Unexpected Syrian Connections to the Bush Administration

Daniel Pipes' WebLog ^ | 12/4/2004 | Daniel Pipes

[sarah_f]

Weblog
Unexpected Syrian Connections to the Bush Administration
December 4, 2004

Unexpected Syrian Connections to the Bush Administration First comes the news that Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner and now the president's nominee for secretary of homeland security, is married to a Syrian woman named Hala. Raymond Stock, the translator from Arabic, speculates that "If she is Muslim, one wonders if Kerik converted (at the very least) to marry her – making him the first Muslim Cabinet member in history, if confirmed by the Senate."

Then comes the report by Tyler Golson, an American, a Democrat, and an English teacher in Damascus, who recounts how, since he began teaching in Damascus six months ago, he has been "continually surprised to find support and even admiration for Bush," then he gives first-hand examples of this phenomenon. (December 4, 2004)

All material on this site ©1980-2004 Daniel Pipes. meqmef (at) aol.com

[Cicero]

Interesting. More likely, in America, a Syrian woman would become secularized.

I have a stepsister who is married to an Iranian physician in Texas. No problem, as far as I have seen.

[immigrationreformactivist]

Not that there is something wrong with having a Muslim cabinet member per se'. I question that if Kerrick is Muslim (which I doubt) he would be the first Muslim cabinet member. I know Spence Abrahm, Bush's outgoing Sec. of Energy, is arabic. Using the same "logic" you used because a person is from a certain region of the world or of a certain ethnicity, they may be Muslim and thus Spence Abrahm may be Muslim. Beyond that there is a high level Department of Homeland Security official being investaged for having terrorist ties.

[SittinYonder]

Nice to see the kind of crap Americans abroad are telling people of other nations. No wonder we're hated in Europe and other places. It's not our policies, it's the idiot "expatriots" out spreading the word of how evil America is. From Tyler Golson's column:

my own government, which had started a pre-emptive war against Syria's neighbor, denied considerable foreign investment to the Syrian economy and branded Damascus a "supporter of terrorism."

"But doesn't he scare you?" I asked finally, unable to contain my personal feelings and throwing the lesson plan out the window. "Because of Bush's ideas many people in my country think that all of you are terrorists." Rahaf and most of the others just shrugged. Maybe that was all true, they said, but he was still a good president.

[ClaireSolt]

Kerick is not a Muslim, from the names of his children. Neither is Spence Abraham. He is descended from Lebanese Christians.

[what's up]

Is Zogby a Muslim? I heard he was of Arab descent.

[SittinYonder]

I never said Kerik was a Muslim.

[SittinYonder]

Arab descent, yes. Muslim, no. Lebanese Catholic parents.

[expatpat]

Most Arabs in the US are Christian.

[lilylangtree]

Good grief!

[El Gato]

and branded Damascus a "supporter of terrorism."

Never mind that they are. The Bekka Valley, which is under Syian military control, is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

[TopQuark]

It's not our policies, it's the idiot "expatriots" out spreading the word of how evil America is.

People don't care about policies because most don't understand them. But everyone understands the culture that we are beaming throughout the world. Everyone understands that one can hardly find anything on TV or in the movies that does not deal with sex of violence for their own sake. Springer's show is seen in more than three dozen countries.

Everyone, especially in Europe, knows that at leas one quarter of our kids cannot find Washington D.C. on the map and do not know the name of the sitting Vice President.

People know also that about one third of our representatives in Congress do not have a passport.

To be sure, there are many countries where this is also the case, but their it may be explained by poverty, wars, etc. In our case, we choose to be dumb and narcissistic, and that anyone can sense and understand.

Now, what was that you were saying about the misunderstood policies of the U.S. government?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[SittinYonder]

That's a fine piece of trashing America you've done. Maybe you ought to go teach in Damascus.

Springer's show is seen in more than three dozen countries.

You choose to believe that says something about America; I choose to believe that says something about more than three dozen countries. You also seem to be operating off of some mistaken belief that kids around the world (except for nations where poverty or wars exist) are smarter than American children.

Have a little pride in your nation and its people, TopQuark. We're worthy of your praise.

[SittinYonder]

I'm not arguing that Syria is not a hotbed of terrorist activity. I just find it interesting that the Syrians support our President more than this Golson person does. I'm surprised that I'm the only one that takes exception to him going around to the Middle East and trashing our president and our country while Syrians - of all people - take up for Bush.

[TopQuark]

That's a fine piece of trashing America you've done.

Thanks for the compliment, but you've misconstrued where the trashing was pointed. America and a particular point in its culture is not the same thing. Oh, to be sure, I do consider people like Springer and Howard Stern to be trash (I did not say so in the previous post). And I do consider trash people like one of the callers to a radio talk show who said that he would "vote for Howard Stern in a heartbeat." And I do find it very, very disturbing that at the present time there are visibly many people of that type.

But this is not America. De Tocqueville said that "America is great because of the basic goodness of its people. And it will cease to be great if its people cease to be good." I was referring to the second part. I do believe that, as hte influence of Christianity declines --- that of Judaism also, but it is not a significant social force --- our culture is becoming more and more materialistic and narcissistic. We used to celebrate statements such as "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country," and now we view house-ownership as The American Dream. Inquire please after when it happened and how, and see if the results will surprise you.

I see MY country giving up what is great in it. And it PAINS me to see that. And I HOPE that it will recover, although it may not happen in my lifetime -- and may not happen at all, given that the decease I mentioned is common to the entire Western world. But the spade is a spade: it is not any external influence, not hurricanes of "evil" Hollywood that brings about the deteriorating: it is we ourselves. It is not Springer or Stern -- it is the millions of morons that admire them.

Maybe you ought to go teach in Damascus.

I definitely should. But I would probably be killed during the very first lecture.

Springer's show is seen in more than three dozen countries. You choose to believe that says something about America; I choose to believe that says something about more than three dozen countries.

I did not say anything at all about my beliefs. It is a known fact -- related to what psychologists called selective retention and processing of information --- that people make judgments on the sample of data they have. Thus, an average Italian or Spaniard, who does not study American culture and has no money to travel, has a limited sample of information on which (s)he forms beliefs and makes judgments. Before WWII, he mostly saw Fred Astaire; after WWII, he mostly saw John Wayne; in the 1970s he saw cynical, depressing movies about what's wrong with all American institutions -- senate, judges, police. Since late 1980s all he sees is senseless (that is, divorced of a moral judgment and purpose) violence and loveless sex. That is one source. The other is, of course, the long line of people like Kerry and Jesse Jackson who simply cannot say anything good about this country. That same thing is magnified by CNN --- and that is what a person coming from work in Milan of Frankfurt sees. It is on this that (s)he forms opinions.

Now, what does this have to do with MY beliefs and MY pride in MY country? And, how is being pained by what I see in MY country indicative of lacking pride?

You also seem to be operating off of some mistaken belief that kids around the world (except for nations where poverty or wars exist) are smarter than American children.

No, that's not what I said. I said that the our ignorance --- and they do call us that, ignorant Americans --- they cannot explain by our lack of resources. Can you?

Have a little pride in your nation and its people, TopQuark. We're worthy of your praise. No question about that. It is my family, and I love it. But presently it does have more than one crazy uncle.

[TopQuark]

Sorry, I screwed up with formatting at the end of the previous post, so here is a corrected one.

That's a fine piece of trashing America you've done.

Thanks for the compliment, but you've misconstrued where the trashing was pointed. America and a particular point in its culture is not the same thing. Oh, to be sure, I do consider people like Springer and Howard Stern to be trash (I did not say so in the previous post). And I do consider trash people like one of the callers to a radio talk show who said that he would "vote for Howard Stern in a heartbeat." And I do find it very, very disturbing that at the present time there are visibly many people of that type.

But this is not America. De Tocqueville said that "America is great because of the basic goodness of its people. And it will cease to be great if its people cease to be good." I was referring to the second part. I do believe that, as hte influence of Christianity declines --- that of Judaism also, but it is not a significant social force --- our culture is becoming more and more materialistic and narcissistic. We used to celebrate statements such as "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country," and now we view house-ownership as The American Dream. Inquire please after when it happened and how, and see if the results will surprise you.

I see MY country giving up what is great in it. And it PAINS me to see that. And I HOPE that it will recover, although it may not happen in my lifetime -- and may not happen at all, given that the decease I mentioned is common to the entire Western world. But the spade is a spade: it is not any external influence, not hurricanes of "evil" Hollywood that brings about the deteriorating: it is we ourselves. It is not Springer or Stern -- it is the millions of morons that admire them.

Maybe you ought to go teach in Damascus.

I definitely should. But I would probably be killed during the very first lecture.

Springer's show is seen in more than three dozen countries. You choose to believe that says something about America; I choose to believe that says something about more than three dozen countries.

I did not say anything at all about my beliefs. It is a known fact -- related to what psychologists called selective retention and processing of information --- that people make judgments on the sample of data they have. Thus, an average Italian or Spaniard, who does not study American culture and has no money to travel, has a limited sample of information on which (s)he forms beliefs and makes judgments. Before WWII, he mostly saw Fred Astaire; after WWII, he mostly saw John Wayne; in the 1970s he saw cynical, depressing movies about what's wrong with all American institutions -- senate, judges, police. Since late 1980s all he sees is senseless (that is, divorced of a moral judgment and purpose) violence and loveless sex. That is one source. The other is, of course, the long line of people like Kerry and Jesse Jackson who simply cannot say anything good about this country. That same thing is magnified by CNN --- and that is what a person coming from work in Milan of Frankfurt sees. It is on this that (s)he forms opinions.

Now, what does this have to do with MY beliefs and MY pride in MY country? And, how is being pained by what I see in MY country indicative of lacking pride?

You also seem to be operating off of some mistaken belief that kids around the world (except for nations where poverty or wars exist) are smarter than American children.

No, that's not what I said. I said that the our ignorance --- and they do call us that, ignorant Americans --- they cannot explain by our lack of resources. Can you?

Have a little pride in your nation and its people, TopQuark. We're worthy of your praise.

No question about that. It is my family, and I love it. But presently it does have more than one crazy uncle.

[SittinYonder]

Sorry, I was rude in my post to you. I understand your points, I just don't agree that we're that bad off.

I do believe that, as hte influence of Christianity declines --- that of Judaism also, but it is not a significant social force --- our culture is becoming more and more materialistic and narcissistic.

Certainly it's quite likely that if the country strays from its Christian beliefs we'll end up like the Romans - hedonists not caring as our civilization crumbles below us. I just don't think the overwhelming majority is straying from its Christian based culture. No doubt there are pockets of America - unfortunately the more obvious ones like the entertainment industry - that have not only strayed but are lost.

But I think the vast majority of Americans maintain their Christian beliefs.

Look at the polls that show that high school kids are more conservative (in values) than their parents.

I think the Baby Boom generation was a hiccup in an otherwise moral and just society and the future will get better.

Of course, I could be wrong and America's best days are behind her.

[TopQuark]

Sorry, I was rude in my post to you.

Thank you for saying that, but no offense was taken. In fact, the way you understood me -- and the responsibility for this is probably mine entirely --- you took the only position an honorable man could take. If anything, you have my respect for saying what you did and the way you said it.

Believe me, I too am so darn tired of negativists that see only deficiencies in our country. I am sorry if I inadvertently gave an impression that I am one of them.

Best regards, TQ.