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Time to once again open my life up a little in order to share the plethora of wealth I'm about to absorb. I'm going to be back in Iraq through September, so hop on board and check back every couple of days, I'll do my best to update as much as possible. Questions? dtate38@cox.net And check out the site I'm working with: http://www.billroggio.com Support independent journalism!
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Ok, so I spent the night putting some of my hair back...
After a day of near nothing with Abdullah and Nadir, the one thing that was accomplished was a number of long argue-discussions about a couple of things that left me quite enlightened.
First, I have come to the conclusion (reinforced by the discussion) that peace throughout the Middle East is absolutely impossible until the situation with the Palestinians and the Israelis is resolved. No matter how you slice it, America is on the shit list of most Moslems because of their support for Israel. Problem is that Moslems are 100% certain that Israel is 100% Palestinian land and that the Jews should be moved to America with no claim at all to the land they now occupy. I personally feel (and argued) that the land is ancestral to both peoples and there needs to be compromise. I also believe that Israel has tried to compromise. With the Arab view that compromise is impossible, I lay the blame there with the Arabs. The true blame actually lies with the British and the U.N. for screwing it up in the first place back in 1949. Even there, I still believe that the Jews needed a homeland after World War II for the simple survival of their people. Unfortunately it was at the expense of thousands of Palestinians, which leaves us still toiling with the problem and no end in sight.
We also had a pretty good argument over the use of nuclear weapons against Japan. As horrific as the death toll was, I am a firm believer that the bomb was a necessary evil to finally put to rest a regime that had conquered dozens of sovereign nations, not to mention the fact that they murdered millions of innocents.
All of this, of course, before they attacked Pearl Harbor.
We also discussed the fact that Moslems as a whole seem to ignore the plight of their fellow Moslems until something goes wrong. This argument was enunciated
with the fact that very few Moslem countries are contributing to the reconstruction of Afghanistan or Iraq or Bosnia or Albania or Somalia or Kosovo, etc,,, All Moslem countries over the past 15 years in which the "bully" United States has sacrificed hundreds of men and women to try to help.
What bothers me most about this last argument, is Afghanistan itself. Here is a country that is universally acknowledged to need considerable help. So can anyone tell me why the total Moslem presence here is less than 2,500 soldiers, none of which are actually combat oriented troops?
Just for the record: Big, mighty "we should be a world power" Turkey has less than 1,000 troops holed up in the capital doing next to nothing. The Egyptians have a hospital at Bagram, as do the Jordanians in Mazar-e-Sharif. The only "combat troops" destined for Afghanistan from a Moslem nation are just arriving here in Kandahar. Those are also coming from Jordan, which is one of the few friends the United States has in the Middle East. Where is Saudi Arabia and all their money? They have enough to finance the destruction of the World Trade Center but not enough to help their fellow Moslems? I am confused!
The finale came when we started talking about the pictures of the Iraqi's being tortured and humiliated. Of course this disgrace is the worst thing ever to plight the world. As bad and stupid as this is, my Moslem friends have no answer to why the world said nothing as Sadaam murdered tens of thousands of fellow Moslems. The world said nothing when the video of bound men being thrown from the top of buildings came out last year. No one says anything when prominent journalists are arrested, tortured and killed in Syria and Iran (currently ongoing). Most importantly, no one said anything when tens of thousands of Kurds and Shia were murdered by Sadaam in the early 90's. However, if America humiliates some prisoners (most of whom were arrested during attacks on the coalition), the world falls apart at the seams.
Finally, Nadir and I talked more about his desire to leave again. This time I understand. His wife of five months, who speaks no Farsi, is stuck in a small two room apartment with her mother-in-law and Nadir's two little brothers and sister. Nadir is the sole provider, including shopping, etc.. There are no parks, medical facilities, television, libraries, and very little security in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. After that talk and thinking about Heidi, I started to put my hair back into my head.
After a day of near nothing with Abdullah and Nadir, the one thing that was accomplished was a number of long argue-discussions about a couple of things that left me quite enlightened.
First, I have come to the conclusion (reinforced by the discussion) that peace throughout the Middle East is absolutely impossible until the situation with the Palestinians and the Israelis is resolved. No matter how you slice it, America is on the shit list of most Moslems because of their support for Israel. Problem is that Moslems are 100% certain that Israel is 100% Palestinian land and that the Jews should be moved to America with no claim at all to the land they now occupy. I personally feel (and argued) that the land is ancestral to both peoples and there needs to be compromise. I also believe that Israel has tried to compromise. With the Arab view that compromise is impossible, I lay the blame there with the Arabs. The true blame actually lies with the British and the U.N. for screwing it up in the first place back in 1949. Even there, I still believe that the Jews needed a homeland after World War II for the simple survival of their people. Unfortunately it was at the expense of thousands of Palestinians, which leaves us still toiling with the problem and no end in sight.
We also had a pretty good argument over the use of nuclear weapons against Japan. As horrific as the death toll was, I am a firm believer that the bomb was a necessary evil to finally put to rest a regime that had conquered dozens of sovereign nations, not to mention the fact that they murdered millions of innocents.
All of this, of course, before they attacked Pearl Harbor.
We also discussed the fact that Moslems as a whole seem to ignore the plight of their fellow Moslems until something goes wrong. This argument was enunciated
with the fact that very few Moslem countries are contributing to the reconstruction of Afghanistan or Iraq or Bosnia or Albania or Somalia or Kosovo, etc,,, All Moslem countries over the past 15 years in which the "bully" United States has sacrificed hundreds of men and women to try to help.
What bothers me most about this last argument, is Afghanistan itself. Here is a country that is universally acknowledged to need considerable help. So can anyone tell me why the total Moslem presence here is less than 2,500 soldiers, none of which are actually combat oriented troops?
Just for the record: Big, mighty "we should be a world power" Turkey has less than 1,000 troops holed up in the capital doing next to nothing. The Egyptians have a hospital at Bagram, as do the Jordanians in Mazar-e-Sharif. The only "combat troops" destined for Afghanistan from a Moslem nation are just arriving here in Kandahar. Those are also coming from Jordan, which is one of the few friends the United States has in the Middle East. Where is Saudi Arabia and all their money? They have enough to finance the destruction of the World Trade Center but not enough to help their fellow Moslems? I am confused!
The finale came when we started talking about the pictures of the Iraqi's being tortured and humiliated. Of course this disgrace is the worst thing ever to plight the world. As bad and stupid as this is, my Moslem friends have no answer to why the world said nothing as Sadaam murdered tens of thousands of fellow Moslems. The world said nothing when the video of bound men being thrown from the top of buildings came out last year. No one says anything when prominent journalists are arrested, tortured and killed in Syria and Iran (currently ongoing). Most importantly, no one said anything when tens of thousands of Kurds and Shia were murdered by Sadaam in the early 90's. However, if America humiliates some prisoners (most of whom were arrested during attacks on the coalition), the world falls apart at the seams.
Finally, Nadir and I talked more about his desire to leave again. This time I understand. His wife of five months, who speaks no Farsi, is stuck in a small two room apartment with her mother-in-law and Nadir's two little brothers and sister. Nadir is the sole provider, including shopping, etc.. There are no parks, medical facilities, television, libraries, and very little security in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. After that talk and thinking about Heidi, I started to put my hair back into my head.
