RE: this applies to Iran and Iraq as well!

["Shahab Mesbah" <meteor2@moscow.com>]

Dear Walter,

I appreciate your clarification. It is important we understand one another
and unless you are face-to-face most of the communication we are accustomed
to is gone. The written words with all their limitation stand as the only
means of contact.

I am dedicated to my country... not to my president. I will praise his good
deeds, I will support him in those deeds but I will question his motives and
poor judgment. I do not believe in blindly following anyone. I am always
open for logical discussions and have many times changed my mind because of
another person's rational point of view. I lost my first country to people
following the norm and acting like cattle... well... they were ushered to
the slaughterhouse like cattle too. Democracy is not easy... it is our
responsibility to make sure our government understand the appropriate path
to take. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves so we can base our
opinions on Truth not the propaganda. Bush is a great cheerleader right now.
I have to say that it is not hard to be inspirational to Americans at times
of devastation. We come together all by ourselves. I see a lot of
showmanship and very little substance from our government. This concerns me
because I do not want to loose my country to these fanatical terrorists
again! I am too old to run now... besides... there is nowhere to run to! I
have not sacrificed all to raise my children so they can die in war. I
refuse to let my efforts to improve the world we live in be destroyed by
some fanatical animal who has no regard for humanity.
I have in the past explained the "Your brother in arms" statement I sign off
with but I guess it is time again to re iterate the reason especially at
this time. Those of you who know me know that I abhor violence... in fact
the only thing I hate more than violence is the fundamental twin causes of
it... ignorance and injustice. You want my blood to boil? Show me
injustice... I am so vehemently disturbed by injustice that you might say I
become fanatical! I guess that is my weakness. If you look at any conflict
you will see that usually both sides are at fault. Usually conflicts are
started due to ignorance... lack of knowledge, failure to accurately
communicate intent (as we have witnessed in this forum), cultural,
religious, and language issues to name a few. Fortunately ignorance is
curable... we can have education. Our government has acted ignorantly
towards the middle east for many decades... people of the middle east look
up to America yet our government has let them down time and again. We have
enslaved the people and allowed tyrannies go unnoticed so we can have what
we want. It is time to stop this. Although I am anti violence I find justice
to be a more important factor. I view this forum as the way we should be
dealing with difficult issues through civilized sharing of opinions. Here we
try to have a positive effect on the community we live in. We are united in
that premise... we are brothers (and sisters) who have gathered to try to
understand what is going on and to come up with solutions. We are here to
battle ignorance and injustice. We teach each other by sharing and behaving
in a certain way. In this battle we are brothers in arms... not with guns
but with our intellect, experiences, beliefs, personalities, and perhaps our
computers!
I agree that the events of the last two weeks are horrendous but compared to
what we have done in the middle east it is not even a drop in a sea! I am
not in any way belittling the unconscionable acts of last week... I just
would like you to look at the real world and see what has gone on for so
long that has brought so much injustice to the world by us. We talk about
the Taliban being bad because they support terrorism... do you know how many
people the Taliban has destroyed? These drug lords are the lowest form of
life on earth. Do they have anything to do with Islam? They are
blasphemers... they are as Muslim as the Nazis up north are Christians. The
number of people killed in Afghanistan in the past two decades would make
you dizzy. The number of innocent civilians killed by American arms in the
past several decades is in the millions! No my friends... even after last
week we have harmed the middle east far more and in a more sinister way than
they have us. This is why I hate violence... it just escalates. Israel has
been bombing the hell out of its neighbors for decades... has it made things
better? I don't see how anyone can think that it has. We cannot go in for
revenge... if we condone revenge we are on the loosing side! They have far
more to seek revenge for. Punish the corruption... yes. But then go in and
help the people so that they can have a life worth living. The people of
Afghanistan go to school to educate themselves even though the government
punishes them for it. That alone should show you that this government is not
about helping its people... in fact as I mentioned it is universally hated
my the majority of the people. Help them and they will be your loyal friends
for a long time. Give them freedom.
"Your brother in arms"
Shahab...



-----Original Message-----
From: WMSteed@aol.com [mailto:WMSteed@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 10:11 AM
To: tex@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu; meteor2@moscow.com
Cc: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: Re: this applies to Iran and Iraq as well!

<<I'm not sure what "Your brother in arms" is intended to convey, but the
President reiterated tonight before Congress, "If you are not with us
against
terrorism, you are against us."  To not support the U.S. and its chosen
course of action in this fight is to turn a blind eye to the potential of
even greater devastation in the future.>>

This is apparently the paragraph that "my brother in arms" and Tex have
taken
to be a comment against Shahab's patriotism.  It never entered my mind.  My
point was that in light of the enormity of the terrorists acts to worry
about
what we have done, to worry about the way our government proceeds against
those who did this and others who might do similar or worse acts is begging
the question.  I said, "To not support the U.S. and its chosen course of
action" with emphasis intended on the latter.

If reaction to the above paragraph is that it questions patriotism is in the
mind of the reader.  It wasn't in mine.

Walter Steed