Ms. Schneider wasted no time accusing the Democrats of playing

the blame game when it comes to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist

attacks, but we should not assume that the culpability for that

horrific day has not been diverted back to the Clinton

administration by many high-ranking Republicans.

Many who testified before the Sept. 11 commission blamed the lax

preparedness of our country on the fact that Clinton did nothing to

stop al Qaeda. I propose these questions to Ms. Schneider: When the

next terrorist attack occurs within the United States, who will be

seen as responsible by the Republicans? Clinton, who left office

four years ago, or George Bush, who had eight months before Sept.

11 and years after to face terrorism head on? Instead of

dismantling al Qaeda, Bush undermined the war on terrorism by the

pre-emptive invasion of Iraq and ushered in an age of unparalleled

terrorism and anti-American sentiment worldwide. How’s that for

finger pointing?

Ben Martin

Sophomore, open option

I am writing with reference to the April 13 letter to the editor

from Chuck Fogland, chairman of the CSU College Republicans. Mr.

Fogland made a number of factually incorrect references to The

Electronic Intifada, a Web site I co-founded. I would appreciate

you printing this letter to set the record straight.

First, if Mr. Fogland had actually visited our Web site, he

would know that the correct URL is www.electronicIntifada.net. He

would also know that he is incorrect when he claims that we are

“boycotting ‘McHebrew’ (anti-Semitically McDonald’s).”

In fact, we are not boycotting McDonald’s, nor have we called

for anyone else to boycott McDonald’s. What we have done is publish

a number of articles that expose the fact that McDonald’s

subsidiary in Israel has an explicit policy banning its Arab

employees from speaking to each other or to customers in Arabic,

even though Arabic is — along with Hebrew — an official and

native language of Israel. This sort of racist discrimination may

be routine and permissible in Israel, but we do not think an

American firm espousing American values ought to have any part of

it. CSU students who visit our site will be able to read our

articles for themselves and see copies of the statements from

McDonald’s Corporation in Oakbrook, Ill., and McDonald’s Israel

that acknowledge and defend the existence of this outrageous

policy.

On one of our graphics, we replaced the word McDonald’s with

“McHebrew.” This is a reference to McDonald’s outrageous ban on

Arabic. Mr. Fogland’s assertion that this is “anti-Semitic” is

unfortunately characteristic of many who want to silence debate

about Israel’s policies and U.S. support for them by labeling all

criticism and discussion as being racist.

Ali Abunimah

Co-founder, The Electronic Intifada

Chicago