Mr. Congressman, I was surprised to learn today that Mohamed Bugaighis was Libyan. In all the letters, in all the years, to The Morning Call criticizing Israel, I assumed that he was Palestinian. Today he is quoted as saying People have reached the end of their patience. LIfe isn't worth living under dictatorship. Gadhafi has been a dictator all these years that Bugaighis has been bashing Israel, the area's only democracy. Why hasn't his indignation been directed at his own country of origin, instead of Israel? I am disappointed that you have chosen to give Bugaighis a showcase for his double standard. Your constituent (and supporter) Michael Molovinsky
UPDATE: Mohamed Bugaighis does in fact have a long record of being an opponent of Gadhafi. My familiarity with him was dominated by his relentless attacks on Israel in The Morning Call.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that so many see the only good guy in the Middle East as the problem. The extent of the problem was clearly illustrated when an NPR executive was recently recorded spouting the old canard that “Jews control the media.” I have heard with my own ears many academics rail against Israel as evil while seeing only virtue in its enemies. The world is upside down and it is the nation’s intellectual elites who have it all wrong. We can only wonder how they could be so smart and so wrong at the same time.
Meanwhile those who thought Obama was the one to “deliver from evil” are being slaughtered in the Libyan desert by those who figured out he isn’t.
Scott Armstrong
Open mouth, insert foot.
ReplyDeleteBugaighis's website about Libya,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alfa-online.net/
devotes two pages against Israel. one, called Palestine shows maps and infers that he favors a one state solution, palestine with no israel. the other about gaza claims that "a few rockets" were fired from gaza. Israel endured more than 1700 in 2008 alone. strange that he would put these issues on his libyan website, but no others. he doesn't mention syria and iran in lebanon or any other arab issue. i believe that dent meant well, and bugaighis is a leading member of the local muslim community. however, his obsession against israel cannot be ignored.
I cannot comment on the Bugaighis issue but I write to defend the president's response to the situation in Libya. He is doing the right thing at this point in time. The United States cannot afford (in many ways) another war in the Middle East. Obama has evacuated all the Americans, is providing humanitarian aid and is encouraging the Europeans to take action. That is the least harmful response to a very difficult situation. Primum non nocere!
ReplyDeleteactually, i don't expect much comment on this post. yesterday there was a service at a local mosque in protest to the radical muslim hearing in washington. a local rabbi attended and symbolically declared himself a muslim in solidarity. i've never heard an iman declare himself a jew.
ReplyDelete