Posted on 10/24/2001 5:14:11 PM PDT by Van Jenerette
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"Arab Nations Defend Islam's Image" [B#%L! S*@#t^ NEWS]
My Thoughts....a simple letter...some simple questions.... TO: Gulf Cooperation Council Information Ministry Dear Information Ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council, Your idea to reach all media in the Western world to explain your position that all Muslims and all Arabs are against terrorism sounds like a bold and interesting initiative, especially since the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States were done by people who were both Arab and Muslims. That's a rough Public Relations job. You've got to understand, many of us here in America get confused pretty easily when 18-Arab guys hijack airplanes full of ordinary people and crash them into buildings full of ordinary people, and tell us that they did it for Allah and Islam - it's pretty convincing for us to believe that they did it, well, for Allah and Islam. Now you come along and say it isn't true? I mean, these guys were about to die, why would they lie? You can understand our confusion, can't you? I realize that your assistant secretary-general of political affairs for the Gulf Cooperation Council, accused the Western media of connecting Islam with terrorism. That's not exactly a stretch; I mean it is a reasonable conclusion to make, given the terrorists had Islamic prayers and instructions along with quotations from the Koran with them? Honestly, if these hijackers left behind letters that said they took down the WTC and the Pentagon on instructions from their grandmothers- we'd probably suspect a connection to dear old granny. We just need some clarification - were these terrorist Muslims and Arabs or not? I must admit though, I've heard some people make the excuse that these terrorists; including Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda have gone out and 'hijacked' Isalm. Wow, these guys do get around; planes, trains, mail and an entire religion, all hijacked. You do have a PR problem. A really BIG one. I can see why you want to set up an English-language satellite television channel promoting a better image of yourselves. Your PR people aren't doing too good of a job right now. You are probably scratching your heads about why most Americans link Arabs and Muslims to terrorisim. You had to there; I mean, it's an American thing, you probably wouldn't understand. Well, perhaps I can help you out of this PR dilemma. I'd like to ask some simple questions that you could address in one of your first 'setting-the-record-straight' television shows about Islam and Arabs. Okay? Just relax, take deep breath and be yourselves and answer these as honestly as you can and I'm sure that a lot of the confusion about Muslims, Arabs and Terrorists can be cleared up, pronto!
Sorry for the long list of questions; my friends here in Ameican have told me that they have many more, but this should be enough to make at least one or two good T.V. shows. I would suggest some direct and specific answers that would help all of us in the West to gain a new understanding of Arabs and the Muslim world. Not that I'm in a position to give you any tips, but most Americans like straight talk - not spin - so I would recommend that you avoid a history about the Crusades, or the U.S. foreign policy crap, or the rage of Muslims, or the Palestinians claims to the same lands as the Israelis, or comparisons to Christianity and Judaism, or stories of poverty or hunger, or the CIA, or other 'look-behind-you' answers. Just straight talk goes over real big here in the United States. I have to hand it to you though, you fellas in the Gulf Cooperation Council are dead on target - Most of what has been said in the American Media has been either pure bull or a lesser mix of lies and rumors. You must have watched Oprah's show of Islam 101 or the evening news with Dan Rather or Peter Jennings. Anyway, good luck with this enterprise. Us Americans would like nothing better than the truth about Islam and Arabs and your 'official' position on terrorism. Oh by the way; while you are at it, perhaps you can broadcast some shows in your area of the world to help set the record straight for some of your people: You might consider instructing 'wayward' Muslims and their followers who have 'hijacked' Islam about the true meaning of the Koran and Islam. The bottom line is, I really don't care about your religion. Tell them about their religion! Just tell the Muslims who have their Koran and the Prophets' message all wrong - that they have it backwards and inside out. They seem to be the ones who need to understand the 'true' meaning of the Koran and Islam. I am looking forward to watching your programs. thank you,
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Since these things are originally written in Arabic, not in the Roman alphabet, we just listen and spell 'em like they sound. So I've seen Koran, Coran, Quran... Muslim, Moslem... Mohammed, Muhammed, Mohammet... there's no letter-to-letter translation from non-Roman script. Unless maybe its originally in Greek or Hebrew. Then maybe. But not Arabic or Chinese characters or anything non-phonetic.
If they ever get that show, I'd like to ask about their treatment of women, why it's ok for men to 'rape' other men, and why the Islam leaders do not use their own wealth to help bring their people into the 16th century, for starters.
Are there functioning sewage/water systems in most Islamic countries?
This is the kind of hyperbole so common in the Arab world that makes them seem insincere, callous and stubborn. There is no way that ALL Arabs or ALL Muslims are against terrorism, and if it is true, then they have a different definition for terrorism than we do.
Peace= when you have throttled the very life out the infidels and they struggle no more.
...the Arab world needs to do more to prove to the rest of the world that it is against these attacks.
Simply stated...If they are NOT trying to prove they are against the attacks and working to "educate" the muslim world at large that islam is the peaceful love-in they claim...it is because THEY APPROVE of the attacks.
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