In response to David Johnson’s “Treat the cause, not the symptoms,” I found many of his allegations to be quite disturbing, particularly his description of the Arab people as spoiled children who “live in a fantasy world filled with unearned material goods” and are “unable to understand that wealth is created by creativity and hard work.” I am appalled by Johnson’s arrogant and bigoted remarks. Is he suggesting that while Americans are capable of creativity and hard work, the Arab people are not? Does he really believe that the people living in Iraq, a third-world nation, are living in a dream world? I am afraid that it is David, who is out of touch with reality. As a U.S. citizen, he obviously fails to realize and appreciate how fortunate he is to be living in a country where opportunities are ubiquitous and resources are abundant.

If anyone deserves to be called “spoiled”, it is ourselves – the people of this country. We often take too many things for granted, such as a college education, that people in other countries have little or no chance of obtaining. Although U.S. citizens make up less than five percent of the world’s population, we still manage to consume 30 percent of the world’s resources. The fact that many U.S. citizens have absolutely no knowledge of world events, yet indulge themselves in countless hours of “reality” TV programming proves that we, not the Iraqis, are the ones who are detached from reality.

Johnson’s comment about democracy and the Iraqi people is simply absurd. Face it; we were never there to help the Iraqi people. We never cared, even for a moment, about the people of Iraq. If you thought it was democracy we were bringing to Iraq, you were dead wrong. Because all we brought was death and suffering.

Tuwin Lam

junior in engineering