Dean right on U.N. foot-dragging

To the editor:

Howard Dean has got it right about the United Nations and our allies dragging their collective feet when the tough decisions need to be made. The Arab militia Janjaweed has been burning villages and raping their inhabitants for several months.

Kofi Annan has accepted the Islamic Sudanese government's word that reports of violence are either false or greatly exaggerated. Annan appears to owe his job as head of the United Nations to the 64 Muslim nations that voted for him.

The Janjaweed are not killing the southern Sudanese just because they are Christian. Many of them are Muslim. They are killing them because they are black and because many of those who are not Muslim rebelled against the Islamic law (Shar'ia) that punishes them through extra taxation (jizya) for not being Muslim.

If Dean is not more careful with publishing his honest thoughts, he may find himself removed from John Kerry's team. I will definitely start reading more of Dean's columns that you publish.

ROBERT LUCAS, Cape Girardeau