by Fadi Zaghmout

My dilemma


This whole so called US war on terror, or as some want to consider it as war against Islam boggles me.

Being an Arab does place me in the side of Muslims as the Arab world is the heart of Islam, most of those terrorist who claims to be Muslims come from Arabic countries, and while the US claims that its war is not against Muslims or Arabs but against radical Muslims, you can see their military actions causing much trouble in the Arab world and affecting our lives.

My friend believes that the religion tie is the strongest tie which would bring people togather. I believe that humanity tie can do a better job. But it seems that a lot people root to my friend’s idea. Most moderate muslims are annoyed of what those terrorist do to Islam, but a lot of them in the Arab world feel rage against the US administration for her backing of Israel and taking over Iraq. They have their own delimma here, most consider the US and Israel their enemies. When someone fight those states, he gets their sympathy.

If this is a war between the US and radical Muslims, then coming from a christian family, or even being not so much of a believer make me root to the US, but when it comes to affect Arabs as of perceiving the war between the US and Arabs then my patriotic feeling wins and I root to my nation.

It is all connected togather and complicated, and when you watch the different TV satellite news stations you get all missed up. For example, in the last American war on Iraq, what should my stand be? Support Saddam’s terror regime even against the will of the people he rules just because he is an Arab? or Cheering the US for getting rid of an awful regime? But then the situation on the ground in Iraq is even worse than before by having people killing each other. Is it resistance as Arabic media calls it? or terror as it sounds to be?

My life style isn’t any different than any other normal Arabic citizen, it isn’t much different than any other normal American citizen but it does contradict big time with some radical religious people way of living.

I drink Pepsi and Coca cola. I so often eat in Burger king, Mc Donald, or KFC. I like my coffe from Starbucks. I work on HP PC runned by Microsoft windows. I have Yahoo, MSN and Google email addresses, I use the MSN messenger, and blog on blogger.com. I watch MBC4 and ONE TV, I love American series, and TV shows. Watch OPRAH, DR. PHIl, The Insider, and the ABC morning news. I go to cinema to watch Hollywood movies. I read American novels and books. I long for democracy, more social freedom, and human rights. I wear a jeans and a t-shirt. I don’t have my beard long, or wear a long white dress. I don’t want to cover my women or see women being covered. I don’t want seperation between sexes as in Saudi Arabia, or Iran. I don’t want to root for someone who considers a woman showing her shoulders as nudity, make-up as sluttiness, and music as immoral.

Who is the real threat to my life style? To many Arabs way of living that doesn’t differ from the rest of the world way of living now in this globalization era?

60 Comments

  1. hah…Well-said. You took the words out of my mouth.I am Atheist(by my own choice) but by blood, I am muslim too. And I hate the way people categorize “terrorists” as one religion = Islam. Innocent people (us) are labelled for sins we haven’t committed and things we don’t support (war).

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  2. Thanks Saadna.You are right. You would feel being on the side of Islam for being one by blood, but feel like being on the other side as of the style of living that you like to have and your own set of believes and moral structures. I was born with Christian blood, but feel like being on the side of Islam because I am an Arab.

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  3. No one is judging you just because you’re living there, and if anyone is – they are just morons and don’t even merit your worries.By the way, just some factual accuracy: I am not chosing sides in this “war”. Never have. And I don’t label people because of this war. I just hope it ends soon!

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  4. Unfortunately there are many mornons in this world! They judge you merely based on your race, skin color, or believe system.And sometime you feel obliged in taking sides when people around you and media push and plays upon your patriotic feelings, but you are right, I dont have to. I don’t want war, and don’t have to fight, and wish all this mess would end up soon as well.

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  5. <>They judge you merely based on your race, skin color, or believe system.<>Yeah, unfortunately, you’re right. Wow. I wish there were more people like me – the world would be such a better place. 😉Jokes aside, I just heard there’s been a ceasefire. So hopefully, c’est fini.

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  6. <>They judge you merely based on your race, skin color, or believe system.<>Yeah, unfortunately, you’re right. Wow. I wish there were more people like me – the world would be such a better place. 😉Jokes aside, I just heard there’s been a ceasefire. So hopefully, c’est fini.

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  8. http://globalverm.blogspot.com/It must be a difficult position to be torn by all of these different ideas, beliefs, and religions. You seem to be rational and not filled with the hate that we see in the world today. I do ask how you respond to the quote that I have heard to try to describe how many Americans on the right (like me) feel…”Not many Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists who are attacking the US are Muslims.” Also, it is not lost on me that there is a big difference between Arabs and Persians. I actually fear the Persians more that I do Arabs. The Persians want to defeat the US, Israel, and make all in the Mideast to conform to Shiite religious law. Feel free to visit my site, thanks

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  9. Hi Globalverm, nice site…I dont agree in the term Persians. I don’t think that we still have Persians, we do have Iranians people. Yes, the Iranian regime seem to be a bigger threat on the US and Israel than of the whole Arab countries. They do have strong ideology and interests that contradict with yours in the US.“Not many Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists who are attacking the US are Muslims.” This is true, but I think that most of us know the answer of yout question. Most Muslims feel opression because of the US policy around the world, and the US constant backing for Israel. So you have most Muslims feel anger and bitterness, but only few, who are used by some extremist organisations to act as a terrorists.

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  10. Thank you for the post, its hard to get comments as sincere and thought out in an open blog like mine and yours. In Persian I only mean non-arab in my mind, most US citizens would think that all arabs are persians and persians are arabs, I hope you understand that I wanted you to know that I understand some of the cultural differences in the region.I have heard the support for Israel argument before for why many hate the US, and so I would like to see what you think of my view on this. Why does the US support the Israelis? Does it have to do with common religion? NO. US mostly Christian, Israel mostly Jews. Does it have to do with common past? A little bit, we have some Jews in the US that were persecuted during the WWII, but most of them are past on by now. I know that many in my grandfathers generation are ashamed that they let the Germans kill all the Jews in the WWII, but much of that emotional attachment has faded away in the newer generations. When the league of nations set up Israels international border it did take some land from Arabs. But who had the land 1st? Well it was Greek, then Jewish, then Roman, then Ottoman, then Egyptian, then Christian, then Jewish, then the Muslums, then the Christians, then the Muslums again…you get the point. As a Christian I recognize that many of the miracles that happen in the Old Testament happen to Jews in current day Israel, I also know from my study of the Koran that many of the occurances happen in Judea also. I believe this is what you speak of when you call Hezbollah a resistance force. OK, I see the history, but what about the tactics they use? 1979 214 US military Peace Keepers and 150 French Peace Keepers blown apart in barracks while they slept. The largest non Nuclear explosion in history…why? Israel has never attacked the US, that is one reason that we support them. The other reason? Balance of power brings stability in situation. If the US suddenly took back all its weapons and said that we no longer support the Israeli right to exist…I ask, how long would there be 6 million Jews in Israel? How long would it take for the whole mideast to explode? So here is a prediction, as the enemies of Israel get stronger, the support that they get from the US will be stronger and more involved. Yes, I see the paradox here, but how is it to stop? Disarm Hezbollah and the Israelis leave them alone, disarm Israel and there is no more Israel. The only way for this to stop is two ways. 1st complete military defeat of one of the players here. Or 2, the deep long rooted hate for Jews must stop. The moderate muslums have to say enough from these terrorist groups and say…stop or we will stop you. Unfortunely none of these seem likely. So that is why I say I am proud that my countries Bombs kill the Hezbollah,(not the civilians that they hide behind). The way I see it is that they killed out of no provocation 214 US Marines and for that they should be defeated.Hope I didn’t ramble on too much.Please visithttp://globalverm.blogspot.com/ThanksGlobal Verm

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  11. No globalverm, you didn’t ramble too much, I can see where you are coming from, and see that you can see how Arabs and Muslims feel bitterness and anger towards the US for backing what they believe their enemy Israel.You said it yourself, without the US support to Israel, those 6 million Jews wouldn’t be living in Israel. So you can understand the other side feelings.Now as of the moderate muslims saying no to terrorist groups. I say that I live among muslims, I am christian, but I can give a clear picture of the situation in Jordan. I wont say most, it is nearly all of the muslims I know are fed up of those terrorists (not Hezbollah cause they consider it as a legimate resistance), but Al-Qaeda and other terror organisations that are giving a bad impression about Islam. They have ruined Muslim and Arab reputation in the world, where uneducated people around the world (which are many) percieve all Muslims and Arabs now as terrorists which isn’t true.I am not sure it is Hezbollah who killed those US Marines in 1979, I think it was another kind of Palestinian melichias back then, but regardless of that incident, and looking at the current situation on groud, you can see that Hezbollah is only fighting Israel for their occupation of some land in Lebanon. Why would you consider that as terror? and even counting the numbers of civilians killed vs the military people killed in this war, you can till that even in ration Israel killed much more civilians than Hezbollah.You can tell from my post which started all this conversation that I don’t support Hezbollah, neither it’s ideology, and yes, I didn’t like how it provoked Israel by kidnapping those 2 soldiers, but excuse me they are only 2 soldiers, Israel declared a fierce war on the lebanese! It destroyed their country and killed many for only 2 soldiers?!! People here are calling those 2 soldiers as Prophet Moses and his Brother Haron! lol. Are they that important to kill many people for? I admit that both parties have done horrible things. We radicals in the Arab world as you have in Israel and the US. We have set of believes that contradict what you have. But why let ourselves kill each other? why not work on both sides to achieve a better leadership. A leadership that calls for peace not war? Electing people like George Bush wont help the US, it would only cause more rage, and produce more terrorists. You have the upper hand, more force, more money, more social and technological advancements and more knowledge, so why not help us? Help us live in peace.

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  12. Why support Hezbollah? That is an organization that is funded by Iran(persians) and Syria? Why not instead support the elected government of Lebanon and the Labanese military? Why support militias that are funded by Persians? Why does Iran support Hezbollah…well because they hate the Jews and have openly said that Iran wants to destroy the Jews. The Government of Lebanon is an ally of the US. We support free, open, and civil societies. As far as the bombings of the US Marines you are right that some don’t think it was Hezbollah, but most scholars do. read section called aftermath at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombingYou point out our stregnth and our money. This is true but you have to have the will to do it. We don’t have the will right now, we don’t like war, but strangly we are good at it if it is forced upon us. If hezbollah were backed by Jordan instead of Iran then the US would be much less one sided in our support. But in our view, to support Hezbollah is to support Iran. I assume you know why Americans do not like and also fear Iranians. That is right, we fear them because of how fanatical they are and on September 11th we saw what Muslim fanatics can do to us. Nobody understands outside of the US from what I have read how much that shook America. And every decision we make has to do with preventing that kind of attack from happening again. Because the next one could be nuclear…and like it or not this world would be deep in trouble without the US. You may be speaking Chinese in 15 years without the US. It all returns to the balance of power in the world. If you fear somebody then that keeps you from attacking them. That is the only reason that Israel has not been attacked since the 6 day war, they were feared…now that they put up a weak show against Hezbollah, they have to have US support or they will be attacked. Do I support peace? Yes, but I also support free speech, and elected governments, and soveriegn countries not having militias funded by foreign countries running southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is not protecting southern Lebanon they are occupying it against the will of the Lebanese majority. Israel pulled out of Lebanon 6 years ago, why does it need a militia there that kidnaps soldiers accross international soveriegn lines and starts conflicts at random? Free countries do not do these things, only militias and terrorist organizations do these things. Lastly, the killing of civilians in war is heartbreaking and should be avoided at all costs. But Hezbollah cowardly hid in apartment building and fired rockets at Israeli innocents from homes and buildings…dispicable cowardice. Then you get the resprisal attacks from the Israelis and it kills 5 kids and 10 parents, a grandmother, a doctor and it maybe gets the militiaman that fired the rocket. Then the media races in and takes pictures of the kid, many of these are staged pictures as reported on Littlegreenfootballs.com and you create a story of how cruel the Israelis are. One thing I give to the Hezbollahs is that they fought a great media game and in that fact they beat Israel in the media. (Not surprising due to the fact that many in the media hate the Jews) In this example above you see why they are considered terrorists, they terrorize the innocent people that are put in harms way because of the acts that they commit against the Lebanese human shields and the Israelis that are hit in their homes. If there is no kidnappings, there is no war last month. He who lights the match is responsible for the fire that comes with it. Neither side is right in this situation, but the facts remain that in all wars that have happened with Israel, they did not fire the first bullet, only the last one. I know that we agree on a lot of ideas and like I said before, it must be tough being a christian in that part of the world. I hope you understand that Americans view Jordan as one of our closest allies and we do miss King Hussien who was a great friend to the US and by the way George Bush Sr. in the early 90’s. King Abdullah seems to be doing some good things and I do see Jordan as a beacon of hope in the Arab world. Thank you for your great site, and thank you for supporting my blog. I truly enjoy intellectual people like yourself, you are obviously well written and educated.Global VermIndiana, USA

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  14. Thanks to you Global Verm as well. I did enjoy our debate too.Well, it hasn’t been tough for me living as a Christian in Jordan. I have never sensed any real racism towards me. In fact I feel respect from other Muslims around us. My best friends are Muslims, most of my co-workers are Muslims as well. We all live in peace and harmony here, and share mutual respect. As of King Abdullah, I so much admire him and his work to this country. I like the way he leads us. Having good ties with the US is only beneficial for us despite how other people feel about the US or how other countries about us feel as well.As for Hezbollah, I didnt ask you to support it. I don’t support it as well. When I said that I don’t consider it as a terror organization I didnt mean that I do support it. Yes I consider it a military resistance, but I dont believe in military actions from any part. I prefer civilian peacful resistance. I believe that we can achieve more by addressing the human parts of our enemies. And yes, I do want to see the Lebanese government controlling the whole country, hope they can do this now after the UN council agreement and support. I just feel bad for the Lebanese people. I wouldnt care if Israel destroyed Hezbollah, but it had to destroy the whole Lebanon to do so. 1 million refuge, 1000 civilian killed, and many other injured. All of the bridges connecting the roads in Lebanon were destroyed. They lost a very good potential income our of tourrism this summer. Their economy took a big hit. They don’t deserve this. They are the most open minded society in the Arab world. They have much more social freedom than any other Arab country. They are one of the best democratic countries in the Arab world. We need to support Lebanon as a country. They can get rid of Hezbollah when they are supported, not when they are attacked. Thanks for the link. You know it is hard to know what it true these days with even shcolars disagree among themselves! I guess everyone believes what he wants to believe. Let us abide ourselves from sinking in this hatred circles and work for peace in all parts of this world.

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  15. But then the situation on the ground in Iraq is even worse than before by having people killing each other. Is it resistance as Arabic media calls it? or terror as it sounds to be?I think I need to correct this one, Iraqi people kill each others but who are the others, the first part are Iraqi people the ordinary people and the other part is Saddam’s followers, my friend Saddam’s followers are still strong and have money, they even fooled Arab by their money to show up as resistance, for god sake how a normal person like you or me can cut the head of a human, the only one that can do it who used to do it and train for it and this what Saddam’s Followers trained for 35 years, they have the experience as they were applying it on Iraqis by the name of Saddam and now by the name of Resistance.

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  16. IraqObserver, I do agree with your points regarding Iraq. My conversation with Global Verm was about Hezbollah. Hezbollah as an organization differ in actions with what those Saddam’s followers, or the AL Qaeda people do.

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