Signing Off

Due to a series of events - an ill relative (who's doing OK) and a new job, I haven't blogged in a long time. As of now, I'm going on hiatus. I just have too much going on to update regularly on the depressing events going on worldwide.

Thank you to everyone who has linked to me and commented on the blog - I've loved reading every post, positive and negative. It's been an exciting new thing for me, to be able to express my opinions openly and hear from other Arab bloggers who don't share the twisted worldview advocated on al-Jazeera.

It seems like things are getting worse now, but I will always come back to the hope that the Middle East, always my other home, will change for the better. Sharing new ideas and arguments on the internet is just one thing that may alter the way things are discussed, and maybe I will go back to blogging later. For now, though, I will stick to posting on other people's blogs. Thanks and take care.

Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon

Things are getting worse and worse in Lebanon, from the looks of things. I have some family in Beirut now who are trying to get out via Syria. Even though the main roadway was bombed, apparently, people can still get around it into Damascus.

All I can really say is that the Lebanese deserve better than this. Just when the country was starting to get back on its feet and the "Cedar Revolution" pushed Syria out, this happens. I'm actually glad that the Israelis are going after Hezbollah, but a lot of civilians are paying the price for the strikes. And no, I'm not equating Israel and Hezbollah - I understand that the IDF is not deliberately going after civilians, unlike Hezbollah's hits on Haifa. But a lot of infrastructure is getting flattened.

My main anger here is directed at Nasrallah and his "party of God." His loyalty does not lie with Lebanon or its people - he's a dancing monkey for Syria and Iran, who seem to prefer letting other countries fight their wars for them. Makes you wonder why Israel won't go after them directly. Perhaps the fear of making this conflict a bigger, regional one with higher stakes.

You know what? Big Pharaoh's dad says it perfectly: except I don't think Nasrallah is stupid so much as a nihilist who doesn't care if Lebanon goes down in flames.

Fourth of July reflections

I grew up hearing more bad things about America than good, and even though I have always been an American citizen, I used to join in on the blame-America-first rhetoric in order to avoid ugly arguments. Not anymore.

I'm proud to say that I'm a citizen of the greatest country on earth. It is a country of ideas, and universal ones at that. Whether it is a monarchy, a communist state or a democracy, China will always be China, Germany will always be Germany and so on. In the case of the United States, it started with principles and ideas on which the nation was then founded. America is unique in that regard - our democracy is what makes America.

No matter how many American flags people burn from Karachi to Mardrid, people know this and are itching to benefit from the opportunities they create. We are not always perfect. We make mistakes. But we should not apologize for being the greatest country on earth and I'll drink an extra beer to that.

Happy Fourth, everyone.

I'll leave you with a quote from, what else, the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

and JFK:

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."

U.S. soldiers killed

When I heard that two U.S. soldiers had been taken hostage in Iraq, I knew it would not end well. I figured that they were probably being tortured as I sat here, and the thought sent chills up my spine. Now, it's been confirmed that these brave men died, probably in a horrific way. There's the "resistance" for you - when they're not bombing schools, markets and now senior centers, they treat their enemies far worse than we have ever treated them. There can be no compromise with these people.

Of course, horrific things like this happen to ordinary Iraqis on a daily basis. So who is to blame for this? The Right? The Left? No, no, no. The terrorists (or "minutemen", if you're Michael Moore) who operate from a completely different moral universe from the rest of us. As I cruise the blogosphere and hear different bloggers (who I don't feel like naming) trying to put a political slant on this, I just say the only ones we should be attacking for this are the terrorists directly responsible. No one else. It may seem like an easy, cowardly position to take, but I feel that it's the most sane one.

Got the bastard!

Yes! Zarqawi is dead, courtesy of our troops, Iraqis and some Jordanian assistance on the side. It's a wonderful day for all. I would have commented sooner, but blogger.com apparently hates me.

It's a great day on a personal level for me, one that I've been looking forward to for a while. When I first saw a video of Zarqawi beheading Eugene Armstrong, it not only made me sick to the core, it altered the way I thought about, well, the world. About terrorist fanatics and the lengths of their savagery. There was something extremely personal about my anger towards the monster. Then there was the Jordanian bombing, which hit friends of a relative of mine. So I feel nothing but sheer joy that the bastard is gone. Makes me wish I believed in Hell.

So congratulations to Iraqis today on getting rid of a scumbag who brought them a world of misery. Woohooo! Big Pharoah said it best with the champagne, but I gotta love the IMAO graphic. Good riddance to pure evil - Osama, there's another missile with your name on it.

Conversations with my professor

Anyone who has been to college in the States knows that professors tend to be, well, lefties. I used to be a leftie, so I thought it was great. Then I was a centrist, and it was alright. Now, I'm becoming increasingly conservative (or libertarian, depending on the issue), so they really get on my nerves.

The thing that pisses me off the most is the insinuation that because I'm pro-war on terror and Arab, I must be "brainwashed" by the man. After years of trying to indoctrinate me (we've got to "always question authority", but not their authority), if you deviate from their worldview, there has to be something wrong with you. Observe the following incident:

I was in a classroom, we were all working on computers independently, and Bush was coming into town. This, of course, triggered all manner of Bush Derangement Syndrome amonst the students and professors. They were devolving into a Bush-mocking marathon - the usual "Bush lied, people died" stuff, when I decided to say something.

Nadz: hmm, I guess it's Bush-bashing day today. How original.

Professor BDS: So you must like George Bush, huh?

Nadz: I don't hate him.

Prof: Why?

(He's completely incredulous to meet someone who doesn't hate Dubya. Maybe he should get off campus more.)

Nadz: I like his attitude to the war on terror. I think he knows how to deal with terrorists.

Prof: So you don't like Arabs.

Nadz: I am Arab.

Ha! I guess I'm a self-loathing racist in his eyes. Only that could explain it! See what I have to put up with, people?

"United 93" in 3 words

See. it. now.

No, seriously. No apologies, no attempts to "see from the terrorists' perspective", no cloying sentimentalism. It's how a movie about 9/11 should be done.

Know what I'm kind of dreading, though? The upcoming Oliver Stone movie on the World Trade Center.