Letters

Re “Patt Morrison Asks: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Freedom fighter,” Opinion, Oct. 17

In another of her delightfully astute interviews, Patt Morrison shows that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has a real head on her shoulders.

And it’s easy to see why radical Muslims would be eager to have that head removed.

Shelley Martin

San Pedro

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While reading your interview with Ali, I had to glance up twice to make sure I was reading The Times.

I’m amazed you printed this article because it so completely flies in the face of the values and beliefs of The Times. You must cringe every time you print an article that does not blame America and the white race for all of the world’s problems.

Thank you for presenting an opinion so opposite of your own.

John Arndt

Redondo Beach

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Ali says boldly what few pundits dare say -- that the Islamic doctrines are at the heart of the problem of freedom for women in Africa and elsewhere.

The counter-argument, represented by Firoozeh Dumas -- that none of these problems has anything to do with Islam -- just doesn’t stand up to even the most cursory analysis.

There are serious disconnects in every important provision of our government’s operation and of our basic civil rights.

If Sharia law is being touted as “God’s law” and being promoted as an alternative system by Muslim apologists, why is it so incompatible with our system?

Why aren’t more columnists and pundits talking about that?

Chris Chrisman

Los Angeles

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Applause for Morrison’s interview with Ali. She is brave and principled and indeed has risked her life in her opposition to the oppression of women in the name of Islam.

As the interview reveals, her resistance is passionate but also carefully reasoned.

In my opinion, it is to the shame of the left and liberals in this country that Ali is associated with the American Enterprise Institute and not with liberal/progressives. The left should consider carefully her criticism that liberals accept practices they would otherwise condemn when those practices are labeled cultural, and that there is more than a kernel of truth to this as a basis for attitudes that are exploited by groups conventionally termed right.

Americans, but especially liberals, should applaud and support this woman who continues to struggle so articulately.

Stephen Read

San Pedro

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Thank you for the inspiring interview with Ali. What a stunningly brave woman. Her straight talk is the antidote to the politically correct cowards on both sides of the political spectrum.

Talk about someone who deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.

Greg Steinberg

Hollywood

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Morrison’s interview with Ali demonstrates how thinking people can manifest an ideological synthesis, rather than being predictably right wing or left wing on every issue.

Ayaan is an atheist, as am I. Yet she is deeply involved in fighting the politically correct left in order to point out the degree to which radical Islam oppresses women. In this instance, it is the politically correct left that is inconsistent.

Any religious oppression that negates the quest for women’s full equality is to be vigorously opposed.

There is no sound reason to give fundamentalist versions of Islam a special pass inapplicable to other religions.

Edward Tabash

Beverly Hills