Amir Taheri is a semi-regular columnist with the National Post, here in Canada. He definitely brings a welcome point of view from the Muslim world. Note, he is actually Iranian, not an Arab. I just hope enough Muslims are listening and/or feeling the same way.

Seems to me that there are many fairly liberal-minded Iranians (Persians - as they refer to themselves) in the US and in Canada, quite unbitten by the Islamist bug. Probably most of them got out around the time the Shah's regime was in trouble. Highly successful too. In Canada, they really mobilised around the time of Kazemi's murder - probably the same thing happened in LA which is "little Iran" in the US, but I was a little concerned to see a significant portion of the protests (though not all) were by some kind of communist party. Kazemi (sp?), Sampson...why is Canada taking all this lying down? Canada should raise a righteous storm with the Saudis and the Iranians, and ask the US to stand by us at least enough to kick up enough of a fuss and embarrassment so that next time any tyrannical regime around the world thinks thrice before abusing a Canadian citizen at the very least, and hopefully some sort of formal/informal compensation to the Kazemi family and Sampson.

Unfortunately, with our present Liberal government at the wheel, Canadian citizens have become fair game around the world. It doesn't help that we have a virtual one-party state, with a prime minister, Jean Chretien, who announced his retirement 18 months in advance. The government has been in stasis ever since, hence the tepid response to Canadians in trouble abroad (although if you're a suspected terrorist with a Canadian passport, you'll likely get prompt service). One cynic referred to past PMs like Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney as "gone, but not forgotten," while Chretien is "forgotten, but not gone." And following our weenie-like performance on Iraq, don't expect any favours from Uncle Sam. (That's at the political level - our military people are first rate, doing the best with what they have.)

My Bad- I thought he was an arab, but still, I'm impressed by the fact that Gulf News, an Arab media agency, chose to print this.