Anger

As a parent of three Ithaca College students, two active and one graduated, I am deeply upset and disturbed with the article by Asma Barlas.

This article is totally unprofessional and presents a blatant political agenda. Professor Barlas picks up isolated incidents of U.S. government action and extrapolates from them to infer the intent behind U.S. foreign policy. After distorting or selecting the facts for her purposes, she presents her preconceived conclusion that the United States is the cause of all the problems in the world.

I don’t intend to dispute each individual exaggeration or mistruth in the article, but I will list two examples. The very first sentence sets the tone of deceit that is followed throughout the article. She asserts, "It is deeply upsetting to contemplate that the United States should go to war with large segments of what we misleadingly call ‘the Muslim world.’ " I have seen no newspaper, magazine, or television report that even remotely suggested that we are going to war with the Muslim world. As a matter of fact, the reporters and the government have been very careful to make it clear that U.S. efforts are focused only on terrorists and the countries that harbor them. The United States looks to Muslim countries for support and considers them allies in the war against terrorists.

As a second example, she says, "Since I first came to the United States in 1983, the United States has intervened militarily (including bombing and invading) in El Salvador, Nicaragua, . . . and Bosnia." Her obvious implication is that in every case the U.S. military action was intended to kill off our enemies, the extremists. She makes no mention of the fact that in all cases there was already a war going on and that we supported one side after being asked for help. She also ignores the fact that many fewer lives were lost because of our action to bring an end to the war than would have been lost as a result of our inaction.

The world is a better place because of the United States. Without the forward thinking, as well as the benevolent policies and actions of the United States, the world would be in chaos and Professor Barlas would not be able to sit back on her academic haunches and throw stones at the one entity holding the world together.

Rather than trying to decipher U.S. policy from her distorted view of the actions, I suggest that Professor Barlas first try to understand the policy and then interpret the actions based on this understanding of intent.

As a counterpoint, I suggest you read the article by Fareed Zakaria in the October 15, 2001, issue of Newsweek entitled "Why Do They Hate Us?" Same title, very different article. This article explains the situation in the Middle East with much more objectivity and without the biased passion exhibited by Professor Barlas. I actually learned something from this article.

I do not believe the U.S. government never makes mistakes. They make plenty. After all, the government is only people, and people make mistakes all the time. However, I remain steadfast in my belief that the government’s intent is honorable and it is the intent that Professor Barlas is attacking.

My wife and I work hard and have saved money since our children were born so they could go to the college of their choice. All three chose Ithaca. However, if I had thought the atmosphere at Ithaca was perpetuating this sort of anti-American propaganda, I never would have allowed them to go there. It is one thing to have an isolated professor in the politics department espousing these thoughts, but it is entirely different to have it published in a forum that is intended to represent what is going on at Ithaca College.

David Granzin
Rochester, New York