Letter to the Editor: Honolulu Advertiser

Note: The following letter was sent to the Honolulu Advertiser today in response to this article on the front page of their Sunday paper this morning:

I am dismayed and disgusted by the sub-headline on today’s (Sunday, October 16) front-page story , “Sunnis, millions of others cast vote.” The sub-headline reads, “New constitution could face defeat as some provinces back insurgency.” This statement is patently false and is neither referenced nor substantiated by the article it purports to summarize.

The largest Sunni political group in Iraq, the Iraqi Islamic Party, urged Sunnis to vote “Yes” on the proposed constitution. The only province that could remotely be considered to be “supportive” of the “insurgency” would be Anbar Province. It is here that the “insurgents” terrorize, threaten and kill those who oppose their barbaric policy of murdering Muslim men, women and children as part of a futile and twisted attempt to assert radical religious and political control over Iraq. The vast majority of Sunnis, as well as Kurds and Shi’ites, publically refer to these thugs as “terrorists” (not “insurgents” or “freedom fighters”) and want them to be killed or thrown out of their country.

To imply, as your sub-headline, that “some provinces back (the) insurgency” is a blatant, calculated and easily-refuted lie. Whatever editor wrote or approved this should be reprimanded and, in addition, a public retraction and apology should be printed as soon as possible.