Letters to the Editor

How Can They Not Declare War?

What is wrong with the Lebanese government??? How is it that, first of all, they let a huge militia dominate an entire region of their country, suck them into a war with an extremely advanced and powerful state, and then, even more outrageously, fail to declare war against the state which is pounding them to pieces?

I have until now heard no report that the state of Lebanon has declared war against Israel. They are only begging Israel to stop bombing them, although Israel is already systematically dismantling the entire state of Lebanon, wantonly disregarding and casting aside the value of human life there, not to mention its entire infrastructure.

Is there no lesson in these events for Lebanon? The president of the United States is explicitly demanding that Israel not be subjected to a cease-fire. Wasn’t he Lebanon’s friend after the death of Rafiq Hariri??? What happened? Now it’s okay to allow your friends to be bombed 100 years back into history? Apparently he is blind to the suffering of his close friends.

Imad Qadir, New York, NY

How Can You Improve?

Dear TMO staff:

Thank you very much for your excellent newspaper, by far the best Muslim newspaper available in America. I wish you had more reporters and could cover more American issues, but I compliment you on your excellent website, insightful and spirited editorials, and attention to issues not usually covered in mainstream papers or even in Muslim papers, which always seem to be about the latest hadith or applying the latest Qur`anic verse, but without any sense of relevance or context–I much prefer the format of your paper, which is less “preachy” but which offers news and analysis on the issues which matter to me.

I have to say that even a little bit more breadth of coverage (on more countries and more issues) would be nice–perhaps with a few more national reporters you could pay more attention to these issues.

Thank you!

Samad Ma, Ann Arbor, Michigan