A Voice of Reason

[Jon Ford]

Carol, thanks for sharing this letter with us. I agree with a lot the author 
says here about Middle Eastern regimes, although I think he may be preaching 
to the converted if he's writing to "American Muslims," many of whom support 
the US efforts to eradicate terrorism (although, like many other Americans 
in the current anti-war movement, they are concerned about civilian risks in 
the current bombing of Afghanistan). THe American Muslims I know in 
California are generally pro-American and disgusted by Islamic extremism and 
the position of women in Afghanistan; these two factors are part of  what 
led many of them to come over here in the first place.

However, when we get into Palestinian/Israeli/ US relationships,
American Muslims tend to be anti-Israeli, and puzzled about why the US is 
spending so much foreign aide on weapons for Israel. But once again, so are 
many other people in this country. I would say that American Muslims have as 
much a right as any other American to take positions critical of US policy. 
This is a free country, supposedly, and just because there are horrific 
things happening in the Middle East in corrupt, backwards looking Muslim 
regimes, doesn't mean Americans and American Muslims have to support every 
aspect of US foreign policy in the Middle East, which is by no means beyond 
reproach.

Jon


>From: EarthAnjel@aol.com
>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: A Voice of Reason
>Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 18:38:01 EDT
>
>A memo to American Muslims
>

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