Thursday, December 07, 2006

UAE Community Blog -- Today's post

Today is Decembe 7.
Remember that date? The date which will live in infamy?
What an appropriate date for everybody to be pouring over the just released report of the Iraq Study Group.

Voices from abroad are looking over the shoulder of America, trying to figure out what she might do next. For many it must be very much like being held hostage in a home invasion or armed robbery. If you fail to cooperate with the armed perpetrator, your very life is at risk. Things have certainly changed since that other December 7.

This is a disturbing link.
Go there only if you have the nerve. But make a note of this...

"An Aside: In support of free speech and freedom, none of the US cable companies are willing to carry the English broadcast by Al Jazeera."

The commentary and video make for an interesting study in international relations. Little by little I am beginning to grasp how so many people in that part of the world only see the USA through an Israeli lens. Which country is nearer, geographically? Which country, the US or Israel, is culturally more real? When does the US ever pay any attention to the Middle East?

It's not rational, I know, this Arab anti-Semitism. It is becoming, however, easier to understand. Read the comments. Read the text. I find just as much puzzlement there as vitriol. Ignorance as well. But who can be held responsible for that? Has US activity in the region during the last two years had anything to do with this behavior? If and when the US departs, what will be the reminders of what happened when we were there? Purple fingers or missing limbs?

Ink wears off but missing limbs and scar tissue remain.

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