thr 054                                                               


Press-US-Arab Suspects   /GNR/                                        


  Daily calls for greater caution, prudence and reason on part of US 


Tehran, Sept 25, IRNA -- `Iran Daily' on Tuesday called for "great    


caution, prudence and reason on the part of Washington" before it     


embarks on any move that could target the wrong people and cause a    


greater tragedy of human lives.                                       


     The English-language daily was referring to new developments     


which point to a case of "mistaken identity" with respect to four of  


the 19 Arabs now suspected of having had a role in the U.S. bombings. 


    It said the four have given interviews to the press proving that  


they are alive and could therefore not have carried out the gruesome  


attacks in the U.S. on September 11.                                  


    The FBI has also confessed that some of the names on the suspect  


list maybe incorrect, it went on to say.                              


    These developments have therefore raised "serious doubts on the   


veracity of statements by American officials on the real identities   


of the perpetrators of the heinous crime that cost thousands of       


innocent lives in New York and Washington," it pointed out.           


    But while Washington's "pain and anger is understandable,"        


the US must nevertheless exercise "great caution, prudence and        


reason," stressed the daily.                                          


    It then cited a rather strange incident of two Indians, arrested  


recently in Singapore in the wake of tightened security measures in   


countries of the world after the U.S. bombings, to support its claim  


that hysteria should not prevail in the aftermath of the suicide      


attacks.                                                              


    In a conversation with an American, the Indians said they were    


"bass guitarists." Because of their heavy Indian accent, the          


American mistakenly heard them as saying they were "Bosnian           


terrorists".                                                          


    "There is a world consensus to fight global terrorism," but       


it is the West that is being too "selective" in its campaign against  


this scourge, hit out the paper.                                      


    "Terrorist groups fighting elected Muslim governments are         


labelled in the Western press as "armed opposition" or "rebels" and   


provided safe haven and even support in the West," decried the daily. 


    But the West must realize that "anti-Westernism in Islamic states 


and generally in the Third World is not directed against democracy,   


human rights, freedom of speech or their scientific development,"     


pointed out the daily.                                                


    "The West in the Muslim world has come to be synonymous with      


double-standards, exploitation, self-interests and arrogance and the  


Muslim indignation is directed against them," it added.               


    What makes the whole issue more frustrating is the fact that the  


Western public considers Muslims as "irrational savages" and          


"primitives" who are incapable of living normal human lives, it said. 


    However, they fail to accept or take seriously any criticisms of  


their policies and stances emanating from the Islamic world, it       


added.                                                                


    It must be borne in mind that "demonizing" one another will not   


yield any positive results and will not solve any problem either,     


advised the article.                                                  


    The need of the hour is to find ways to "coexist with peace,      


understanding and tolerance," emphasized the daily.                   


FH/LS                                                                 


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::irna    15:11