Letters to the Editor - Weekly Issue of September 13, 2010
Islam and the West
Your Sept. 6 cover story, "Islam and the West" is basically flawed for failing to understand the Muslim doctrine of taqiyya.
No, I am not a bigot, but having lived in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, I've observed what most Westerners fail to see. The centuries-old doctrine of taqiyya is sometimes practiced today as compelling "true" Muslims to only tell the truth to other Muslims, and to lie or purposely confuse the "infidels" – all non-Muslims.
Abu Dhabi had two newspapers – the Arabic Khaleej Times and the English Gulf News. Reading both papers on the same day usually gave me a sense that each paper was describing what happened in a different locale – such was the disparity in factual information between the two.
Michael L. Davis
Hampton Beach, N.H.
It's my hope that a mosque near ground zero will eventually be seen as a reassuring Muslim act of sympathy, solidarity, and support for 9/11 victims and their families, on behalf of nonviolence, moderation, and peace.
We have already been reassured by the participation and solidarity of Muslim clergy at interfaith memorial services in New York City, Washington, and other American cities since 9/11.
As both a Muslim and interfaith shrine, a mosque in lower Manhattan could serve as an inspiration for genuine Islam and for moderate Muslim leaders and young Muslims everywhere. It could become the Muslim world's highest-profile repudiation of extremism. An American invitation to erect a mosque near ground zero in 2001 would have been our most effective response to 9/11, generating Islamic pro-Americanism and moderation and peace, instead of our ineffective response, which only has generated extremism, anti-Americanism, and endless war.
James Adler
Cost of illegal immigration
David R. Francis's column "Costs will rein in Arizona's immigration crackdown" (Aug. 16 & 23) has been made a moot point by the federal government's decision to no longer detain and deport illegal aliens unless they are convicted criminals or terrorists. How many of the estimated 460,000 illegals in that state would fall into either of those categories?
This move by the Obama administration, which again shows it will stop at nothing to secure Hispanic votes, comes at a time when, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, life is becoming more unbearable for the 30 million less-educated and unemployed Americans who must compete with illegal aliens in an ever-shrinking job market.
Dave Gorak
Executive director, Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration
LaValle, Wis.
