‘The Mecca Confrontation’

Your editorial “The Mecca Confrontation” (May 1) is very one-sided and fails to address the basic problem which first started the whole chain of present events in that region, i.e. the Iraqi invasion of Iran. One can even go back and recall the overthrow of democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and inflicting Shah Reza Pahlavi on the unsuspecting people of Iran by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as the original seed for present day conflicts there. The gang up of Arabs against Iran is unjust, unfair and smacks of racism of sorts which has no place in Islam.

Also The Times should have enlightened readers as to how Saudi Arabia, which does not even have diplomatic relations with China, is able to obtain medium-range Chinese-made missiles which can carry nuclear warheads. The role of fellow-Sunni Pakistan, which has excellent relations with China and Saudi Arabia and is hell-bent towards acquiring nuclear weapon, should not be mitigated. After this fait accompli it is silly for the U.S. to insist on inspection of Saudi’s Chinese missiles for nuclear or chemical warheads (Part I, May 1).

Iran, faced and surrounded with all this adversity, is fighting back in the only way it can. Every Muslim has a right to air his grievances and grief, especially in the holy city of Mecca. The brutal way Saudi’s shot dead hundreds of Iranians in Kaaba was un-Islamic. In the entire history of Islam such a thing was never performed even by the worst idolaters, many of whom perished under Islamic sword. Saudis committed that great sin and in doing so lost all rights to be guardians of Islam’s holiest shrines.

MOHDEMSM NASNM KAVALI

Islamic Center of Southern Calif.

Los Angeles