Dear Mr Sacranie,

I listened with interest to your interview on Radio 5 this morning.

As I understand it your point was that it is incorrect for reports to emphasise the fact that the man arrested in Sweden whilst attempting to board a plane with a pistol was a Muslim.

To some degree I can understand your point - that it is wrong to tar all Muslims with the brush of terrorism just as it is unjust to stereotype any other group. To some degree the Catholic church is facing the same problem, as there seems to be a presumption in some sections of the media that most priests are child abusers. [Incidentally, this is not special pleading, as I am not a Catholic, or indeed an anything!]. There are now many stories of people of all or no faiths/nationalities having nail scissors etc confiscated before boarding planes, and so I do not believe one can rightly say that Muslims are unfairly being targeted by airlines.

We will probably never know whether this young man was a real terrorist whether acting alone or in conjunction with others, or whether he was simply extraordinarily unwise not to realise how seriously a matter of this sort would now be viewed. If the September 11th perpetrators had been apprehended at the same point there might not have been much more evidence than in the present case. In my view the just result will not be to convict him of a conspiracy or attempt to carry out a hi-jacking, but the matter must be viewed seriously.

I wish you all the best in seeking to promote good relations between Muslims and others. I can say that the Muslims I have met initially at University in the early 1980's and since in my personal and professional life have been much like any other group of people. The problem you have at least within the UK is that it only takes a relatively small number of extremists to obtain quite disproportionate publicity, and I would accept that the media have been complicit in this to a degree. It does however mean that moderate people need to shout all the louder to be heard - of course, such people by their nature do not tend to do this!

Sincerely,

Keith Gaston

Contrary to what many Americans may be led to believe, the majority of Muslims do not want to destroy America or its people. I spent over five years living and working in Muslim countries, and the level of tolerance towards America and its people was suprisingly high, given the history of America's support for Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people, not to mention its support for the corrupt regimes of Iraq's Saddam Hussein (before the Gulf war) and Indonesia's President Suharto (before his downfall).

In fact, many Muslims have a lot of admiration and respect for America, as a champion of Human Rights, Freedom and Democracy. The general impression I received is that, whatever misgivings ordinary Muslims have over America's sometimes disastrous foreign policies, they have nothing against the American people as a whole, and would sincerely prefer to have a peaceful coexistence between America and the Muslim world.

Therefore, if Americans wants to make more friends abroad, they should send out a clear message that they are not out to 'rule the world' by force, but are prepared to 'live and let live' in a spirit of 'unity in diversity'. The great tragedy is that September 11th and Bush's 'War on Terrorism' have threatened to destroy all the goodwill towards America that has existed in Muslim countries until now.

However, ordinary, decent Americans should not live under the illusion that the whole world is against them just because the present Administration is the most corrupt, aggressive and destructive force in modern times. Most Muslims, just like ordinary Americans, basically want to get on with their lives in peace, to enjoy their families, to work and, hopefully, to prosper.

Sensible people everywhere can see that unilaterally declaring war against Iraq, or anywhere else, is wrong. Why? In moral terms, the most important reason is that, as in Afghanistan, the consequences for the civilian population are going to be devastating. As in the Gulf war, thousands of Iraqi soldiers can have no choice, under Saddam's dictatorship, but to fight and be killed. Look at the grief of an American family when one of their loved ones is killed, imagine the grief of an Iraqi family when the same thing happens, multiply it many thousands of times and you can get a picture of the scale of tragedy in a war that no one wants. Peace, for them, is not an option, but for America, it must be. Otherwise, what kind of future can ordinary Iraqis hope for if this is the sacrifice that is demanded of them?

All of this could be avoided, if the peacemakers all over this fragile world make their voices heard... NOW!
And God Bless the Peacemakers.

I am writing to thank Inayat Bunglawara for his statement published on the BBC News website concerning the possibility of war with Iraq. We do not have the right to use force to impose our will on another country that is posing no realistic threat to the UK or its neighbours in the Middle East.