I am surprised that the writer of the letter Iraq war factor in tsunami aid mentions that the oil-rich Middle Eastern countries have not donated generously to the tsunami victims as they are '... bankrolling the war in Iraq and providing free oil for the Western allies' planes, tanks, ships, helicopters and armoured vehicles'.

What does this mean? When a Muslim country (Iraq) is attacked, they provide support but when another Muslim country (Indonesia) suffers from a natural disaster they give the excuse that can't afford to give much because they are supporting a war?

If Muslims cannot help their own Muslim brethren, they should not be paranoid about Western countries helping the Aceh people. At least the Western countries took concrete action while the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) was still discussing the matter after two weeks.

And where are the Arab volunteers in the relief efforts? At least there are Malaysian volunteers and I am very proud of this.

This article When Muslims suffer, it's the West that helps out should be interesting to read.