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| Syria-Lebanon |
| Syrians Angry At America |
| 2003-07-15 |
| Potentially interesting subject rendered meaningless and dull by typical junk from New York Times On this desolate stretch of desert along the Iraqi frontier, tensions with the American soldiers just across the border are running so high, Syrian soldiers say, that four the word "rage" appears 3 times in this article in the villages on the border. Among the signs of that anger the word "anger" is repeated 4 times, but they didn’t use "seethe" or "boil" is a series of video discs circulating through the villages exhorting viewers to attack the Americans in Iraq. Blech. Jihadi snuff videos. No doubt some of Saudywood’s finest productions. They’re everywhere the jihadis go so maybe some of the folks in this area.... Indeed, the locals here say the anger is high enough to prompt young Syrians to go across the border to stage attacks against Americans soldiers. ...are engaging in jihad. It is unclear whether the four villagers shot in the recent incidents had crossed into Iraq with that intention. Nah, that seems highly unlikely. American officials could not be reached today to discuss the accusations. Although Syrian officials said American soldiers were as close as 25 yards from the Syrian posts, an American reporter wait, the author didn’t go himself?! who visited the border was blocked by Syrian soldiers from getting close enough to contact the Americans. So you’re telling us that the whole piece comes from material provided by a stringer, using unconfirmed reports from Syrian sources, right? Villagers say the 300-mile frontier, mostly desert, is traversed by smugglers as well, and that much of the trouble the Americans have encountered has been from their effort to contain smuggling. Smuggling what? I guess such trivial details are unworthy of The NYTimes’ attention. When a reporter approached the house of the man said to have been killed after wandering into the no-man’s land, he was approached by two men who said they had been sent by the Syrian secret police. Stay out of the village, the men said. The other man said to have been wounded by the Americans could not be located. Great reporting guys! There are other indications here that anger against the Americans is running strong. A Syrian man in the nearby village of Abu Kamal invited an American reporter into his home for lunch, and then began to play videos exhorting Muslims to fight against the Americans in Iraq. Was this a video or were they watching the BBC? "Jihad is oxygen," one of the videos said. "Without jihad, the What’s wrong with these people, can’t they just buy pirated copies of Braveheart or something?! Mr. Ibrahim said it was an American who was being shown in the video, and that he had been beheaded during the battle for the Baghdad airport in early April. Mr. Ibrahim, who showed a visitor several such tapes, said they accurately expressed the The feeling is mutual, Mr. Ibrahim. |
| Posted by:Tokyo Taro |
| #9 yea |
| Posted by: Anonymous4803 2004-05-12 12:17:02 PM |
| #8 Spoke to a 21-year-old Pakistani recently. He doesn't believe OBL was responsible for 9-11. What else is there to say? |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-7-16 12:54:20 AM |
| #7 We all know there's nothing Arabs can do to control that seething anger and rage. I guess we'll just have to kill them all before they cut all our heads off. On the other hand, it's interesting to contrast this piece of New York Times gold with the previous article, from Arab Times (Kuwait). I'm not too sure the two pieces fit together. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-7-15 10:09:30 PM |
| #6 It's easy to think that this is the exception - the extreme. But this is how the majority of Arabs think across Arabia. They're schizophrenic, in fact. When you talk to them, one on one, most will tell you they like Americans and American "stuff" - TV, movies, etc. But they'll say they don't like the American Govt. If you point out that the Govt is elected and, therefore generally reflects the beliefs and wishes of Americans - they are surprised. It becomes obvious in short order that they do not follow cause-effect chains of logic as we do in the West. Rantburg, as a microcosm, serves us well - even it has its exceptions (read: illogical participants), of course. ;-> Arabia's demographics are startling - the explosion of the birth rate in all of the oil-rich countries has put them in the utimate job bind - all those Dictators and Royal jerkoffs have skimmed too much, reinvested almost nothing, and there just aren't enough jobs - by a wide margin. The population bubble is almost as bad in the poorer countries, such as Egypt, and the economics are at least as bad. The young Arab men have a huge problem: no future. In strict Islamic societies, like SaudiLand, it's even worse - they can't marry until they have the goodies: job, money, status. Can you imagine not getting laid until you're 30 or 35 - and only then if your family's connected and you can get a good job at Aramco or somewhere? These frustrated youths are also the inheritors of a social system that lays some amazingly absurd macho BS on them. Fantasy BS of long-faded greatness. What do they see when they look out at the world? Not greatness. They see Arab failure and Arab defeat. For social reasons, they don't accept that they were lied to - they believe the Arabs are victims. This is the simple secret of media whore Al Jizzwadi's success - they told them what they wanted to hear. And after the smoke clears, they find it was failure and defeat, again. What's left to many? Not much. Religion. What are they told & taught? Whatever the local Imam or Mullah wants to, in fact. There is no real heirarchy in Islam. There's the top layer of Shi'a Black Hats and Sunni "respected spiritual leaders" - and then there's all the local mullahs doing their own thing on Friday. They have mucho power at this grass-roots level. It's no wonder the young men are ripe for the picking by the asshat Izzoids among these clowns. Unfortunately, there is very little we can do about it that we're not already doing. It's their stew - they made it - and in it Arabia sits. Despite the foolish goofs who empathize and think we (the West, US in particular) can and should "fix" everything, it's impossible, of course. We are the target of convenience. Our support of Israel makes us the easiest target to sell to the masses - and the Pals are the favorite diversion, encouraged by the Arab Govts. I think the fall of the Shah and the return of Khomeini, who knew more about hate than anyone since Stalin it seems, accelerated the acceptance of this mass delusion. Great Satan. Sigh. What a load. Iraq might make a big difference in demonstrating that Arabs can have good middle-class lives, too, and do it in Arabia. But that will be some years coming. Afghanistan never had a chance. An oasis here or there of slightly less demented tribalistic thuggery seems to be all that will happen - they're far too much like PakiLand - and will prolly stew forever. So, for now, we have to protect ourselves. We have to kick Govt ass wherever it fosters this delusional hatred. We have to kill the twits, the Ibrahim's, to keep from being killed. I don't see much chance of overcoming all of the shortcomings of Arabia - for generations to come. They certainly aren't doing dick for themselves. A shitload of Arabs are going to throw themselves on our swords before they believe they have an alternative, given their social, economic, political, and religious situation. All self-inflicted. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-15 4:39:13 PM |
| #5 During Gulf War 1 the Syrians forbid us SAR helicopters from using their airspace and even threatened to fire on them. The result was at least one pilot grabbed by the Iraqi's. They were our freaking ally. They can suck it up now, and get out of the Bekka Valley, before we notice them and start to get mad. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-7-15 4:25:34 PM |
| #4 'American helicopters and planes routinely violate Syrian airspace' Hey Bashir, we will let you know when it's 'your airspace', until then: SUCK IT UP. I think we lost patience when the 10th or so Saddam Chum was found to be in Damascus and sent back. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-7-15 4:08:28 PM |
| #3 (thump, thump) Want some more? (thump, thump) No? You sure? So STFU already. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-7-15 10:31:12 AM |
| #2 Well, hell, we certainly don't want the Syrians to hate us, do we? I mean, I thought they all loved us there! Guess we better pull out of Iraq and the ME in general so everybody will love us--just like they did right up to 9/11! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-7-15 8:27:17 AM |
| #1 I would like to know where this video was from. Chechnya maybe? |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-7-15 5:40:06 AM |