Let’s just think a little [Archives:2003/632/Letters to the Editor]

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April 21 2003

Let's just think a little
I am a Muslim from Yemen and I want to reflect Muslim views to your readers in America about how the USA is seen by the majority of Muslims all over the world. America, as Muslims believe, deals with them in terms in a way that reflects its desire to have them coordinate with its interests and not oppose them at all.
To explain the above, let me give the example of Saddam Hussein. We know that he is a dictator and we also know that the USA was the first country which provided him with chemical and biological weapons .Why? Because he was fighting against the USA's enemy: Iran. In the same time, by then he was not an enemy of the US administration. America also ignored the massacres which that man committed against the Kurdish people. In short, Saddam was never seen as a dictator by the USA at that time! Why? Because he was a friend of the US who kept US interests.
It is clear now that any leader who supports the US is never a dictator, while those who oppose the US will be classified as dictators. As a matter of fact, there are many dictators in our region who are as brutal Saddam Hussein if not more brutal, but they are not seen as dictators in US eyes because they don't oppose the US administration. Therefore, it is only reasonable that we don't believe the US administration when it says “We want to free the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein””. This is only for local consumption within US borders and has nothing to do with US policy in the Arab and Islamic world.
I would also like to answer the frequently asked question by Americans