In Delirium

[4 of 4]...Part 1...Part 2...Part 3.

I described the various atrocities committed by Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Iranian regime to my friend. One of his Muslim friends was present as well.

"What should be the punishment for adultery?" I asked my friend.

He didn't have an answer.

"Should women be stoned to death for adultery like they are in Iran?"

"NO," he said quickly.

That's when his friend pounced on him.

"The Quran sanctions the punishment! Do you disagree with the Quran?"

"Of course not," he said.

"So, you agree with stoning?"

"No, I don't," my friend replied.

"You disagree with the Quran!"

"No," my friend replied.

I watched in silence as my friend couldn't possibly disagree with the words of Allah. Yet, his humanity wouldn't allow him to support the stoning of women. I didn’t have to deal with such cognitive dissonance since I’m an ex-Muslim. Stoning women to death is vile and deprave regardless of what the Quran says.

*       *       *       *

Once again, I had to go back to Saudi Arabia for the summer. As usual, I wrote Islam as my religion on the entry card. I lied since I had an odd desire to have my head attached to the rest of my body.

There was no respite from conspiracy theories in Saudi Arabia.

“4000 Jews were told not to show up at the WTC as Mossad carried out the 9/11 attacks.”

The following is one of my favorites.
“The entire War on Terror is a scheme cooked up by Israel and the US to attack and keep down the Muslim world.”
That’s particularly rich considering that the overall economic and democratic condition of a Muslim country improves after the US attacks.

This one is for hating the US even when there’s no open war.
“The US steals Saudi oil. The Americans in Saudi Arabia pump [let’s say] 20 million barrels of oil but write down, and pay for, only 10 million. They’ve been doing that since 1991!”

Let it not be said that the Muslim world is not creative. They have an incredible talent for creating a conspiracy theory for every event and occasion. The sad result is that they end up hating the Jews and the Americans more than their own tyrants and terror masters.

Some, however, brazenly support the merchants of the Dark Ages.

The following conversation took place in the summer of 2002. It includes myself (IS), my dad's friend (DF), and his son (FS). Of course, we conversed in Urdu and I have translated to the best of my ability.

DF: They found out that the guy is a Muslim, and automatically he's a...

FS: A terrorist.

DF: Yeah, a terrorist.   

IS: He fired shots at LAX. What do you think you'd call him?

DF: There are other crimes that occur. Those criminals aren't called terrorists. Only Muslims are terrorists in the West.

IS: Well, on 9/11, all the terrorists were Muslim.

DF: How do you know that?

IS: How do I know what?

FS: How do you know that the people who carried out the attacks on 9/11 were Muslim?

IS: The passengers on the planes made calls on their cell phones. They told their loved ones about the hijacking. That's how the people on the fourth plane knew that their plane will be crashed and they tried unsuccessfully to stop that. Plus, the airlines have the names of these hijackers on file. So, not much doubt that they were Muslim.

DF: What does that have to do with the war in Afghanistan?

IS: I don't understand the question?

DF: Why attack Afghanistan? Why go after Osama?

IS: Because he planned/financed the 9/11 attacks.

FS: Where is the proof that Osama did that?

DF: So, a guy in a place like Afghanistan is responsible for 9/11. Why couldn't the US, the superpower that it is [smirk], stop the attacks?

IS: How do you stop a hijacking? The police can't help you in the air. Osama was, on tape, gloating about the success of his attacks. Isn't that proof enough?

FS: The US can make a tape like that with actors. They have the [special effects] technology to do so.

IS: [hopeless]

DF: The real reason the Americans went to war in Afghanistan was to destroy the Islamic state. The Americans can't stand the fact that a pure Islamic state was formed in Afghanistan under the Taliban. They, the Taliban, have suffered setbacks but one day they will rise again and there will be Islamic law over Afghanistan. One day, they will return.

[silence]

DF: So, do you think the US will go to war with Iraq?

IS: Yes.

DF: It's all about the OOILLL. What do you think?

IS: I don't think it's about the oil. Saddam's time is up.

DF: Man, you support the Americans on everything. You're practically an American.

IS: Hunh. 

A small detail: My dad’s friend applied for US citizenship for himself and his family in the 90s. Most of his family has green cards. His son, at the time, went to a college in the US. These people naturally want a good life for themselves while simultaneously trashing the country which provided them that. They’ll happily and greedily take the fruits of liberty but then adamantly refuse to water the tree.

The level of perverseness, hypocrisy, and ingratitude in that conversation was nauseating.

*       *       *       *

I went back to Canada and started my new university year in the fall of 2002. After the Axis of Evil speech everyone knew that Saddam was the number one target. The Unfinished War of 1991 would finally be brought to an end. That made for some very dull and sometimes absorbing conversations. The usual charges would often be brought up: “War for OOILLL,” “No moral authority,” “Imperialism.”

It was strange that people who placed themselves on the right of the political spectrum were easily demonized by many Canadians but calling real evil by its name was considered uncouth. In a conversation about the US and Iraq:

“Bush is evil,” a friend pontificated.

“What do you mean?”

“He looks evil,” he replied.

“Hunh.”

“I think Saddam is also bad from what you have said...”

He really didn’t think that Saddam was objectively evil. Saddam was just being puffed up to be this BIG BAD BUTCHER so that the US could easily take him on.

Later, I was talking to a different friend. We were in a group of four in which two guys were spectators. I was tallying the crimes of Saddam and the reasons for the West to take him out. My friend didn’t have much of a reply.

“You talk like...”

Everyone was attentive.

“...an American.”

There were audible gasps from the other two guys. Remember, this was a group of university students, so often the language was R-rated. But still, calling someone an American in Canada is harsh.

“Yeah, so?” was my reply. They all laughed.

The conversation always ended when one played the “American” card. Instead of calling me ignorant or jingoistic or a warmonger, the umbrella term would be employed to convey all the negative stereotypes. It was the same as when my dad’s friend called me an American or when my mom said that “you talk like a Jew.” These remarks said more about the people making them than about myself.

*       *       *       *

Our war against the Islamists will be multi-generational. The US has to fight. She has no other choice. We’ve tried leaving the Middle East alone in its soup of hatred, the result of which we witnessed on 9/11. The Islamists do not fully understand the West. They do not comprehend the latent might of the American Republic and they constantly deny the dignity of freedom in Israel. They truly believe that they’ll make us kneel before them. If not today, then twenty years from now. For them it is only a matter of time.

It is up to the US to prove them wrong. We must destroy Al Qaeda, crush Hamas, smash the Iranian regime, and grind the Saudi rulers into powder. We must completely and utterly annihilate Islamism Islam.

Many Westerners didn’t say a word of support for the tortured and oppressed population of Iraq. We had useful idiots before, today we have useful infidels. They are quick to point out all the supposed evils of the West but when it comes to Islamists, the silence is deafening. They effortlessly consume freedom, yet refuse to even rhetorically support the providers and defenders of liberty: the Allied armed forces with major credit to the US troops.

It is most impressive that the US military is manned by a volunteer professional force. They volunteer to wake up in a desert in a pool of their sweat. They volunteer to embrace the stratosphere at super sonic speeds. They volunteer to spend months surrounded by hundreds of miles of ocean. They volunteer to leave behind a life of leisure and their loved ones. The US is blessed to have such fine men and women who protect Western Civilization from oblivion.

On March 20, 2003, the US embarked on a most noble enterprise. I unfurled Old Glory and put it up on a wall in my room. This American proudly supports the US troops.

THE END

Contents

Update :: September 24, 2005
Stop the ACLU is having a trackback party. It's too infidelicious to resist.
Mudville Gazette has an open post. Btw, in Saudi Arabia alcohol consumption / possession earns one a beheading. Such lovely people.
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has put up "the Obligatory Weekend Trackback Post™."

The Political Teen has Open Trackbacks.
Basil's Blog has an open post.
Outside the Beltway has got a Traffic Jam.
Cafe Oregano has put up Friday Specials. I hope my "Tuesday" special is worthy.

bRight and Early has got an open post. Happy reading!
Cao's Blog, which has a soothing design, has got inline trackbacks.

Comments

[Romeocat]

Isaac, that was fantastic!

So, does this mean you no longer have to put "Pakistani" for citizenship? Have you become/do you intend to become an "official" American citizen? If so, you are more than welcome - do you have any like-minded friends you can bring along?

We need more gutsy patriots like you, that's for sure!

Thanks so much for sending me the notification; I've passed it along to the Wide Awakes list, and I hope they will stop by and give you the praise you so richly deserve.

My best to you,
-- R'cat
CatHouse Chat

(Oh, and I'm mostly only doing e-mail this week, as I'm in Orlando caring for my parents. I'll try to link this when I get back. Best again, -- R'c)

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Thank you for the compliments.

Officially I'm still a Muslim and a Pakistani citizen. None of my friends and family know about my journey. Only the few who've read my blog entries are in the know.

It's tough as it is to simply stay in Canada, so American citizenship is far off. Though, trust me, I'd give an arm and a leg for the honor. I was in the US for two years and I really miss the place and the people.

"...any like-minded friends...?"
Very few. They're all Canadian and I think they prefer their citizenship.

I will be looking at Canadian Immigration laws to see if and how I can stay here. I'll keep the Blogosphere posted on this next journey of mine. Do pray for my success.

Again, thank you.

[bruce]

You are a student of the world, have you studied the life of George Washington? I think you would find it fascinating and a real addition to your embrace of Western sanity.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

>> bruce,
Sorry, I haven't read much about George Washington.

I read quite a lot, mostly blogs. I'm currently reading these books, at a painfully slow pace, for my own education and fun:
- Memoirs of WT Sherman
- Winston Churchill's The Second World War
- Anne Applebaum's Gulag
- Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver

Plus, I've got other books on my shelf. If you have a certain book or books you have in mind regarding Washington, then leave a comment and I'll take a look in the future...probably by next year.

[Julie Cleeveley]

Very interesting, very well written. Try Roy Jenkins' biography of Winston Churchill as well. My favourite book.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

>> Julie Cleeveley,
Thanks. I've put the book on my reading list.

[Naveen]

That was a great reading Issac and being one myself who studied all my school life in UAE i really understand and share u'r views about the locals there.I have myself questioned some of my Moslem friends where i study now if the were a sunni or shia but they dont bother to know it either .Its a lot to do with the society where u live in anyway.Keep up the good work

[erica]

You are absolutely amazing.

I just read all four chapters and am so blown away (if you'll pardom the idiom) I could hug you ...

Rock on, brother ... if you're ever in Brooklyn, mi casa es su casa.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Thank you, Erica.

[Gina]

Your story is very inspiring! You help me appriciate the freedom I have in the US. I hope you get to stay in Canada. I will pray fir you. Do you have a different belief in God now after leaving Islam? :-) Thanks, gina

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Gina: I don't believe in Allah as a God nor do I think that Muhammed was a prophet. Though, I do believe in a God. So, I'm a theist. However, I don't belong to any religion.

Thank you for reading and for your prayers.

[Tantor]

Isaac,

I believe that you are an American who was born in the wrong country. My fervent wish is that this geographical accident of birth be reconciled with your true nationality with all speed.

Welcome to America,

Tantor

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Tantor: Thanks.