Report, of all places. We Muslims feel deeply the effects of this stereotyping and it is painful.

Islam is a religion which commands both an outward and an inward expression. The wearing of a beard or Islamic dress are viewed as obligatory by all "schools" of Islamic law. This is a simple point. All Muslims also agree that Islam demands both spiritual, economic and physical effort—jihad. But the means of carrying out this struggle are in no way agreed upon by all Muslims. It is only a small segment of Muslim populations which extend the idea of spiritual and physical effort in the way of God to a sense of hostility toward non-Muslims, particularly in the West. On the contrary, there is much more hostility directed at Muslims from non-Muslims.

The editors of the Washington Report are aware of this, or so I thought (although occasionally sucked into the idea of a "global Islamist threat").

Keep up the good work and be sure I keep no machine gun under my dress and my husband has no bombs in his briefcase. I feel I should not need to defend myself or my religion this way...but there is a long history of Western hostility and misrepresentation of Islam. (Re-read Orientalism and a few other excellent works offered by AET.)

Catherine Moody, Los Angeles, CA

We take your point, although in Amman the long beard seems to express an attitude as well as a conviction. Where you, too, are stereotyping is in implying that we have ever postulated the existence of a "global Islamist threat." We often reprint the views of others in "Other Voices," letters to the editor, and articles labeled "point of view." Even in those departments, however, we can't imagine giving credence to a "global Islamist threat" because most Muslim nations are working so hard to prevent terrorism, domestically and internationally.

Investigate Boutros Boutros-Ghali!

I would like to see your magazine investigate the role of Boutros Boutros-Ghali in the Balkans. He has used his position to perpetuate genocidal crimes against Bosnians.

The recent movement to peace in the Balkans is because the Western and American media has kept it alive through their reporting, thus challenging the conscience of the world community. Finally, the American House and Senate could no longer stand by and passed resolutions to lift the arms embargo. These set in motion a series of events which resulted in NATO action against the Serbs.

Boutros-Ghali is not a stupid person who could not understand the impact of media exposure of the Serbs. He has been giving strong messages, direct and indirect, to the media to ignore the whole episode. The first thing I remember is that a couple of years ago he played down the Serbian atrocities and said that such tragedies were taking place at a number of other places in the world (this was before the Rwandan tragedy), and that it was not a big deal. Boutros-Ghali basically was saying that concentration camps and rapes and ethnic cleansing must not be a cause of concern, since they were a rather trivial matter. The second thing I recall is that many months ago, in an interview with Ted Koppel on Nightline, he said that people are bored with the pictures of atrocities in the Balkans and do not want to see them anymore. In other words, Boutros-Ghali was telling the media, politely, to shut up.

Zafar M. Khalid, San Jose, CA

We agree that had the secretary-general played his role as the conscience and gadfly of the world community, the Bosnian carnage might have been stopped in 1992. While the George Bush administration was vacillating, as we recall it, Boutros-Ghali referred to Bosnia as a "rich man's war" and Somalia as a "poor man's war." Following that, in a spasm of "political correctness," Bush launched a successful international effort to get food to starving Somalis, but let the Bosnian atrocities continue. His policy was continued by the Clinton administration, aided and abetted, incidently, by pro-Serb British, French and, yes, Canadian officials and commanders. (The first commander of Canadian forces retired after a year in Bosnia and immediately began traveling, including trips to Washington in 1993 and 1995, to speak on behalf of the Serbs and, allegedly, at Serb expense.) Investigative reporting certainly is called for, but it should also include the twisted U.N. representative Yasushi Akashi, the Strangelovian former British commander Gen. Michael Rose, the biased Canadian Colonel MacKenzie, and the vacillating French commander, General Bernard Janvier, whose astonishing decision to ignore pleas from the Dutch commander in Srebrenica for immediate airstrikes this summer sealed the fate of the 5,000 to 10,000 murdered men of Srebrenica and disgraced the Dutch army forever. It's an extraordinary cast of characters who, though they do not quite belong in the war crimes dock with Gen. Ratko Mladic and "presidents" Radovan Karadzic and Slobodan Milosevic, certainly were the catalysts, accomplices, and accessories to genocide in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.

The Spell of Marzieh's Concert

Because I read your article on "Marzieh, Iran's Best-Loved Singer" (October/November issue) after my return from her concert in Los Angeles, I am writing to say your article was excellent, and very comprehensive. As an Iranian expatriate, and especially after seeing Marzieh in person, I am caught in the spell of rejuvenation that Marzieh brings to Iranians.

I can analyze Marzieh's concert from a number of different angles. For example, from an artistic perspective, the ease with which Marzieh moves between various genres of music is unparalleled. Her voice is as beautiful as it was 25 years ago, when my father proudly introduced his Westernized teenage son to the intricacies of Persian music.

Marzieh's ability to connect and convey her feelings to the audience so deeply affected me that I, usually so self-controlled, lost myself in the rhythms and felt as though it was she who controlled my pulse.

The most remarkable aspect, however, was that despite the flurry of controversy that had preceded her appearance, when Marzieh took the stage, nothing could faze her. At one point, she even set the microphone aside and kept on singing, bringing the audience to its feet. It wasn't just the awe-inspiring ability to fill the giant auditorium with her voice; it was the courage behind the act, so rare in the self-conscious world of artists.

I saw another manifestation of this courage when she began to speak against the mullahs and in support of the Mojahedin resistance movement. Her words were not about politics; they were from the heart, and, like her songs, went straight to my heart.

Abraham Tehrani, Annandale, VA

The WRMEA Needs a Home Page

I often think of making a few comments to you folks, but then never get around to writing. So when I noticed that you are on AOL, I decided to use it while some thoughts are on my mind.

1. The WRMEA needs an Internet home page. It could be updated with comments on current events, suggestions on which issue and to which official to direct our frustration, statistical tables on aid to the Middle East, lists/copies of U.N. resolutions, campaign financing statistics, etc. In general, a lot of the reference material that regularly appears in your magazine.

2. Find a new name for our Zionist friends. Without thoroughly checking, I believe you most often refer to them as the "pro-Israel lobby." This is too benign sounding and not really accurate. I prefer something like "pro-Israel Political Machine," or more accurately the "pro-Israel Political/Media Machine." Oops, that's getting too long. But you get the point; it's more than just a lobby.

3. I receive more solicitations for contributions to worthy Palestinian charities than I can afford to contribute to. I have been saving them with the intention of sending them to local Christian churches, with the suggestion that their congregations adopt a Palestinian charity. I would point out that since both the U.S. and Israel now recognize the Palestinians as human beings, Christians are now free to speak about them in church. Church leaders may want to reflect on the neglect most of them have shown to the plight of these people and ask themselves why they never mentioned in church the suffering and the injustice Palestinians have endured over the years. I'm sure many have mentioned South Africa, Nicaragua, El Salvador and other international hotspots. I am also sure that they have sung praise to "Israel" in their hymns and liturgy at nearly every service. However, when the blood of children flowed in Christ's footprints, and the church service was full of reverent praises to "Israel," an in-depth look at the role of U.S. Christian churches would have been most appropriate. It's not too late.

4. Don't be too negative about M.C. Piper's book, Final Judgment. I have read it and while I can find some faults with it, I believe he presents a strong case regarding the motive for the assassination of President John Kennedy. One reason I am easily persuaded by his theory is that my first recollection of hearing the word "Zionist" was in a network TV news announcement shortly after JFK's assassination. The announcement was something like: "Reports from Dallas state that radical Zionists were involved in the assassination of JFK." I remember anxiously waiting for more information in the next news announcement, but it never came. Only after several hours came a glib statement to the effect that "previous reports of a conspiracy have been denied." I was reminded of it again when Mossad operator and Noriega adviser Michael Harari was reported captured by U.S. forces in Panama. The report was then denied and instead Harari showed up in Israel a few days later.

Charles Harne, Frederick, MD

Thanks for your thoughts. In addition to our e-mail address, wrmea@aol.com,through which you reached us, we now do have a world wide web home page at http://www.sover.net/~report—see page 116 in this issue for details.

The Bulldozer as a Symbol

After forty-plus adult years of observing Zionism, I would like to suggest the most appropriate physical symbol for it—the bulldozer! (You might regularly include it in your magazine to head a special feature.)

The actual machines have been used extensively by the core of Zionism in Israel to destroy the homes of those whose only "crime" was not being Jewish.

The image of the bulldozer also accurately symbolizes the extensive activities of Zionists outside of Israel as they have, over decades, applied far more "heat" than "light" to the political and economic processes of the United States and other countries in "advancing" the Zionist program.

Roger D. Leonard, Bowie, MD

Day of Solidarity With Palestinians

I would like to draw your attention to the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People that is observed annually on Nov. 29. The commemoration of that day is mandated by General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of Dec. 2, 1977. A note on the International Day is enclosed for your information.

The International Day will be observed at United Nations headquarters in New York with a solemn meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 1995, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Non-governmental organizations are warmly invited to attend the solemn meeting of the Committee.

Parallel events will be held at the United Nations offices in Geneva and Vienna, which will provide interested NGOs with all necessary information on the activities planned. In addition, U.N. Information Centers in several countries are available to assist in the organization of special activities connected with the Day.

May I, in conclusion, reiterate how much the Committee appreciates the contribution of the non-governmental organizations in support of the cause of the Palestinian people. The Committee, through the Division for Palestinian Rights, stands ready to assist your organization with documentation and other material which it might need in organizing its own commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity.

Keba Birane Cisse, Chairman, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, U.N. Headquarters, New York, NY

Please Help Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook

As you must already know, Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook, head of Hamas' Political Bureau, was arrested on the 25th of July upon his arrival at New York's JFK airport on a private, perfectly legal, visit in the company of his family. His visit was aimed at attending to some private business matters, having been a legal resident of the United States long before 1991. Although initially held allegedly for immigration reasons, the entire case has been transformed into a purely political one as soon as Israel formally applied for his extradition. The sharp and rapid turn this case has taken proves beyond doubt that the U.S. administration had since the beginning contemplated handing him over to the Israelis, in spite of the fact that throughout his 14-year stay in the United States he had been a law-abiding person never charged with any violation.

We urge you to intervene personally and exert all the pressure you can in order to dissuade the U.S. administration from proceeding with this case and to demand that it reject the Israeli application for his extradition. Dr. Abu Marzook has never been involved in any hostility against the United States of America, and the movement in which he presides over the political bureau has never carried out any attacks on the American interests or people. Hamas' struggle has always been strictly confined to resisting the Zionist occupation of Palestine.

The efforts you make with the U.S. administration will undoubtedly contribute to preventing the infliction of more injustices upon the Palestinian people, who have had regrettable experiences with the biased positions adopted by successive U.S. administrations against the legitimate struggle of the Palestinians for liberation from Israeli occupation. The continued detention or the handing over of Dr. Abu Marzook to the Israelis will provoke a wave of outrage against the United States in various parts of the Arab and Muslim countries and elsewhere in the world by freedom-loving peoples.

We wish that through your good offices Dr. Abu Marzook will be released and allowed to leave peacefully to a country of his own choice.

Ibrahim Ghousheh, Hamas Spokesman, Amman, Jordan

With the recent apparent Hamas decision to suspend armed struggle and participate in Palestinian elections, the administration has a face-saving rationale to stop toying with the idea of extraditing Dr. Abu Marzook to Israel. However, after the contemptible passage of Senate and House bills concerning relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem prior to completion of the final status negotiations under the Oslo accords, it is clear that the competition for Jewish campaign donations and media support overrides all in Washington. American interests as well as justice clearly call for allowing Dr. Abu Marzook to remain in the U.S. or return to an Arab country. There is little evidence that either President Bill Clinton or Senator Robert Dole are thinking much about American interests as election year approaches, however. Nevertheless we hope that U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who doesn't seem as susceptible to political expediency, will do the right thing.