U.S. Role in Mideast Is Blamed

Re “Life Inside Al Qaeda: A Destructive Devotion,” Sept. 24:

It’s very frustrating that the instability of the Middle East is constantly blamed on the U.S. Yes, we tend to get involved in areas as a result of our own self-interest (oil and other corporate selfishness). But ultimately it is up to them whether or not they choose peace.

A participant in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya was asked what it would take for Arabs to stop terrorizing the U.S. He replied that we would have to stop supporting Israel, get American troops off Arab soil and stop preventing the spread of Islamic law worldwide. Of course they want us to stop supporting Israel, so they can obliterate it from the face of the Earth. Of course they want us out of the way, so they can dominate as much of the world as possible. It’s not about peace for Al Qaeda.

If Arab nations’ civil rights records among their own people are any indication of how they would treat the rest of us, I would much rather battle corporate American greed than be ruled by the terror of fundamentalist Islam.

David Underwood

Beverly Hills

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In my emergency supplies, I have a radio that is powered in the daytime by a solar panel built into it and in the night by a crank that charges a battery in it. I suggest that we procure thousands of these and drop them into Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and Iran, etc. Then set up a Voice of America broadcasting system and broadcast the real news about what is going on in the free world. This should let them see that the Taliban and others are not telling them the truth.

Then we should drop food and clothing, marked “Made in America” in Arabic, to give the peasants who are starving due to the prolonged drought and deprivation some relief and possibly a better opinion of the Americans.

Gordon Walker

Anaheim

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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan believes that the U.N. should spearhead the fight against terrorism (Sept. 25).

Those still asking why the U.N. is held in such low esteem in the U.S. should be reminded that nations that have supported terrorism have had seats on the Security Council. The U.S. has been voted off an agency supporting human rights while some of the world’s greatest abusers of such rights were voted in. And Israel has been ineligible until recently to try for a seat on the Security Council. Any questions?

Jerry Freedman

Los Angeles