Letter to Kuwaitis

This is an open letter from an American Citizen , that we feel is important to share with our site visitors and to boost the voice of Freedom & democracy........Thanks Dave....

Dear Kuwaiti Citizens,

Sunday 11-18-01, I watched the CBS news program, 60 Minutes. One segment was an interview with some Kuwaiti's and I was disappointed to hear that many of you despise America for what we are doing in Afghanistan and what you think is our overwhelming support for the Israelis over the Palestinians. I hope my comments help you understand more about how a common American reacts to your position.

People within the AlQaida organization and sympathizers were responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and many other terrorist actions against US interests. The evidence for that is conclusive and I am surprised you ask for proof of that when they have openly claimed responsibility. Our current actions in Afghanistan are to destroy the AlQaida network which is and has been operating in that region with the full support of the Taliban regime. The Taliban is being defeated because of their support of AlQaida. The US is not against Muslims; we have many Muslim people here and we respect all religions in this country. We have the freedom to choose any religion or none as one of our constitutional rights. Americans do not want to see the Afghan people suffer any more than they have already, we want them to have a better life with more opportunities and freedoms. We are providing them with as much humanitarian aide as we can get in to their country as we route out the AlQaida and Taliban. Furthermore, there are plans underway to destroy other terrorist groups who have attacked us and those who further plan to attempt to destroy US interests and our citizens; we will also destroy those who support those terrorists. We can not and will not tolerate the terrorist actions we have just experienced; the alternative of coping in some way with these attacks is unacceptable. There is an overwhelming majority of support amongst the citizens of the US to defeat terrorism against our country. We didn't want this war; it was declared on us by AlQaida and those who support them and those are all now our enemies.

Americans want a settlement of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. It is true that we have been very supportive of the Israelis and it primarily is due to the fact that we didn't help soon enough in the World War II era to prevent the massive killing of the Jews by Nazi Germany. We find it very difficult and impossible to forget that despicable tragedy. It is true there are substantial numbers of people of Jewish heritage in prominent positions in the US government. That is because of those individuals having substantial capabilities which have resulted in their elections or promotions to those positions. People of all nationalities have those same opportunities in this free, open and competitive society. We welcome all ethnicity in political and government service. There has been a considerable amount of support amongst Americans for an independent Palestinian state. Many of us thought Palestinian independence would result from all the efforts over the past two decades, but every time it seemed closer to a settlement there were increases in the violence that prevented progress and often resulted in destructive steps backwards. Americans don't see suicide bombings as legitimate tools to force the issue of independence for the Palestinians. We also see the construction of settlements in the West Bank by Israel as hostile actions. Most Americans are very disgusted with the actions and intolerance of the radicals and extremists on both sides. I personally am very frustrated with the leadership of the Israelis and Palestinians since they don't seem to be making any real efforts to guide and effectively govern their own people during these disturbing times. What both groups really need is sincere, forward looking leadership to establish a secure, stable and free environment in which both countries and their people can advance and prosper. Both the Palestinians and Israelis deserve American and international support to effectively resolve the crisis, but both sides must cease hostilities and put much more effort into sincere actions to build trust and peace.

Lastly, as a patriotic American I was disturbed by what I think is your short lived support of the America that liberated your country and gave it back to you. We have a devotion to our allies and Kuwait is one of them. I remember proudly placing a "Free Kuwait" sign in English and Arabic on my car in 1990. About a 95% majority of Americans were behind that effort and were so happy when the coalition finally gave you back your country. If we had not stopped the Iraqis, they would have taken Saudi Arabia also. Imagine what your lives would be like now if you were living under the rule of the current Iraqi regime. We find it very hard to comprehend why the Kuwaitis and Saudis seem to have such a low opinions of us when we made sacrifices to defend your countries. If you think it was only because you have oil resources, remember that there are other areas from which we can obtain our energy and that oil which we have purchased from Kuwait has been at international market prices.

I conclude that we are undertaking actions to make the US and much of the free world more secure against terrorists who would destroy us. Second, we want a resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians resulting in two states which can live in peace with security and opportunities for both. Third, we want to remain a friend and ally of Kuwait but this will depend on the wants of the Kuwaiti's. I am not aware of any instances when the US has remained an ally of any country which didn't want an alliance with us. I have written this because I care very much about my country and all of the people in the Middle East.

D L Anderson

Sedro Woolley, Wa

USA