Doesn’t the US get enough publicity as it is? Why can’t the media extend the definition of humanity to those who inhabit the world outside of US? How about pictures of Iraq which has been bombed at will, the five lakh children who died? How about stories on how the US used Afghanistan and then bombarded it to a rubble? The US is nothing but a subtle, suave and sophisticated terrorist. And what happened on September 11 last year, horrific as it was, was a balancing of negative power.
Deepika Sondhi, Delhi
Noam Chomsky’s piece (Mirror Crack’d, September 16) reeks of bias and a painfully Leftist attitude. There is no equivalence —moral or political—to what the terrorists did on September 11. The bunch of 19 could just as easily have blown up the Giza complex in Cairo or the Taj Mahal in India. And why talk of Cuba and Nicaragua when the issue’s between Arabs and America? Once again, Chomsky’s attitude of misleading the reader is exemplary. The article is typical Chomsky boilerplate—twist facts conveniently without stating a lie.
Aanand Krishnan, Sunnyvale, California
The Leftists had been attacking Saddam Hussein much before he became a favourite demon of the Western establishment. The same Leftists now oppose a war against him. Why? Some perspective is in order in the light of Aghanistan et al.
Srikanth B., London
Apropos New York! New York!, the shocked indignation of the woman from Lower Manhattan only highlights the ignorance of the average American citizen about its government’s dark deeds abroad. The majority of the American media, by keeping its citizens in the dark about the repercussions of its government’s foreign policy, have failed their country. To borrow loosely from that recent American superhit, Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility". In this unipolar world, it’s imperative that American citizenry remains vigilant to the world trends and keeps a close watch on where their country’s hawkish foreign policy takes them!
Y. Srinivas, on e-mail
John L. Esposito’s Islam’s Glasnost was a piece of meaningful writing. Post 9/11, Salman Rushdie wrote definitively, "It is ALL about Islam." I’d say, "It is ALL about oil". The desire to have access to all the oil and the well-being of its own citizens has been the mainstay of US policies. Unless America breaks out of this mindset and stops considering Third World denizens as less than human, they’ll continue to misuse their power and occasionally, as on 9/11, suffer for it.
Mirza Faisal, Houston, US
The bard Gadar has a point (Shards, Memories). In history, with the same glib righteousness did they persecute Galileo, Copernicus and Joan of Arc.
M.N. Chandran, Kochi
The reigning gurus and media pundits like Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama and Michael Walzer were quick to see in 9/11 a "clash of civilisations", wherein the barbaric act on a civilised society cast a shadow over the "acts" of US. Further, they collectively justified the "war on terror" as an altruistic motive to free the world from terrorism. Pseudo-humanists have invariably contributed to the intellectual depravity and indecency in civil society, which can be even more dangerous than fundamentalist forces. Now is the time to collectively denounce this "intellectual terrorism". And the remedial measure Chomsky has suggested in the form of elementary moral standards should unanimously be adopted by the power blocs if they really want peace to prevail.
Tanweer Alam, New Delhi
The profiles of Indians who lost their family members (Ashes on the Hudson) were very touching. I couldn’t even finish reading them all without breaking into tears.
Vandana Singh, New Delhi
Extraordinary photographs! Outlook should keep up the good work.
A.C. Madia, Ahmedabad
You have published many opinions on the first anniversary of the wtc attacks. You have also printed the stories of those Indians who lost their loved ones in the tragedy. This will only adversely affect the psyche of the general public which is ignorant about the reality of life and death, as envisaged in the Sanatan Dharma. The spiritual truth is, as Lord Krishna said to Sri Arjuna in the second chapter of the Gita, "Do not perturbed by death". It is the body alone which is mortal, the atma lives forever. It’s this view that you should propagate and help free people from any remorse, pain or helplessness.
Baba Krishnadas, on e-mail
Your article Ground Zeroes should have had a paragraph on lessons learned. We don’t seem to have learned any. The myopic world community (led by America) is making the same mistakes all over again. They declared a war against terror and bombed the hell out of the country. The result: more than 80 per cent of the Al Qaeda members are still up and about, hiring mercenaries, warlords, dictators and druglords to fight their battles. Central Asia is the new stadium where the New Great Game is being played. And the only casualties in this war will be humanity and a great religion like Islam.
Ketan Karkhan, San Jose, US
Our media and our government made our entire country look like a bunch of green card seekers with the continuous relay of the wtc attacks on television. Our prime minister’s painful walk to the US to be part of the mourning ‘elite’ was equally pathetic. Everyone knows that the US has had a forked foreign policy for a long time and that India is only a small player in their bigger gameplan. We should thus maintain a dignified distance and not kowtow to America. Our policy of non-alignment worked perfectly in the past and should do so even today.
Rajeev Sinha, on-e-mail
Samuel Huntington is absolutely right in saying, "...we (the US) do pretty well (in terms of foreign policy) as compared with the record of other countries." Why just foreign policy, take any policy; the prosperity of the American economy stands as a testament to the success of even their internal policies. Sure, it’s not win-win all the time and never can be.
Ray Titus, Kochi
Since its origin, Islam has been at war with all other religions. The Crusades were fought with Christians, the Arabs were converted after wars and the Prophet himself destroyed the places of worship of other faiths in Kaaba. The culture of suicide-murderers has been a millennium old in Islam. The fact is that violence is the very essence of Islam. There will be no Islam if there is no violence.
Sanjeev K. Sharma, New Delhi
After 9/11, we believed the US would amend its foreign policy so that a saner world order prevailed but the US has taken the terror attack to wield its unquestionable authority with more vigour, according to its own selfish agenda.
Asadha Arul, Mugaiyur, Tamil Nadu
The real motive of Al Qaeda and other such organisations is not to harm America because of its West Asia policy. The motive is far more sinister—to impose one’s belief and way of life on the world. The sooner the idealists who have a romanticised vision of peace and harmony in the world realise this, the better.
Bikash Babu, on e-mail
What a waste of sound bytes and column centimetres by the Indian media. Can they tell us the status on the Bhopal tragedy, the Latur and Bhuj earthquakes? I sympathise with all those who lost their dear ones in the wtc attack, but am also glad that it has taught the American public what the Koreans, Vietnamese, Iraqis and Bosnians felt when they saw their homes destroyed and their relatives die in the relentless bombing by US planes.
T.R. Ramaswami, Mumbai
United States of Arrogance. Isn’t that a more fitting expansion of the acronym usa?
Vimal Jhunjhunwala, Calcutta
The Rajdhani accident at Rafiganj has raised the issue of inefficiency, autocracy and corruption let loose in the railways by Nitish Kumar towards his own aggrandisement. He has failed in his fundamental duty of providing safety and prompt relief measures to passengers and has instead been keen on bifurcating the zone leading to huge outflows but without consequent gains for anyone but himself. Niti-ish has become Niti-heen (devoid of compunctions). It was strange of him to have jumped to conclusions and made public the theory of sabotage without any investigation. He should be shown the door if any faith in the nda government has to be restored.
T.K. Basu, Calcutta
The vicious outburst of the VHP’s Ashok Singhal at Amritsar, where he proudly promised to repeat Gujarat (The Platform of Hate, September 23) and boasted about dispatching whole communities of Muslims to refugee camps, is abominable and also violative of the Constitution and the laws of the land. I cannot imagine a more vicious and more communally provocative statement. I am surprised that the Congress government in Punjab has not started criminal proceedings against him for sedition, etc, under Section 153 A of the IPC. Had I not been in principle against POPTA, this was certainly a befitting case for applying that law. Of course, Singhal could possibly plead a defence—that of mental incapacity amounting to unsoundness of mind. The choice is his.
Rajinder Sachar, New Delhi
I am an occasional reader of Outlook. And what always prompts me to open the magazine is the curiosity of finding out about those lesser known people who are doing something to make people’s life better. Whether it was the story of the organisation Deepshikha in Ranchi, or the school being run by Sulabh or the story of Project Solace, these people are Making a Difference in society with their dedication. As is Outlook by telling us about them.
Deepak Dhingra, Ahmedabad
In the cover story No Middle Ground (Sep 23), Deb Majumdar was erroneously referred to as Amrita Deb. The error is regretted.
Jayalalitha’s tirade against Sonia is yet another indication of her pettiness (Original Article, September 9). That Sonia has rejuvenated the Congress over the past few years is proved beyond an iota of doubt. And she could well turn out to be an able, non-partisan PM our country desperately needs. However, the essentially corrupt, unpredictable and selfish person that she is, Amma unfortunately is also a popular leader. The Congress would do well to be careful of her.
Partha Bhattacharya, Agarpara, West Bengal
Like the others, you too say that the issue of Sonia’s citizenship is a settled matter. What is settled is that Sonia is an Indian citizen. What’s not clear is whether a person who has acquired Indian citizenship by choice and not by birth can be voted to the highest executive post. Our founding fathers did not envisage such a situation. Else, they’d never have left it a grey area.
D.V. Madhava Rao, Chennai
