Whether Manjit Bhatia ( Mideast support for US growing

) is correct in his contention that Arab Muslim support for the US invasion of Iraq is even stronger now, is something I cannot comment o­n; even though that is not the impression I have got from reading media reports o­nly.

However, I must say that it is with incredulity that I look upon his other statement that "since 1990 most Arab Muslim states have been quietly and increasingly supporting the US's Middle East policy, and even financing it".

If by this he means that Arab Muslims support (and even finance) the US policy of flagrant support for Israel in the face of the routine violence that is visited upon ordinary Palestinians by Israeli power o­n a daily basis (what else can he mean for that is at the nub of US policy in the Middle East), then Mr Bhatia must occupy a vantage point inaccessible to ordinary people.

Or is it the case that he has such a compulsive need to attack Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (which, of course, he does every opportunity he gets) even to the point of inventing ridiculous propositions?