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Letters to the Editor

cairolive.com readers respond to the news

Do you have an opinion on any of the topics covered by cairolive.com? Make your voice heard here.

 

 

Politics and people
A question and answer session about where we might be heading next.

(cairolive.com, October 30, 2001) These are some of the questions that came up during recent meetings in Cairo between US and Egyptian diplomats and journalists

Have the US and Arab media been fair about representing the point of view of the other?
According to Wyche Fowler, the former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, it is unfair that the Taliban point of view regarding casualty figures and the results of US operations in Afghanistan is more widely believed than the US account. Fowler also has problems with the "innocent martyr" language used by Qatari satellite channel Al-Jazeera. He thinks al-Jazeera is still developing its professionalism, much the same way it took CNN nearly half a decade, and the Gulf War, to get where it is today.

Do you see an upcoming Marshall plan put forth by the US for the Arab and Muslim world?
According to Edward Walker, the former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel, that term is too loaded to use in the present context. He is, however, an advocate of a controlled Marshall plan for the modern day.

How serious do you find the growing trend in the US -- whether within media or policy making circles -- to consider any criticism of US foreign policy a sign of disloyalty?
Walker told AP that it was a difficult dynamic. When traveling in the Middle East -- as he is doing this week during a "three-week, six-nation journey of dialogue through the region... You have to speak their language... You have to show a level of sympathy and openness and frankness that can get you in trouble back home.''

There has been some commentary in the Egyptian press about the US taking on some elements of "third world" countries regarding curtailing of freedom of expression, civil liberties, etc., in the aftermath of September 11. How do you feel about that?
Walker admits that there will be a "tightening up." But since Americans' attention spans are limited, it will be hard to keep it up. There is a correcting mechanism in American politics and society, Walker argues, "So I'm not worried."

What can Egypt do?
This is an opportunity for the Arab world to make itself better known to the US, emphasizes Walker. You've got to put the resources into it." Israelis understand that -- and in this critical period, the Arab world must understand it as well.



A call for more
A former ambassador says the US and Egypt need to recognize the "intensity and level of ignorance" of their peoples regarding the other.

Satisfied for now
Egypt is caught up in a long-standing US foreign policy debate between coalition builders and unilateralists

Mission after mission
Egyptian think tanks talk initiatives during US trips.


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