From Mr J. Debono

Reading Moustafa Megawer’s letter July made me sick (TMIS, 24 July). This is the second example of anti-American tripe that he has unleashed in your newspaper.

Sometimes I wonder that your newspaper, and others, print such filth which is full of hatred for everything that is American or British, because every Western country will be attacked sooner or later by these cowardly beasts.

Mr Megawer said this global terror is the result of the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Is it? Does Mr Megawer remember that Afghanistan was invaded years ago by the then Soviet Union to expand the Soviet Bloc. The occupation lasted for several years, but there was no global terror then, as the locals used to fight and harass the Soviet military, yes, with American help. Because of this the Soviets decided after many losses to withdraw from that country. America invaded Afghanistan not to occupy the country but because those in government were giving shelter to that dirty, cowardly murderer Osama bin Laden and his clique.

As for Iraq, America and Britain tried more then once to get the United Nations to stop Iraq, but they were outvoted every time in the Security Council. Russia, Germany and France in particular always voted against. Why? Because France had huge contracts in Iraq and Russia wanted perhaps to collect the huge debts Iraq owed it. Saddam himself could have avoided the mass killings in Iraq had he resigned. But how could he, when he was involved in mass killing himself? Have we already forgotten the poisoning of Kurds, the mass graves which were filled with non-Sunni people; after all he represented only the Sunni sect, which are in the minority; the rest, the Kurds and Shiites, were governed by terror.

Mr Megawer said all the terrorist attacks are the result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then why the massacre of 9/11? Afghanistan and Iraq were not in the picture then, but over 2,000 innocent civilians were killed by a cowardly, murderous act. No Mr Megawer, these terror attacks are the work of the many Islamic fanatics; and in my opinion it did not start in Afghanistan or Iraq or the Middle East but many years before in Teheran. I remember that there was no Bush, or Blair, then, most probably they were both in their teens; the American President then was the best, calmest and most peaceful President America has ever had, Jimmy Carter.

The whole of the American embassy was occupied with the result that the staff of about 200 were held hostage for more than a year with no contacts with the outside world. That was where the terror started, that was the place where terror started to take shape, always in the name of Islam, aided and abetted by that fundamentalist cleric Ayotallah Khomeini, the bin Laden of that time. It was religion then and it is religion now, in fact we Christians are being called the infidels. Mr Megawer singled out Jacques Chirac as the most experienced leader, because he kept his country out of the war. It’s true, it’s typical of a Frenchman, and it is not the first time either, but let me assure Mr Megawer, and all other Frenchmen, that as soon this terror phenomenon is over, it would be better for them to give in to whatever their Muslim guests wish or it will be their turn next.

As for the Middle East, I think no other American president has ever worked so hard for a peaceful solution in the Middle East than Bush has, but with Hamas in the middle the going is difficult. I always believed that there would never be peace as long as Mr Arafat was alive, although there were people in Malta who thought otherwise. I never thought of him as being a man of peace. Whatever he was, he is dead now and the light at the end of the tunnel has already started to show, so all the other nations must appeal to Hamas to give peace a chance. They should give that chance to their new leader who was democratically elected, if they are not another terrorist group. But then one remembers that not all the Arabs nations were at peace with Israel, like Syria. They still address Israel as “our enemy”. Israel is quitting Gaza, is that not a good sign? But if suicide bombers persist in killing innocent people there will be no peace.

London has being subjected to terrorist attacks. These terrorists were not foreigners but British. Let us not fool ourselves, they are British only by registration, the blood in their veins is from the country of origin of their grandfathers. They will do everything against the nation and the people, especially when they are indoctrinated by clerics, always of course in the name of Islam, and these preachers I hear are many, and many of them are militants. They know the system is democratic and they abuse it. They will never adapt to our ways, we do not wish to force them either, but they should never expect us to adapt to theirs.

All the countries of Europe, should help each other. I honestly think that emergency laws should be introduced like they were in wartime, because this is war. Also, the European policy of open frontiers should be shelved, at least for the time being. I was always against this policy, as I believe nation should keep a record of who enters and/or leaves the country.

Joseph Muscat

MOSTA