Don’t trust the spies

[Re: “Spies at work,” April 5]: We have been closely following the important discussion in the Mirror about CSIS and the targeting of Muslim communities. The assertions made by CSIS’s communications director [Letters, April 12], John Dunn, about good relations between the spy agency and the communities it is targeting do not correspond to testimony we heard during the People’s Commission’s public hearings held in Montreal last spring.

Witness after witness spoke about the sense of intimidation and alienation in communities that CSIS is targeting. There was nothing at all vague about the detailed testimonies about experiences with CSIS, or about the sometimes devastating impact on people’s lives; from job loss after workplace visits, to social isolation, to living in limbo without legal status for years.

The final report from the hearings includes a full subsection on CSIS practices and can be downloaded at www.peoplescommission.ath.cx. Mr. Dunn should know that there is nothing “voluntary” about “assistance” provided in a context of fear. The fact that CAIR-CAN, a well-respected and very moderate national organization, has gone to the length of warning people not to cooperate with CSIS for their own safety, says a great deal about the level of distrust that CSIS practices have generated.

We hope Mr. Dunn will forgive us for not taking his invitation to report abuses to the very agency that perpetrates them very seriously. Indeed, it was the lack of effective recourse that led community organizations to establish the People’s Commission in the first place.

>> People’s Commission on Immigration Security Measures, Montreal

Hooray for sharks

In his alarming but excellent letter of April 5, “Ban shark fin soup,” Manish Patwari makes some strong comments on your welcomed film review of Sharkwater [“Biting commentary,” March 22]. This film is required viewing for all who wish to shatter the myth that the shark is simply a lazy, hungry, man-eating scavenger.

Allow this addendum, re: the food chain. Sharks are at the top of the marine food chain, and the greedy over-fishing by us folks causes that chain to crumble. Simply, the decline of the shark population increases the population of the carnivorous fish on whom they feed. This increase in population of these medium-sized predatory fish now has a domino effect on the smaller species such as salmon, cod, halibut etc., reducing their numbers. So, as a remedy, “fish farms” are established to maintain the species. These farms are inhumane, burdened with untold risks and produce fish that are fat and lazy.

Yes, ban shark-fin soup and ban cruelty toward all animals! 

>> Edward Abramic

Israel will not commit suicide

While there were three published responses to Jeff Burke’s rant against the sins of Islam [Letters, March 29], there were none about John Dirlik’s companion [Letters, March 29], which quoted one Jewish extremist who hates Arabs, while ignoring the teaching of hatred towards Jews (not Israelis) in Palestinian textbooks. Dirlik also repeated his belief in the fictitious “right of return” of the Arabs, who have been kept prisoners by their Arab brethren as pawns to be used against Israel and to avoid peace at all cost.

What Mr. Burke wrote was true with one vital exception, as pointed out in the responses. He targeted all Muslims within his letter, while, in fact, these acts were those of the significant minority of jihadist extremists. All religions have their fundamentalists. When these people use their beliefs to commit violence against others, they all become the worst of criminals. The jihadists are only the most extreme, most dangerous and most numerous right now.

Edward Abramic helpfully pointed his finger, a few weeks ago, at the small minority of Jewish extremists who believe Palestine was given to them by God, and that this is an excuse to do anything against non-Jews. He never mentioned that these people are relatively few, nor is he ever concerned with the jihadists who put Muslim children in cars and blow them up against fellow Muslims, nor the Christian extremists who murder to prevent abortion, nor the Arab Sudanese who slaughter their Muslim and non-Muslim, but non-Arab, compatriots.

We understand that the Dirliks want Israel to commit suicide. The problem is that Judaism teaches against both suicide and the equivalent of jihad, so Israelis are unlikely to do so, it seems. Repeating the demand works against any peaceful solution.

Finally, thanks for the letter from the person, who might be the president of the Flat Earth Society, for promoting the preposterous theory that 9/11 was an inside job. Whatever their faults may be, the Americans don’t do that. What next, a claim that the Holocaust is a myth?

>> Ken Frankel