Hoping for Change-Sigh

This is something that I wrote in 2010. Although things are a little different from back then, some things are are worst. Back then, we were just worried about impossibilities, like the entire population of America having its water supply compromised by terrorist,  but now that the Muslims are asserting their right self determination along their own values, it's time to bring out the ammo. Libya was the first trial and now Mali; just when we thought the war was over. Obama, said that the war on terror was over, then he said, he got Osama, then Al Qaida was weakened. An now what is the excuse? Ya Rabb, musaidinah!

Time to move on America

Maryam Ismail / 9 April 2010

People in our part of the world love to say, ‘the Jews control everything in America… All of the US presidents are Jews excluding Barack Obama; he has other problems’. Conspiracy theories make me laugh. That was until I listened to the two speeches given at this year’s annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting.

Then the entire scenario unfolded before me like the end of the film, Ocean’s 12. Suddenly, everything I’ve ever seen had a new meaning. It became clear, that words like insurgent, terrorist, and militant were selectively taken from the word wall of Zionism. Placing these words into an ultra-mediated discourse has made them almost as ubiquitous as milk and sugar.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and US Congress member Eric Cantor, took the team teaching approach, in giving their version of Israeli history, 101 and 102. Netanyahu played expert historian, and participant of the death-defying struggle of his people, painting the bloody and arduous history of the Jews of the past three millennia across a global canvas.

Next, Cantor, gave his introduction to modern US Jewish history which recounted the tale of 20,000 German-Jewish children on a ship who were denied entry to the US and were sent back to Germany, because Congress refused to pass a bill granting them entry. To make up for it, we see the end result, the state of Israel. Then we got to the real point of their speeches: Palestine, Islam, and terror.  I don’t know if it’s delusion or blindness, when Netanyahu spoke about Israel’s attempt at peace with Palestinians while at the same time saying that they have no right to their homes in Jerusalem.  “Amen” added Cantor.

Suddenly, Netanyahu’s geography got funky. He compared my home state of New Jersey (one of the smallest states in the US), to Israel. Building a scenario where Iran and Hezbollah (which he says has 60,000 missiles) were ready to pounce on this innocent and beleaguered mouse (Israel) which is already scratched and bruised. New Jersey is not Israel.

Trenton, the capitol of New Jersey couldn’t defend itself against Iran or Hezbollah. However, Israel with its endless source of conscripted military and white phosphorus, US-made and donated technology and weaponry, could and often does, annihilate anyone that has threatened it.

That’s my spin on it, but it won’t be coming to a movie theatre near you any time soon.

My jaw dropped when Cantor laid out his 12-step media plan to keep the world focused on the US “war on terror.” “From Yemen to Afghanistan to Pakistan, terrorists are not going to lay down their arms against America if we abandon Israel. We must do everything possible to hold the media accountable and empower our communities at home with an understanding of the true nature of our shared struggle with Israel.” 

Suddenly, that 1950’s film, the Blob came to mind. As if there isn’t enough hype and hysteria surrounding the world of Muslims, it seems that this is just the beginning.

First, the story was of 19 mad men, allegedly all from the Arab world. Then they somehow had a connection to Afghanistan. Then anthrax. Then old vials of Ricin were found in a refrigerator in Iraq. Now there’s this talk of American wannabe terrorists. You see how it goes from a little rock with a ball of jelly in it into a bloodthirsty monster devouring humankind?  Cantor does a remake with a mental montage of his version of Muslim world: “The American people know who stands with us in our fight against terrorism; we know who wept at candlelight vigils when America was attacked on 9-11 (I shed a tear for my friends in the WTC basement) and we know who sends teams of doctors and millions of dollars halfway around the world to save lives in Haiti.

"In the same way, we Americans also know who teaches their children to emulate suicide bombers (hmmm); who danced and tossed candy around in the streets on 9-11 celebrating that horrible day (A Fox News re-mix). And we do know who names their boulevards, schools and their public squares after terrorists," Cantor proclaimed. 

Am I the only person who believes this guy has gone off his rocker and is tired of this spiel?  It’s time to think differently, to stop rehashing this rhetoric. We have to think of the global common good. This constant search for bad guys is not healthy. No disrespect to those who’ve died and are dying in this mess, but a death is a death and everyone cries when their loved ones are gone.

In the words of the great comedian, Bernie Mac, “America, let’s move on.”  I hate to say it, but if we don’t there’ll be no end of the Jihad Janes, Petey the Petrol throwers, and Wally Wahhabis, because this theme is coming back home, ‘if you’re not down with the latest theme on terror, you’ve got to be a terrorist.’

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/April/opinion_April48.xml&section=opinion&col