Robert Kilroy-Silk's article in this Sundays Express is extremely offensive
and it is very important that as many people as possible write to the Sunday
Express about it. Also bear in mind that he is employed by the BBC, i.e. we pay his salary.

Please write/e-mail or fax to let them know your disgust at this article. The contact details are as follows:

Sunday Express
United Media
Ludgate House
245 Blackfriars Rd
London, SE1 9UX
 expressletters@express.co.uk (e-mail)
020 7620 1654 (fax)

The article is below:

We owe Arabs nothing.
Robert Kilroy-Silk, Express on Sunday, 4th January 2004

WE ARE told by some of the more hysterical critics of the war on terror that
"it is destroying the Arab world". So? Should w e be worried about that?
Shouldn't the destruction of the despotic, barbarous and corrupt Arab states
and their replacement by democratic governments be a war aim? After all, the
Arab countries are not exactly shining examples of civilisation, are they?
Few of them make much contribution to the w elfare of the rest of the world.
Indeed, apart from oil - which was discovered, is produced and is paid for
by the West - what do they contribute? Can you think of anything? A nything
really useful? Anything really valuable? Something we really need, could not
do without? No, nor can I. Indeed, the Arab countries put together export
less than Finland.

We're told that the Arabs loathe us. Really? For liberating the Iraqis? For
subsidising the lifestyles of people in Egypt and Jordan, to name but two,
for giving them vast amounts of aid? For providing them w ith science,
medicine, technology and all the other benefits of the West? They should go
down on their knees and thank God for the munificence of the United States.
What do they think we feel about them? That we adore them for the w ay they
murdered more than 3,000 civilians on September 11 and then danced in the
hot, dusty streets to celebrate the murders?

That we admire them for the cold-blooded killings in Mombasa, Y emen and
elsewhere? That we admire them for being suicide bombers, limb-amputators,
womenrepressors? I don't think the Arab states should start a debate about
what is really loathsome.
But why, in any case, should we be concerned that they feel angry and loathe
us? The Arab world has not exactly earned our respect, has it? Iran is a
vile, terrorist-supporting regime - part of the axis of evil. So is the
Saddam Hussein-supporting Syria. So is Libya. Indeed, most of them chant
support for Saddam.

That is to say they support an evil dictator who has gassed hundreds of
thousands of their fellow Arabs and tortured and murdered thousands more.
How can they do this and expect our respect?

Why do they imagine that only they can feel anger, call people loathsome? It
is the equivalent of all the European nations coming out in support of
Hitler the moment he was attacked by the US, because he was European,
despite the fact that he was attempting to exterminate the Jews - and Arabs.


Moreover, the people who claim we are loathsome are currently threatening
our civilian populations with chemical and biological weapons. They are
promising to let suicide bombers loose in Western and American cities. They
are trying to terrorise us, disrupt our lives.

And then they expect us to be careful of their sensibilities? We have
thousands of asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen,
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries living happily in this country on
social security.
This shows what their own people think of the Arab regimes, doesn't it?
There is not one single British asylum seeker in any Arab country. That says
it all about which country deserves the epithet loathsome.

(c) Copyright Express Newspapers 2004 The Express on Sunday