SCURRILOUS ATTACK

New York City

Sinan Antoon's attack on Kanan Makiya, "Dissident or Apologist?" [Feb. 3], is scurrilous; its publication reflects badly on The Nation's judgment. Makiya's hope that American intervention will establish democracy in Iraq is, in my view, quixotic. But one has only to read his books to understand that what drives this hope is not support for George W. Bush's imperial ambitions but desperation at the condition of Iraqis and conviction that a successful internal revolt is not possible. And one has only to read his devastating critique of Arab intellectuals' apologias for nationalism, Islamism and authoritarian regimes to understand why he is not particularly popular among his fellow exiles. The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose leader, Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, Antoon quotes approvingly, is based in and supported by Iran. Evidently Antoon thinks it's progressive to be a fundamentalist, so long as you're against a US war. Unwittingly, he makes Makiya's point.

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