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American Arabs Abuse Patriotic Soldier
The phone rings. âHello,â Moufid El Khatib says, but no one answers. âHello?â Only silence. He hangs up. âI donât know what they mean by that,â Moufid says. âIs it a marketing company or some Arabic guys?â Living in Dearborn, amid the highest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East, Moufid is caught in a web of conflict and tension. For Moufid, who was born in Palestine, raised in Lebanon and later lived in Kuwait, the mysterious phone calls could mean several things. Maybe some local Arabs are upset that Moufid would let his son join the U.S. military. In his house, an American flag is displayed in a living room corner. A portrait of his son, Sgt. Talal El Khatib, 24, wearing his Army uniform, hangs on the wall. Talal, who was born in Kuwait but is a U.S. citizen, is a member of the Army Reserve and was called to active duty last summer. Or maybe some Arab men are upset that Talal is stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at a prison for Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorism suspects. There are about 20 Muslim members of the armed forces at the base in Cuba. Four workers from the base have been arrested as part of an investigation into possible security breaches at the prison. One is from Dearborn. The phone calls make Moufid wonder, playing with his emotions. Moufid has never heard any negative comments about his sonâs involvement in the U.S. military, but he can sense it from some Arabs in Dearborn. âTheir eyes talk,â Moufid says. Sitting on his couch in a small, tidy bungalow filled with pictures of his children and paintings that he did himself - it was always his dream to be an artist - Moufid looks out the window at his neighborhood. âMy neighbor, there, is American,â he says, pointing out the window. âMy neighbor there, Don, is an American. Believe me, when they know my son was leaving to Cuba, they came to say good-bye. They came and hug him and this and that.â He pauses. âNone of the Arab guys come to say hi or good luck or wish you the best,â Moufid says. âThey feel my son is Arab. He is from the Middle East. He is not supposed to be in the U.S. Army. It is the wrong feelings. âYou come to this country. You are American, as we say, like it or leave it. Either you have to be American or not. There is nothing in between in such cases... Loyalty is the cement of nations. If Arab American Muslims are working on behalf of the countryâs enemies, they should be treated as a traitor-class. Posted by: Paris Airhead 2004-01-07 |
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