Saturday, March 11, 2006

Back At You Bilal.

I have written many words here how the UAE and our moderate Arab allies have solid justification to feel unappreciated by the United States of America.

However, this blog is directing that feeling of under/unappreciation back to the Arabic/Muslim world. Quite a few of my countrymen and myself have that same feeling. There is much rhetoric about how the USA is waging war against Islam, and this is not rhetoric that is necessarily coming just from radical nutjobs such as Al-Qaida, the Taliban, et al.

Two quick examples. We had a situation in Eastern Europe in Bosnia/Herzogovina. Where Christian Serbs were attacking and killing Bosnian Muslims. President Clinton stood up for the MUSLIMS and bombed the $#!+ out of Serbia until Serbia cried uncle. The persecution of Muslims in Bosnia came to an end. What thanks & appreciation does the USA receive for that?

Before that, Muslims were starving to death in Somalia because ISLAMIC warlords were stealing food and supplies for themselves and their armies. George HW Bush ordered the Marines in to make sure the starving Muslims got the supplies they so desperately needed. What all became of that? Osama Bin Laden can tell you, some help he was to the Muslims of Somalia. Osama helped the high and mighty warlords of Somalia and spit on the ordinary folk. What thanks (even thanks for trying would have sufficed) did the USA receive for that?

Of course, we can not forget about the aid delivered to Islamic victims of natural disaster (the tsunami, numerous earthquakes, etc) as well as aid delivered in the normal course of affairs.

What did the USA have to gain from any of those operations? A friend of mine would say only "warmth and fuzzies". I do not recall either nation (Somalia & Bosnia) sitting on top of oil. I do not see either nation (Somalia & Bosnia) being really worth a whole lot in terms of geopolitics.

So, when you feel unappreciated for your moderateness and (quiet) helpfulness (which is okay that it is quiet) I say welcome to the club.
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