To Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans

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What anguish you must feel. 95% of you (I'm winging it here) are loyal Americans, hard working folks, law abiding folks, Allah-fearing folks. You retain a pride in your heritage. You eat your cuisine, you dance your folk dances, all the while participating in the American life. You worry about your kid's education and their safety just as we all do. You want the same things for yourselves and your families as everyone else. You came to this country because of the opportunities it offerred. You are appalled at what happened on 9-11. You may have even lost some friends or family in the attack. You are angry and revolted that people from your homelands, acting in the name of your God, committed this atrocity.

You are aware that other Americans are beginning to look at you with a mixture of fear and loathing. What can you do?

IMO, you don't have to do anything. Continue working, contributing your enormous talents, worship your God.

But you are up against the wall. There are terrorist calls in the US. How about doing this----to whatever extent possible, expose these cells to the FBI. Some of you may even be motivated to infiltrate American based cells. You are uniquely qualified to do so. I'm sure that this is already happening.

More and more, I am thinking of the radical Islamists in the same way as I think of the Mafia and other organized crime. The Mafia is a shadow of what it was 20 years ago in large part due to creative, persistant law enforcement (RICO, stings, sophisticated surveillance, witness relocation and cooperation of loyal and couregeous Italian-Americans who have been willing to risk their lives to be moles in the Mob).

How we fight terrorism beyond the US is another issue. I remain convinced that a covert war is needed and it will take 20 years to win. I think we can win within the US much sooner, especially with the cooperation of Arab-Americans.

In WWII, Japanese-Americans went to war for America (in Europe) partly because, as a group, they were also suspect after Pearl Harbor. Maybe an Arab-American volunteer fighting force will be forged if a conventional foreign war developes (I don't think there will be a "conventional war).

In the meantime, Muslim-Americans, will you help your adopted country by not providing support to terrorists that would hide in your midst? In the meantime, Muslim-Americans, would you help your adopted country by offerring your unique insights and connections to the FBI as they ferret out domestic terrorists? In the meantime, Muslim-Americans, would you work with authorities to infiltrate the cells?

I remember my thesis advisor at UW-Madison. He was Egyptian by. He went to grad school in this country and stayed. He married an American woman and raised a family. He returned to Egypt frequently to see his family there. I don't know if he was Muslim, I think he was agnostic. But he was proud of his heritage. His daughters had Arabic names. He would talk proudly about how Egyptians were the world's first engineers. He brought many Egyptian students to study under him. Some stayed in the US. I have not kept up with him. He would be retired now or maybe dead. He might prefer the latter.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 20, 2001

Answers

Lars, this is ASSUMING that these Arab-Americans know these people. It's stereotypical in that as much as my ex-sister-in-law was looking for a "hot" something or other and suggested that MY friend [now my SO] might be able to help her find whatever it was.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), September 20, 2001.

Lars! How the hell did you get out of UW-Madison so politically and socially sane?

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), September 20, 2001.

I'm wondering how Lars can remember his thesis through the UWM beer-haze!

-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), September 20, 2001.

But Lars, you need to keep in mind that around several Universities and gathering places around this country,a few middle eastern students were seen high fiving and jumpin for joy on Wednesday. This happened at U. of Idaho and W.S.U. for two examples. They were jumped by other students and it was quickly stopped. You don't know who your enemy is and that's why backgrounds should be MORE scrutinized BECAUSE of their RACE than ever before. Locking up and detaining U.S. Japanese during WW11 will start to look more sensible as the days pass. That warm fuzzy feeling will disappear as the body count goes up I'll guarentee ya!

-- Boswell (fundown@thefarm.net), September 20, 2001.

Carlos, it took several decades of re-hab. Besides, I never finished my degree.

Anita, did Joe Pistone (Donnie Brasco) know Wise Guys? He was an Italian-American Federal Agent who by virtue of his ethnicity and commitment was able to infiltratre the mob. I'm betting that there are equivalent Islamic-Americans who will infiltrate the Islamists in the same way.

Also, people have ears and eyes. Islamic-Americans may notice suspicious behavior that you or I do not.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 20, 2001.



Yes, Lars, people do have ears and eyes. Good thesis by the way, never mind the trolls, its part of what we get living in a theocracy. Long live the Radsters>

-- Radster (more@of.us), September 21, 2001.

Thankd radster but I don't follow you. Who lives in a theocracy?

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 21, 2001.

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