DEAR PEGGY: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR                                                            peggy-north@monthlyherald.com

ARABS ARE FANATIC

Dear Peggy: The Saudi al-Qaida group who beheaded U.S. engineer Paul Johnson, posted grisly photographs of the hostage's severed head. Hours later, Arab TV reported the death of the chief suspect. President George W. Bush said: ''America will not be intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs.'' Shortly after Johnson's body was found outside Riyadh, Saudi security forces were engaged in a firefight with al-Qaida militants in the capital, said Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to the Saudi crown prince. A number of the militants had been killed, he said in Washington. The Arab satellite stations Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera reported Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the chief suspect and alleged leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia, was killed Friday. The news was given in a scrolling news bar at the bottom of the screens and it was unclear whether he was killed in the firefight. The CIA and Saudi officials in Washington were unable to immediately confirm the report of al-Moqrin's death. This show us that the CIA is up to no good. Also, it shows that Arab are barbarians. We have to stop kidding ourselves and play games on each other. Muslims hate the United States. They were born fanatic and they will die fanatic. Robert Green, Reno, Nevada, USA.

THE SAUDIS ARE LYING

Dear Peggy. Do not believe any statement issued by the Saudis. A Saudi interior ministry statement read on a Saudi television said the four militants died in a gun-battle with security forces shortly after Mr Johnson's body was discovered. At the same time, A posting on an Islamist website  connected to members of the Saudi royal family and Saudi police had denied the militant chief was dead. On the official Saudi television network, one of the broadcast photographs was of Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin. The network  showed the face of a young man with a moustache, which resembled previous pictures of him, but it was not him, many Saudis told me. This SOB is still alive. B.D. (A concerned American citizen), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

ISRAELIS ARE SHOOTING AT ENGLISH STUDENTS AND DIPLOMATS

Dear Ms Peggy: The cross-party group was on a visit to Rafah in Gaza, where UK student Tom Hurndall was killed, when they  came under fire. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Northover said machine gun fire from an Israeli observation post passed closely over their heads. The group also included MPs Huw Irranca-Davies and Crispin Blunt. Following the gun fire they pulled back to their vehicle, which was marked with the UN logo, when further shots where fired at the building next to the car. Baroness Northover said: "This incident has shown me first-hand the indiscriminate violence faced by Palestinians on a daily basis. "If the Israeli Defence Force is prepared to shoot at a delegation of parliamentarians under the supervision of the UN, one wonders what treatment ordinary Palestinians are given," she said. She said the action may have been an attempt to stop the group seeing the effect of Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian housing in Gaza. Tom Hurndall, 22, from Tufnell Park, north London, was shot in April last year while trying to help Palestinian children to safety in Rafah. An Israeli soldier is being tried for the killing. I thought your readers should know about this...Ken West, London, UK.

Continues on the following pages.