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| Middle East |
| Palestinian’s Reflect on Iraqi Defeat |
| 2003-04-18 |
| On the eve of Saddam's fall on April 9, hundreds turned out in Bethlehem to offer their condolences to the relatives of Imad Humabi, a Palestinian who had volunteered to fight in Iraq and had been killed in battle. Humabi, who had grown up in Amman and was virtually unknown in the town, was rumored to have been an attempted suicide bomber. But as the villagers poured in, most simply expressed their regret that the young man had given his life for nothing. For some in the Middle East, the war in Iraq was the last stand for Arab nationalism. For others it was only the latest tragedy to beset the region. But no matter their take, most Arabs expected the invasion to be a long, bloody fight. If nothing else, the thinking went, the Iraqi regime would teach the United States a lesson, even as it collapsed. So when Baghdad fell in a matter of days, it left the Arab world stunned. Every assumption, every calculation, and every article of faith had suddenly been undercut. And nowhere was that reaction more pronounced than in the Palestinian circles that had looked to Saddam as their only champion, a heavyweight who had stood the test of time. Many had seen Iraq's fight against the United States as analogous to the Palestinian intifada. They had expected Saddam and his crew to stand just as firmly as the Palestinians had. But he had failed them. (con't see link) I have no sympathy for these morons. They've had every chance for independance (e.g. Taba) and a better way of life. As long as Palestinian's allow their cause to be a pawn for Arab Nationalism, screw'em. |
| Posted by:Anonymous |
| #8 I am embarrassed, but "tanx!" I have JUST left the WLL (World's Largest Litterbox)- Saudi Arabia - permanently. I don't know where I'll be 30 days from now, but I can finally write anything that I want without wondering if those probes that were coming from the "Science City" site in S.A. (they provide the I'net connection for 90+% of S.A.) meant thay had found my dumb ass and I was headed for the Saudi Gulag. I'm now on the opposite end of the spectrum - landed in Chiang Mai, Thailand 5 hrs ago, showered, napped, and sitting in my fav i'net cafe. The Pal's are, like all of the Arabs, screwed. It is remarkable that, one on one in private, you can think you've made a friend and reached common intellectual ground with an Arab. I've been thus fooled 6 or 7 times in my 4+ yrs in S.A. Later, in every instance but one, I've discovered that my trust and confidence in each guy's intellect triumphing over his social / religious training was ill-founded. And, the one exception doesn't prove the rule, I was never in circumstances that allowed me to see him "tested" so I don't know what the result would be in his case. Now that I'm gone, I never will, I guess. As Lee Harris (TechCentralStation.com) has observed in some GREAT articles (read 'em, he's nailed it), we could TAKE what they have anytime we choose - does anyone seriously disagree with that? The fact that we don't now, and haven't in the past, is utterly missed by the lot of them. Only the Saudi Royals (a very mixed bag of Western Intellectualism and Wahabi Fundamentalism - I'd LOVE to be a shrink getting $200/hr from one of them - what a laugh riot THAT would be) even have an inkling that this means we are what we say we are and have done this for the reasons stated: to help secure our world from a perceived threat and free the Iraqis cuz we believe people should be free from tyranny. The devil on my should whispers that, if we're gonna get blamed for being imperialists ANYWAY, well... I will go look for the Uris book. Islam is for fantasists - people open to believing in a fantasy in spite of the reality staring them in the face. We can look at the airtime given Baghdad Bob (Iraqi Info Minister), and Arafat's being "Shocked! Shocked!" widely quoted 9/11 reaction and his disingenuity regards the shipload of weaponry that HE paid for but DENIED any knowledge of, and that Al Jazeera actually had millions and millions of Arabs believeing that Iraq was killing Americans - their fervent dream of dreams. They definitely live in a zero-sum world where pulling themselves up means bringing someone else low - and we are the favorite target, of course. Sounds like "journalists" doesn't it? Hmmmm. Anyway, go to www.techcentralstation.com and check out Lee Harris' articles - and I'll hobble down to Asia Books tomorrow to see if I can find the Leon Uris book. Thx for the tip! |
| Posted by: PD 2003-04-20 09:54:19 |
| #7 I cannot recommend Leon Uris' book, "The Haj" highly enough. He has done a large amount of research on the Middle East, both for this novel and "Exodus", as well as several others. "The Haj" goes into great detail how the leaders of the "Palestinians" want to keep the status quo, so they can continue to skim off millions from UN agencies for themselves and their families. It also highlights, better than I have ever been able to find anywhere else, the inherent instability of Islamic thought among the people who actually take it seriously. Distilled, Uris says that Islam instills in its worshipers a sense of ideological schizophrenia. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-04-18 16:37:25 |
| #6 Does this mean that they will actually have to think about giving peace a chance? I doubt it, they are too stupid. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-04-18 12:10:13 |
| #5 Thanks for that analysis of the Middle East psyche, PD. It describes Murat to a "T". |
| Posted by: charlotte 2003-04-18 09:16:12 |
| #4 Excellent, PD. What a zinger. Wish I'd written that myself. |
| Posted by: Joe 2003-04-18 08:50:19 |
| #3 "...an attempted suicide bomber." Is this the ultimate failure, or what? Sheesh. |
| Posted by: Mark IV 2003-04-18 07:38:37 |
| #2 To paraphrase: "No more Iraqi goodies in the pipeline" |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-18 06:54:34 |
| #1 You are probably far far too complimentary to suggest that any actual "reflection" will occur. From my unhappy time in the M.E. I have found that the "blame" society of Arabs does not EVER examine itself - all failures are due to external forces, beyond their control. Allah, amazingly, seems rather unconcerned. Makes one wonder at the resiliency of religion(s) when their designated deity fails so often to keep promises, proffer serendipity or aid, and generally seems to be out to fucking lunch, permanently. This is, from my 50+ years of observation, true of them all. The only thing I've EVER heard from any of them that holds any water whatsoever, is the obvious observation that " But these homo sapiens are nothing, if not a persistent lot - with very very selective memories. The Pals are doomed to keep putting forward the utterly absurd idea that a murderous (and ugly, too... Gawd is he ugly!) terrorist can lead a nation, that just declaring the existence of a Pal state will make it so (magic!), that the billions in aid that come from the Saudi's and others isn't simply stolen / diverted to Swiss accounts as it comes in - and none of THEIRS need be held to account for the incredible Pal poverty, and the notion that their culture nutures people who could actually RUN a country - when the obvious conclusion, based upon the facts, is that they couldn't run a lemonade stand in Ciudad Juarez in the middle of August and show a profit 2 days out of 3... without a powerful Secret Police or Grand Distraction - the 2 crucial components to keep the Status Quo in Arabia. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-04-18 03:17:04 |