To the editors:
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Dr. Cainkar should of course be credited for consistency. Never having protested any atrocity committed by the Palestine Liberation Organization, she cannot be expected to criticize what the Iraqi allies of the PLO did in Kuwait. She has her own definition of cruelty: “But I don’t think they’re [i.e., the U.S. Government] going to loosen sanctions until Saddam Hussein is out of power. I can’t see any other reason for this kind of cruelty.”
Of course, it would be preferable if the suffering of Iraqis could be confined to the top government and military leadership. But here we come to the nub of the disservice which Dr. Cainkar’s advocacy inflicts upon her Arab friends. The complete absence of democracy in the Arab world means that the leaders never suffer until they are removed by assassination. Yet, no one ever hears pro-PLO activists like Dr. Cainkar insist that their Arab friends institute a modicum of democracy or eschew terrorism. Thus, instead of blaming the Iraqis and their Palestinian cohorts for the unspeakable crimes which they committed in Kuwait, Dr. Cainkar heaps all the blame for the suffering of Iraqis on the coalition armies.
Chicago
During the past couple of weeks there have been numerous reports verifying the accuracy of Dr. Cainkar’s observations. The United Nations, Amnesty International, Mideast Watch, a Harvard University public-health team, the Pentagon, and numerous mainstream and alternative journalists, health experts, and observers have testified to the devastating effects that the “surgical bombings” have had on many people throughout the Middle East, including our temporary allies, the Kuwaitis, the Kurds, and Iraqi Shiites.
