Letter to America: Your comments

Having watched the programme I found I agreed with some aspects, but not others. It appears to me though that following the terrorist attacks in September, there is considerable demand for USA citizens to reflect on why they are so supposedly despised. Accepting that this may be true, I believe that this may be a good time for Muslims to reflect on why they are themselves in conflict with others in so many parts of the world. No doubt the blame lies with the others.
Stephen Gash, England

I'm afraid that I started sympathetic and finished watching, worried about blaming America for everything, when it was obvious that much of the suffering and oppression was self imposed. What a missed opportunity for balanced view.
Roger Eden

I watched your TV program tonight and I thought it was really good! It gave another perspective to the whole conflict and I think it is very important to have more than one source of information. Do not only read British and American newspapers, go and read the "enemies" newspaper... and you will be surprised how events will be told differently.
Judith

As an American who is married to a European and moved to the UK to raise his family, I watched with interest Sunday's "Correspondent". There were many challenging points made, and for that reason alone I found the programme most valuable.
Kirk Peterson, U.S.A / U.K.

I am a Muslim born and raised in Canada and now living in London. I have shared the pain and suffering in watching the events of 11 September, but at the same time been disgusted by the western media in covering Islamic issues. There has been blatant bigotry and racism in British and American newspapers, that has added to my whole disgust on the issue of the Middle Eastern unrest with America. It's nice to finally see someone present a well balanced view of what is really the general feeling among Muslims. Along with the general ignorance that America has exercised historically to present day. Thank you.
Hussain Yoosuf, UK

I'd like to commend Ms. Kabbani on her excellent report last night on "Correspondent". It really is a breath of fresh air when we have Arabs reporting on the true feeling of other Arabs on the street and why such feelings have arisen. It has become so tedious and frustrating to watch news about the Middle East without really getting the Middle Eastern perspective and exploring the underlying issues behind such views.
Ragheb Khourshid, UK

In view of the strong anti-USA/UK sentiments expressed in your programme 9 December would it have been better if the various Arab countries portrayed had remained under the rule of the Ottoman Empire?
PR Bolt, UK

I have never seen such shameful anti-Americanism in my life. There was no balance view in this programme. And we are led to believe that everything bad in the Muslim world is caused by America. When did countries stop being responsible for their own actions? So all of a sudden Iran for example is a nice sweet country that was destroyed by America some 40 years ago. Given the opportunity, most of us outside would like to live in America. There is no country on this planet that has a clean past. But it is easy nowadays to criticise America.
Dragzed

I would like to congratulate the Correspondent team for producing an excellent thought-provoking programme. As an American who has lived outside the US since 1985 I found it challenging and enlightening in equal measure.
Michelle Bailey, UK

Despite the fact that there is to be a reply to this "Letter to America" next week, we do not think such an extreme anti-USA programme should broadcast as an item without any balancing viewpoint. The extreme bias of this programme is calculated to promote the racist tendencies and hostility to our democratic regime, of some of the minority groups in our country.
John & Rosemary Bissett

I can sympathise with the feelings of oppression and exploitation expressed by contributors to your programme but societies must recognise their own compliance in this process. Unfortunately your programme reflected this victim mentality. I grew up in Iran during the Mossadeq regime. It is time for Middle Eastern countries to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated and stop blaming others for all wrongs. They should establish democratic solutions to long-standing problems instead of tolerating dictatorships, the use of the gun and corruption. Shouting "Death to America" and burning the stars and stripes only demonstrates ignorance ripe for exploitation.
Darius, England

A very good programme. Over simplified some of the issues but good if it is see by those to whom it is addresses. And if they do will they believe it?
Eugene Forrester

I was glad to see a programme that laid the case for the ordinary people in the Islamic world which is felt quite strongly by me as an Anglo Asian from Pakistan.
Tahir Hussain, England

I feel the coverage of the subject of Arab/World politics was superb! Over the last year I have increased my interest in world affairs and have found the most commonly available media sources sadly lacking in the depth that your show demonstrated, in particular that vigil in Iran.
Terry Neil

I was the first British / Iranian to ever return to Iran to undertake my National Obligation of Military Service at the age of 23 at the time - in 1992. Prior to this I had also completed a Professional Pilots Program in Florida, USA. Having lived in America and Iran within a space of four years I found the underlying issues between the East and the West to be that of cultural differences and lack of respect and understanding. Your account was very factual and accurate but most Iranians don't really know a lot about America and Americans know very little about Iran other than what they are told. Which you highlighted with the American Christian School. Look forward to seeing more programmes on this subject.
Frank

I imagine that many viewers will think that a report, by a Syrian journalist, about Muslim attitudes to the USA, will be heavily biased. I don't think so. I am British, white, an atheist and an ex-soldier who first went to the Middle East to fight Iraq, and now I work all over the Middle East. I already knew many of the reasons for resentment and hate of the USA in the Middle East before I watched your programme, but I think that Rana Kabbani's report made this information easy to digest for anyone who's never been there. I was in Tehran on 11 September and saw the grief and empathy displayed by so many Iranians, and it surprised me. Not because, like so many ignorant people, I see all Middle Eastern Muslims as rabid, anti-West terrorists, but because I know that the very people who were crowding the streets and lamenting with the rest of the world had every reason to hate the USA and applaud that awful atrocity. It's a shame that pictures of the Iranian mourners weren't beamed around the world - it would have shown the ignorant majority that most Muslims are compassionate and humane people. There are two sides to every story.
Ben Reid

The theme of the programme - about raising awareness, not inciting "propaganda" has helped make sense for me at least about this madness. I'm 18 year old white male.
Ollie Warman, UK

May I express my appreciation at Ms Rana Kabbini's programme. As one who has served in the Middle East (as a UN technical expert) I feel she has epitomised the feelings of many of my friends in the area.
Charles Hughes, Britain

One thing to remember is that the kind of US foreign policy is most definitely something which is not targeted at either Arabs or Muslims. Also the vast majority of the US people have little idea of how their country can behave to the rest of the world. But tend to react in hostile disbelief or be of the "they must have done something bad" kind of viewpoint. The idea that the US government is anything other than the defender of freedom and democracy (which isn't actually the case even within the US) appears to be almost heretical to 90% of people in the US. But until the US changes the way it deals with the rest of the world which would include ceasing to interfere with other governments in secret, following treaties on everything from the environment to child abduction and probably making some kind of reparations to a long list of countries then there will continue to be conditions which encourage people to "strike back" against the US in whatever ways are possible.
Mark Evans, UK

I am very grateful to you and the BBC for representing what millions of Arab citizens, Muslims and non-Muslims belive. Moreover, these views are shared by millions of non-Arabs who also believe that the US are responsible for the utmost part of their problems.
Ayman Alloush, UK

Now besides the state run propaganda against the US inside Iran, general public opinion here is with the US. Nobody hates America, but we wish Americans would come and save us from Mullahs, as they saved Afghan people!
Saeed Vahid, Iran

Rana Kabbani did little to help the situation, her programme was so narrow that it lost its effectiveness. I was appalled at the selective use of incidents and footage, most of which were taken in the wrong context to paint America as more or less wrong on all counts in its dealings with the Arab / Middle Eastern world. Her attitude of, lets blame everyone else, except us (the Arab or Middle Eastern world) is totally non-productive to Arab / Non - Arab relations. I am also very disappointed with the BBC in letting the programme in this format to have air time as it probably further marginalized peoples views on Arab sensibilities.

Like all things in life it is up to the citizens of such countries to really make the changes themselves if they are not ready for it no one has the right to force change on them. To blame outside forces is ultimately a cop out and to continue with this stance will win little sympathy. Sorry BBC, Letter to America was crude and never really got under the skin of the real issues, please try and find someone that will take a dig at the real issues.
Chris Cassop, UK

Until your programme tonight, I had felt most of the television reporting was fairly narrow. There are real dangers we may be creating more terrorists by our strategy of our friends being the enemies' enemy. In the long term we have to go much deeper than this to find the real common ground where financial and strategic interests play a less prominent part and trust between others can be cultivated.
Tim Martin, UK

We wish to extend our sincere congratulation on tonight's programme "Letter to America" with Rana Kabbani. This was an excellent examination of the current predicament facing the Arab World and its relations with America. NABA welcomes the hard work being done by the BBC through its television, radio and World Service to inform and question the public on this very critical issue and by opening avenues for debate, has proved itself to be a proponent of intelligent and informed media coverage.
Dr Ismail Jalili, UK

I may sound condescending or cynical, but is the core problem of the Arab world not its own tradition of repression and corruption? It is no doubt more convenient to put the blame on others, and goodness knows Western countries make pursue their own interests and make their own mistakes, but if you compare the so-called pro-western regimes with the so-called anti-imperialist ones, the latter (e.g. Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Libya) are by no means nicer to their own people than the former. I think the only hope for Arabs is that they learn to govern themselves with minimum standards of integrity and effectiveness; this will cause relief rather than concern in the Western world, because it will stem the flow of migrants and refugees.
Bert Smilde, Netherlands

BBC used to be a reliable, decent and unbiased source of information. I am afraid that fact-twisters like these will deprive you of that hard earned credit rather fast. Being born in Syria does not make anybody a good journalist capable of an objective presentation of facts. I simply did not believe my senses watching this programme. But maybe times are changing too fast for me. Still, I am not sure whether to feel pity for myself or for the BBC. Good luck to you, anyway.
Martin, Ireland

At last, a balance to the incredibly one sided view reported by the media so far, of the issues that surround the events of 11 September. The programme highlighted the very aggressive nature of US foreign policy in trying to preserve its socio-economic grip on the world economy and helps to understand why there is a trail of countries around the world that have such hatred for the US. I look forward to the second part of this insight.
Allen, UK

Whilst I realise you film was a "Letter to America", it was so hopelessly one sided that it became little more than propaganda. One of your interviewees, an Iranian gentleman, stated that the US does not allow the Arab world to exist with "dignity", and that this was a major cause of the tension between our peoples. Perhaps you could enlighten me as to what Iran, Iraq et al are doing to afford dignity to those who were murdered on 11 September, and to other western people?
Mark Hanrahan, Ireland ex US