How Arabs reach out to their Iraqi “brothers”

I find it interesting how some Arabs try to reach out to me on my blog and other blogs. Recently two of my Arab brothers, a Lebanese Australian and a Palestinian American, dropped by to “reach out” by leaving some friendly, Arab-like comments for my post “Obama Talks to Arabs & Muslims”. The Lebanese Australian brother’s first comment on my blog:

”Finally the curiosity got the better of me.
Books you're reading:
Elie Wiesel?!!
For godssake mojo!
Elie Wiesel who's closer to a viper than to a weasel? For godsake, mojo!! Should I remind you how despicable this person is? This 'benefactor of humanity', the "great advocate for human rights' who never had anything to say about the Palestinian tragedy but scorn, contempt and accusations of anti-Semitism? Do you provide bags for those who feel like throwing up or should I bring my own?”

So Elie Wiesel is despicable, and I should not have his book displayed on my blog, lest my Arab brothers may vomit when visiting here. I did not know that Wiesel was a journalist for the Irgun, the militant Zionist group that participated in the attack on Deir Yassin in 1948, but I don’t think he deserves to be called “despicable” and I haven’t seen evidence that he supports the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes. Before this discussion, I knew Wiesel only from his book Night.

After the lovely exchange with my Lebanese Australian brother, who has attacked me for my “sectarianism” on other blogs before, a Palestinian American brother chimed in with this comment:

"So Mojo, it is not despicable to support colonialism and settlements in Palestine"?

It depends on what “colonialism” and “settlements” mean, I responded. I insisted that I haven’t seen evidence that Wiesel supports the expulsion of natives from their homes. Colonialism is not necessarily the expulsion of natives from their lands, he retorted. He compared Jewish settlers to the Taliban. Some Jewish settlers are fanatical and some have engaged in horrific violence against Palestinians, but like the Taliban they are not. I wrote that I often see Arabs making inappropriate comparisons, “like comparing Guantanamo to Saddam-like imprisonment, or like comparing Abu Ghraib before 2003 to Abu Ghraib after 2003. Like comparing the IDF to Nazis. It is embarrassing.” He said “you are the embarrassment Mojo.”

He demanded that I tell him if I believe Hamas is a terrorist organization or legitimate resistance. The Arabs are in love with resistance. They drink, eat, and breathe resistance. But they have no answers when I point out that many Arabs who’ve lived all their lives just miles from occupied Palestine ended up traveling hundreds of miles to the east to mass murder Iraqis, except to say that it’s much easier to enter Iraq than to enter Israel or the West Bank, and that I should not use the term "3arab jarab". They have no answers to my bewilderment at the large number of non-Iraqi Arab suicide bombers who have killed and maimed mostly innocent Iraqis. They stay mum when I compare how the Arabs have resisted the occupation of Palestine to how the Arabs have resisted the occupation of Iraq. Apparently they would rather compare Israelis to Nazis.

He went on to write: “The good thing is our Shia brothers in Iraq overall support Palestine and the Palestinians. You are in the minority when it comes to your community and that is a good thing.”


So naturally I had to defend myself and show him that I do in fact support Palestine. I have written about Palestine on my blog. I support Palestine’s right to contiguous independent statehood, to freedom and prosperity, to peace. But I loathe the Palestinians who showed support for Saddam and Zarqawi. I will always call Arabs who supported Saddam and Zarqawi “3arab jarab”.

A few comments later my Palestinian American brother wrote this:

"Mojo, that is why i am reaching out to you but i feel that because i am Palestinians you are automatically rejecting me and judging me and my views.

I believe you support Palestine but i also believe you can't have it both ways, you can't be critical of only Arabs but not Americans who back these Arabs or who back Israel."

I asked him to give me an example of my sectarianism. He responded with: “I said i never saw you use the term Arab Jarab when it comes to Shia death squada. It is always in reference to Sunnis from what i have seen.”

Me: “There are Shia jarab, for sure. They just haven't killed any of my relatives. And the Shia jarab did not incite sectarian conflict in Iraq. There would have been no Shia Death Squads of there were no Sunni Death Squads like Al Qaeda to begin with.”

My Palestinian American brother, reaching out:

“You have no proof of that claim on death squads, it is all assumptions on your part.

Can't we argue there would be no Sunni death squads if they weren't disenfranchised?”

That’s when I found no patience left in me. I wrote “So the Baathists, with the help of 3arab jarab like Abu Musab al Zarqawi, responded to de-Baathification by blowing up markets, buses, police stations, weddings, funerals, universities.“

This is how my Arab “brothers” have reached out to me. It’s not the first time I’ve been called “sectarian”. Maybe I am sectarian. Would I be “sectarian” if the hardcore Baathists and their Wahhabi allies had not mass murdered Iraqi Shia in the first place? I doubt it.

It is not enough to commend the American President for wanting to help establish a contiguous Palestinian state. It is not enough that I have expressed sympathy with Palestinians who were expelled from their homes, who lost their children to Israeli bombing. Apparently Iraqis must express support for Hamas as well, or at least agree that Hamas is a legitimate “resistance” organization. We must condemn American support for Israel and US foreign policy in the Middle East in general, even as the same Arabs who hate America emigrate to America and become successful in America. We must not become angry when our Palestinian American friends say “bad move Shia” when we express joy or satisfaction at the hanging of Saddam or one of Saddam’s henchmen - we should at least find the humor in such statements, I am told. We must agree with our Arab “brothers” that Americans caused the sectarian conflict in Iraq, and IF Sunni Arabs caused violence in Iraq, it is because they were disenfranchised. We should not “demonize” Palestinians by linking to articles that show how some Palestinians supported Saddam or Zarqawi. We should avoid discussing Saddam's crimes before 2003, and if we must discuss life for Iraqis before 2003, we should say that it was better than after 2003, and we should blame the Americans for that and nobody else. And we must not display on our blogs books written by such “despicable” characters as Elie Wiesel.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

"The double suicide bombing in Baghdad on Sunday was the deadliest attack in Iraq for over two years. It claimed more than 130 lives, and wounded hundreds more."

The resistance strikes again, at Iraqis of course, and our Arab brothers do not seem to be very concerned about it.

As Mish3an Jabouri dreams of unity between Iraq and Syria (but not unity with the Iraqi government), and as 3arab jarab praise Saddam and preach "resistance" from their homes in California, the "resistance" continues to mass murder Iraqis, targeting Iraqi security forces and government employees.

Well at least the "resistance" is no longer targeting markets and cafes. That is considered progress in the Arab world. Anthony Shadid (Arab American journalist) wrote: "Unlike the carnage unleashed by attacks in crowded mosques, restaurants and markets, aimed at igniting sectarian strife, these blasts appeared to rely on a distinctly political logic." I do not understand how "distinctly political logic" can result in the murder of 137 people, but I betchya the Arabs do.

From David Ignatius of the Washington Post: 'But my Iraqi friends were surprisingly upbeat about the future, even after Sunday's terrible bombings. "In every sector, Iraq is coming back to its normal mode," said one. "There is no way it will slip back," insisted the other. I wondered at their confidence on such a day, but that is part of the Iraqi toughness.

Rather than talking about the bombings, we talked politics. My friends sharply criticized the incumbent prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. But as we were debating, one turned to me with a smile: "Here we are talking about who will run the government after the elections. Could you do that in any other country in the Arab world?"

Barack Obama on the bombings: "The United States will stand with Iraq's people and government as a close friend and partner as Iraqis prepare for elections early next year, continue to take responsibility for their future, and build greater peace and opportunity," President Barack Obama said in a statement that condemned the bombings."

From our friends in Europe: "Sweden, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said in a statement: "The presidency of the European Union condemns today's car bombs in Baghdad."

It seems that only our Arab "brothers" cannot bring themselves to condemn these bombings that target Iraqi government employees, who are after all ordinary IRAQIS.

The Arabs never ask "why does the Arab resistance attack the Iraqi government by murdering innocent Iraqis?" They do not consider what was happening in Iraq before 2003 and wonder if Baathist extremists would mass murder Iraqis in order to gain power, like they did before 2003.

The bombings apparently do not make the "Angry Arab" angry enough to condemn the Arabs who continue to mass murder Iraqis in the most horrific ways. Instead, California Professor As'ad Abu Khalil wrote recently: "So the US comes to Iraq, sets up a puppet government and tells the puppets that they now have a democracy. So the puppets believe it. I find that quite amusing."

On the same day the Angry Arab wrote about Sistani, who has repeatedly called for peace and unity between all Iraqis. The professor wrote on Friday: "He [Sistani] is one of the worst puppets in the Middle East, and will go down in history as the Cleric of Foreign Occupation. So this man says that he does not interfere in politics but recently has been making noises insisting on open electoral lists."

Incredibly the professor wrote on the same day a post about the Saudis promoting a "Saddam TV satellite channel that will air Saddam speeches and songs non-stop". So Iraqis cannot count on even an educated, respected, liberal Arab American professor who has acknowledged the sadism and criminality of Saddam, to condemn the Arab extremists who continue to mass murder Iraqis.

I suppose I should not expect ordinary Arabs and Arab Americans to condemn the mass murderers of Iraqis, after Arab nationalist poets lauded Saddam, and after Arab American academics still call it a puppet government in Baghdad while ignoring the Arab insurgency that continues to kill Iraqis 6 years after the toppling of the former dictator. I have never seen an Arab or Arab American condemn the bombers, who are obviously Arab and who have killed thousands of innocent Iraqis this year, and this has been a relatively peaceful year in Iraq compared to the sectarian violence of 2006 and 2007.

So these are our Arab "brothers". They seem to have no problem fighting "imperialism" by mass murdering Iraqis. It makes me very sad.

Update (Oct 26): On the Palestinian Pundit, where blaming America for all of Iraq's problems is quite normal, the Arab American blogger Tony posted an article by an Iraqi British "senior lecturer" at London Metropolitan University: 'the Iraqi people are still paying with their blood for the US-led invasion and occupation of their country......the Iraqi people will not freely accept a pro-US regime in Baghdad and that the "exit strategy" will inevitably result in long-term occupation, and bring only more bloodshed and destruction. Why are the Iraqi people expected to elect a disparate collection of corrupt and sectarian pro-US politicians?'

Our Lebanese Australian friend who contributes to the Palestinian Pundit and to the Angry Arabs Comments Section, quoted Juan Cole, who pointed out that "The Minister of Public Works is Riyadh Gharib, a prominent member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which is close to the clerics in Tehran. Public Works as a ministry would thus have a lot of ISCI party members as employees and it is also a huge source of political patronage. Baathists or Sunni extremists would have every reason to hit it."

But this is the part of Cole's article that interested our respected Lebanese Australian friend: "The Republican's avaricious and illegal war on Iraq destabilized the eastern Mediterranean, perhaps for decades, creating long-term challenges to US and global security of which the Baghdad blasts are very possibly only minor omens."

I guess Iraqis should have stuck it out with Saddam so that the eastern Mediterranean would remain "stable" in the eyes of Juan Cole and non-Iraqi Arabs.

Also today the Angry Arab wrote about the bombings: 'Look at this language about the bombings yesterday: "leaving a scene of carnage that raised new questions about the government’s ability to secure its most vital operations." You would not know from this sentence that the US has some 130,000 troops.'

And you would not know from any Arab "intellectual" that Arabs murdered around 150 Iraqis yesterday, including 30 Iraqi children.

Update (Oct 27): "Iraq's government pledged tighter security the day after two suicide bombings claimed at least 155 lives, including two dozen children trapped in a bus leaving a day-care center."

Remembering the KABOBfest about Iraq

Before I go for a long drive, I wanted to document here, to remember how the Arabs on KABOBfest, whose authors appear to be mostly North Americans of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, reacted to the war in Iraq. In general they did not condemn the Arabs who mass murdered Iraqis as much as they condemned the Americans who overthrew Saddam the murderous dictator. I think some of my comments and those of a few Kabobers are worth posting here:

My first comment was "The Kabobers would probably condemn the bombing of a volleyball game if Americans did the bombing." You responded be telling me that your are concerned about the consequences of US policies, as if this justifies the Kabobers' lack of condemnation of Arab terrorism.

I searched for "Iraq" on KABOBfest, hoping to find strong condemnation of the extremists who have been responsible for the mass murder of Iraqis.

A few interesting posts, some of which I've read before, like "18 Arab Leaders You Would Want with You in a Bar Fight" By Hanitizer, who summarized the criminality of Saddam. Also I read with great interest "Western Hypocrisy Shines at the Racism Conference" By Will, who wrote "Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have paid with their lives. " But he blamed the deaths of Iraqis directly on "Westerners". No mention of the thousands of Arab "mujahideen" and "resistance" dickheads who repeatedly bombed and attacked innocent Iraqis.

Also I just read "A Moving Diatribe to Mobilize the Iraqi Police" By Will, who condemned the American soldier's lecturing of Iraqi police, even though they deserved to be lectured like that because Shia militias had infiltrated the Iraqi police and some of them killed innocent people, often attacking Sunni Arabs. One would think that Sunni Arabs should applaud the soldier's lecture. But no, Will wondered "if this video is planted by Military strategic communication experts to show why the Iraqi police are inadequate and a US presence is needed, and how the US is trying to get them in shape to take control of their country." WOW

I noticed Kalash wrote on March 8, 2009 in which he appeared to condemn the suicide bombers (he actually mentioned them!), and he wrote that "Sunni residents of Samarra welcomed over a million Shia pilgrims. No major acts of violence were reported. Three years ago, the Golden Mosque was attacked sparking a bloody civil-war." WOW I thought, this Kabober is not like the others. But at the bottom he wrote : "Ali Hassan Al Majid (aka Chemical Ali) was given his third death sentence… That court is more of a joke than the ICC." So Iraq isn't even allowed to try and convict a mass murderer? The court is a joke?

I noticed this Kalash guy has written many posts that mention the horrendous violence in Iraq. Almost a year ago he wrote in "Remembering Iraq (Dec 19 – Jan 18)": "Well over 175 people have died in Iraq over the past month (in addition to any casualties resulting from military operations). That number pales in comparison to the dead in Gaza, but it is a clear sign that the beleaguered nation still has a long way to go."

At first glance it appears to be a condemnation of the terrorists who kill innocent Iraqis, but it's just a condemnation of America and Bush, who according to the Kabobers have caused the deaths in Iraq, which was hunky dory before 2003. In that post Kalash wrote: "Although he’s already been given two death sentences, a new trial began for Ali Hassan al Majid (aka Chemical Ali). This time the charade is centered on his role in the Halabja massacres ."

So Kalash, the smartest of the Kabobers, does not know of Ali Hassan al Majid's role in the massacres of Kurds and called his trial a "charade". How fitting!

In "Remembering Iraq: House of Saddam" Kalash criticized the film for not covering US support for Saddam in the 80s, the crippling effect of sanctions, and most importantly, the atrocities following the 2003 invasion. I wonder if Kalash even knows about the 1991 intifadha and how Saddam's goons mass murdered Iraqis. Also, if the film were to cover the atrocities following the 2003 invasion, wouldn't they have to tell the story about Zarqawi and the thousands of Arabs who travelled hundreds of miles to ostensibly fight the American occupiers, but ended up mass murdering mostly Iraqi civilians and Iraqi security forces?

But Kalash did write: "Saddam Hussein was a ruthless thug responsible for the misery of millions of Iraqis. There were good reasons to take him out". I agree with him on this! Kalash wrote a few of these "Remembering Iraq" posts and on Nov 28, 2008 he called it "Iraq’s elected representatives" - that is progress for an Arab! Kalash has written a lot about Iraq, and I thank him for it. But like most Arabs, he seems more interested in condemning Americans and their "occupation" of Iraq rather than condemning the Saddamist and Salafi scum of earth who continue to mass murder Iraqis.

I will search further back because many posts (507) mention Iraq, and I thought surely one of you Kabobers must have been angered by the civil war of 2006 and 2007. Very interesting reading on KABOBfest that symbolizes how biased (and sometimes clueless) the Arabs are on Iraq.

Maybe that was a bit harsh, because the more I read, the more I did find condemnation, albeit light and infrequent and certainly not as strong as their condemnation of Bush & Cheney:

"Nabeel: "I do not want to be one of those people who was not publicly criticising Zarqawi & Co. when he was blombing Shia areas, but immediately took offense to his targeting of Arab Sunnis."

Iraqi Mojo: "Actually that is the first time I've seen any Arab say something like that. A big SHUKREN to Nabeel, even though it's more than 4 years late."

Then I found this golden nugget:

I just read this: 'what about the militants that come into Iraq to defend “Islam” and all its glory at the present state. I’m sorry but this is disgusting, another sign of why we don’t get along and why arabs will never be friends.'

on "Saudi Jarabia" By NarcelX.

EXCELLENT! Thank you NarcelX!

So NarcelX is the smartest Kabober, not Kalash. Where is NarcelX these days?

Then I wrote this:

I just discovered that NarcelX is Iraqi, and that he quit this blog after one of the clueless Kabobers called NarcelX an idiot for hating the 3arab jarab of KSA. No wonder I agreed with NarcelX, and no wonder the other Kabobers attacked him for expressing his outrage, which other Kabobers evidently did not share. His post "Saudi Jarabia" was the strongest condemnation of "mujahideen" I've seen on KABOBfest. But he is Iraqi, and that makes sense!