Nationalistic Dreams of Unity in Middle East

This is regarding your editorial (“Don’t Underrate Tehran’s Cynicism,” Sept. 14) in which you assume that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is permissible in Islamic society. I want to point out that your assumption is absolutely wrong because this game is strictly an invention of secular society aimed at dividing the people, thereby producing different constituencies for the purpose of exploitation. Although everyone, including President Bush, seems to be perplexed by the current Middle East crisis, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that it is this secular game which is primarily responsible for our dilemma. One would hope it is still not too late to learn a lasting lesson from this unfortunate experience.

Incidentally, in an Islamic society, friend of a friend is considered a friend.

M. IBRAHIM KHAN

Beverly Hills