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----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: AMANA e-mail Members <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2002 4:47 AM Subject: Letter From Saudi Arabia To New York Times > A mere brush with our reality > By Khaled Al-Maeena, > Editor in ChiefMemo from: Editor in Chief, Arab News, Saudi Arabia > To: New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman > > Dear Mr. Friedman: > > I have read your "memo" (The New York Times, Dec. 12) from President > George W. Bush addressed to Sheikh Saleh Al-Shaikh, Saudi Arabia's > Minister of Islamic Affairs. I was pleased that you revealed your > inner belief that for the United States, Saudi Arabia was "a big gas > station to be pumped and defended but never to be taken seriously as > a society." I am also pleased that you have confirmed what is also > my belief, that only PR and meetings with Washington elites (who > usually murmur sweet nothings) do not resolve problems. > I beg to differ with your assertion that Saudi Arabia's schools, and > the thousands of Islamic schools and charities financed by us, were > responsible for depriving several thousand American children of > their parents. By making that statement - and thus indirectly > equating Saudi Arabia with terror - you are posing a veiled threat > that Saudi Arabia will now be considered just as the Soviet Union > was considered during the Cold War. > I do not know what motivated you to write your memo. Have you taken > it upon yourself to become a modern-day Boswell, merely penning down > for the world the ideas and utterances of the American President and > his officials? Your motives are anyway of little concern to me. > However, what you say is, and I wish to set the record straight. > Neither the school curriculum in Saudi Arabia nor our charity > organizations preach that non-Muslims are inferior to Muslims and > must be converted or confronted. That would be absurd. They are not > focused on preaching hatred. While this is certainly not part of the > national school curriculum there are individual teachers with > extremist ideas - just as there are in any country. The job of both > our governments is to root them out. > If a school curriculum leads directly to the violence perpetrated by > the students who follow it, then America too must as a top priority > radically alter its curriculum. After all, have there not been > numerous incidents of violence at many schools right across America? > Charles Whitman, the university student who climbed up the > university tower in Texas in 1966 with an arsenal of weapons, and > then killed 17 of his fellow students and teachers and injured many > more, was not a product of Saudi schools. The Columbine school > massacres were committed by schoolboys who did not receive their > primary education in Riyadh. The followers of Charles Manson, who > believed the latter was God and blindly obeyed his orders to go on a > killing spree, were not educated in Dhahran. Timothy McViegh did not > attend a madrassa. The Una bomber was neither a student nor a > professor at a Saudi university. The thousands who accepted without > question orders given by Rev. Jim Jones to commit suicide in > Jonestown, Guyana, on Nov. 18, 1978, were not educated in Hofuf. > It is your education system which produced these demented > individuals who became slavishly devoted to self-styled gods and > gurus - David Koresh, founder of the Children of God, Moses David, > L. Ron Hubbard and so many others. > So, before advising others, you should focus your attention on > what's happening in your own backyard. Otherwise, you leave yourself > vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. In terms of education, the > United States has one of the highest rates of adult illiteracy in > the developed world. Even an impoverished country like Cuba, which > you have been trying to choke to death for 42 years, has a higher > literacy rate than the United States. > It is Congress that has prevented educational reforms, health > service reforms and welfare reforms that would have helped the many > millions of your citizens who live below the poverty line. It is > Congress which provides the weapons that allow Israel to commit mass > murder against Palestinians and the billions of dollars that help > that country build settlements on stolen land, while, at the same > time, allocating relatively little money for the renovation of the > many decaying inner cities across the United States. > Your armed forces are ever at the ready to bomb other countries and > overthrow or install their leaders. At the same time, your internal > security forces have proved themselves incapable of combating > organized crime or defeating the drug lords who, in practical terms, > control large parts of your major cities. > It is important that you balance your views by dealing fairly with > the facts about the country you are criticizing. In Saudi Arabia, we > believe in a global education system, one that promotes tolerance > and understanding. I personally would like to see a restructuring of > the Muslim education system, not because of what you have said but > because we need an education system that is on a par with the most > developed in the world - one that will ensure our people can compete > in the world's most progressive and competitive societies. > As for the 15 young Saudis who, you claim, were responsible for the > deaths on Sept. 11: if we go by the latest Osama Bin Laden tape > which the Pentagon has presented as conclusive evidence of that > man's guilt, those individuals were pawns in a game about which they > had little - if any - knowledge. > Even if they knew what they were up to, these individuals were just > that - individuals. Their organization and leaders were long ago > outlawed in Saudi Arabia and all of those alleged hijackers would > have been jailed if the authorities here had gotten the merest hint > of what they were planning to do. To criticize the Kingdom because > of the mad acts of a few of its individuals is grossly mistaken. > They were responsible for their own actions, unlike the US Marines > who committed the My Lai massacres or the pilots who dropped the > bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. > However, better than this hurling of accusations would be a dialogue > of civilizations. In order to have such a dialogue, we should focus > on what we have in common. Saudi Arabia - now the whipping boy of > your media - has since its founding been a promoter of international > political understanding. As a founding member of the Arab League, > the United Nations and several international bodies, it has striven > to promote progress and understanding around the world. As the base > for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Islamic > Development Bank (IDB) and the International Islamic Relief > Organization (IIRO), this country has offered moral and material > help to alleviate the sufferings of millions of people, irrespective > of their religious affiliations, all around the globe. As a leading > OPEC member, Saudi Arabia played a major role in stabilizing the > price of oil - to the infinite benefit of developing nations. The > Kingdom earmarks a high percentage of its GNP for foreign aid. All > of this is a result of its belief in Islam. > We grieve personally for the victims of the Sept. 11. We also grieve > for the hundreds of innocent Palestinians who have been killed and > the many thousands who have been left permanently disabled during > the latest intifada alone. It is not our schools or madrassas that > breed bitterness against the United States. It is the unqualified > support your country gives to Israel. Unless you look at this fact > impartially, you will never even come close to understanding why > there is anger directed against your government. > This is an automatically generated email. If you do not want to > receive further emails from this list, please click the Unsubscribe > link below, which will take you to the page where you can delete > your entry from the system. > To unsubscribe or change your personalized profile: click here > To subscribe: click here or go to this address: > http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=02626o > > > > "Read the Qur'an before judging Islam" > The AMANA Voice > > http://www.myplace.com/ - find what you want @MyPlace.com! > > --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
