Mail Call.(Letter to the Editor)

Bin Laden's War Goes Global

Not all Muslims have a secret agenda for world conquest," e-mailed one reader in response to our Feb. 19 coverage of Osama bin Laden's growing terror network. Many thought the package was "one-sided" and inflammatory. Though we appreciate the sensitive nature of the topic, our story was careful to underline that extremism is "disowned by the vast majority of Muslims around the globe." Last week's guest essay by author Zachary Karabell made a similar point, evoking Islam as "an oasis of calm." It is also true, however, that there has been a proliferation of groups planning terror in several Muslim countries and we would be remiss not to report on this.

The Global Terror Network

I was appalled by your scary article on the "Islamic threat" to America ("A Spreading Islamic Fire," World Affairs, Feb. 19). You pick one of a handful of people who, intentionally or not, have misconstrued Islam as an open invitation to kill and portray him as a Muslim hero. Most Muslims are regular people who work, pay their taxes, send their kids to school and pray five times a day. Does that make them scary? Osama bin Laden is not a hero to me or to anyone I know. Every time there is a terrorist attack on an American target, it becomes more difficult for me to go to work: I have to provide "explanations"--like I had something to do with it. To me, the real threat is getting hurt by some misinformed overzealous Midwesterner who will try to stop the Muslim "threat" to America.

Khaled Elraie, M.D. -- Columbia, South Carolina

To link Islam with terrorism, fanaticism, fundamentalism, only serves the purpose of perpetrators of violence and terrorism. It allows them to justify their heinous crimes by giving them a religious facade, thereby legitimizing and glorifying their deeds in the eyes of their peers and of the world. You should not play into their hands, NEWSWEEK. Expose them for what they are--perhaps by initiating an objective discussion on Islamic principles and the teachings of the Prophet on nonviolence.

Arif Humayun -- Vancouver, Washington