Letters to the Editor, November 17, 2004

Condolences & Celebration of the Life of President Arafat

The Iranian-American Community (IACUS) extends its condolences to the Palestinain people and the people of the Middle East as a whole on the occasion of the passing of President Yasser Arafat.

The struggles of the Palestinians against the Zionist regime in Israel and for their right of return is a just one and should be supported by the entire humanity.

By now, the world community is fully aware that the regime of Apartheid in Israel is the biggest threat to the peace in the Middle East.

The world community as a whole -- just as it condemned Nazi Germany, just as it condemned and outcast the regime of Apartheid in South Africa, should rally to bring an end to the system of Apartheid, racism, and fascism in Israel.

For a free and democratic Palestine,

Iranian-American Community (IACUS)

http://members.aol.com/iaczine/

After Rumsfeld said there wouldn't be many civilian casualties and Allawi said there hadn't been any ...

http://fallujapictures.blogspot.com/ Fallujah in Pictures November 15, 2004

American soldiers shooting civilians

Dear Editor,

Some of the US Marines have surely proven themselves to be some the worst war criminals in military history by their attack on the people of Fallujah. This was clear for anyone individual watching almost any news broadcast except the propagandist American networks.

BBC for example showed about ten minutes of American attacks against insurgents. The American soldiers were even shooting when the BBC showed what it itself verified were civilians.

Although the BBC did once accuse the Iraqi freedom fighters of feigning surrender, they never showed pictures to back up these claims.

Instead they showed only pictures of significantly out armed freedom fighters courageously trying to defend their land from the world’s most high tech army. An army that is attacking religious sites and hospitals right in front of BBC cameras.

Regards,

Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler

Washington, DC 20008 USA

Fallujah

The US military continues its assault on Fallujah. An assault which has already left hundreds of people dead. Thousands are left injured and homeless and without clean water which causes diseases like cholera. This is genocide by the US Government and its allies. This is the government that 52% of Americans have voted for.

Australia is no better. I was ashamed of my countrymen/women when they voted for the war criminal John Howard. They should just leave Iraq alone which they should have done in the first place.

Janice Keenan, Australia

Yasser Arafat's death

There are questions regarding Yasser Arafat's recent death that still have to be answered.

Yasser Arafat's Jordanian physician, Ashraf al-Kurdi, has recently requested an autopsy in order to further address the suspicion of poisoning of Arafat that surfaced over the intense secrecy surrounding his condition prior to his death.

What Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi doesn't know is that the French doctors have arrived to a diagnostic but due to the severity of the disease they had to seal all the medical records.

However, just looking at the reports over Arafat's health prior to the point where it was declared a secret, e.g. digestive problems, seizures, a large drop in blood pressure and reports that he had his internal organs inflammed, corroborated with his prior heart disease, it looks like he had advanced generalized vascular disease (endothelial dysfunction) with vascular collapse.

His coma was induced by his doctors to suppress his distress from the disease symptoms and the cerebral haemorrhage reported in the last days before the death was a lie because it was impossible to happen in a patient with hypotension.

It is therefore, most likely that Yasser Arafat was merci killed by the French doctors with the approval of his family and possibly of the French government and a few top Palestinian politicians. While this may seem irrational to somebody without medical clinical knowledge about endothelial dysfunction, it is the only humane approach that the majority of unknown patients are not offered.

Sincerely,

Francois Bertrand

Cause of Arafat's Death

Dear Sir or Madam:

Can you explain to me why there is such a paucity of information concerning the cause of Arafat's death? The BBC reported that he may have been poisoned, but it seems that the media are not pursuing this. My personal feeling is that he was, indeed, poisoned.

Sincerely yours,

Mary Zoeter, Alexandria, Virginia

Editor: The French medical report has been given to his wife, Suha. She has not said anything with regard to poisoning. I don't see why would she be silent if that was the case. The Palestinian Prime Minister, Qurei, also demanded a copy of the report officially on Tuesday (Nov 16, 2004). The issue is too serious not to be covered by the media.

Here's a news article about the subject:

I think Arafat was poisoned' : Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi 12/11/2004 15:33 - (SA) http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1620286,00.html

Amman - A leading Jordanian neurologist who regularly examined Yasser Arafat said on Friday that poisoning was the "highest" probable cause of the Palestinian leader's mysterious death and urged that an autopsy be performed.

"One of the causes of platelet deficiency is poison," said Dr Ashraf al-Kurdi, who examined a gravely ill Arafat in his besieged compound in the West Bank town of Rammallah two weeks ago.

Arafat died on Thursday in Paris, where he had flown on October 29 for treatment after tests indicated he had a low count of blood platelets, components that help clotting.

Although "not definitive, I believe the highest reason for Arafat's mysterious death is poisoning," al-Kurdi told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday.

"Therefore, there should be an autopsy performed," added al-Kurdi, who had been Arafat's personal physician for the last two decades.

There has been widespread speculation that Arafat could have been poisoned by Israel. Neither doctors nor Palestinian leaders have said what caused Arafat's death after days in a coma at a Paris hospital.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday dismissed allegations that Israel killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "scandalous and false."

Edited by Andrea Botha