Posted on 10/01/2001 3:41:27 PM PDT by 4Freedom
While members of the Arab community in Rio Piedras called the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks "terrible" and "tragic," many were also quick to point to abuses in their native Middle East.
For example, some members said that 10 Palestinian children die every day at the hands of U.S.-backed Israeli troops.
"The United States has to change its policies in the Middle East," said Zacaria Yacoub, a 31-year-old Palestinian who has been living on the island for the past eight years and owns a clothing warehouse on Padre Colon Street. "Palestinians have been begging the United Nations for a year to send observers and investigate what's going on with Israeli soldiers killing Palestinians, but the United States always vetoes the request," he said.
"Millions of Muslims across the globe are mad. I don't want [terrorist attacks] to happen again, but I'm sure it will happen again," he said. "The Koreans, people of Vietnam are mad. The United States has to find a way to keep this from happening in the future."
Ayman Mokbel, a 28-year-old Palestinian who sells clothes on the street and has also been here for eight years, said there is resentment against the United States among his compatriots because the United States "does not want to help."
"They want to force the entire world to act upon their own interests," Mokbel said. "Palestinians are fighting against terrorism."
"The Israelis are attacking us with missiles," Mokbel said. "We only have stones to fight back."
"The United States has its own form of terrorism against us," Mokbel said. "If they don't change their politics, there will be more attacks."
Yacoub said, "The United States is against some acts of terror, but in favor of others."
Another Arab businessman said the Sept. 11 attack was orchestrated by Muslim enemies to make the Middle East look bad.
An Arab doctor, who works in Aibonito and didn't want to give his name for publication, said he's confident Arabs are being blamed for something they haven't done.
"Arabs didn't do it," the doctor said. "They will investigate and they will find out."
Residents of this community say 99.9 percent of Arab Muslims here are against terrorism and they would call authorities, or deal with the problem themselves, if a "situation" arose.
"Nobody here is an extremist, or politically active," Yacoub said.
These wackos sound pretty extreme to me. LOL.
Can we get somebody from Immigration or the FBI to go down to this Rio Piedras and start checking the visas, I.D.s and immigration status on some of these jokers?
Especially this Ayman Mokbel!
"The United States has its own form of terrorism against us," Mokbel said. "If they don't change their politics, there will be more attacks." ????!!!!
How does a nutcase like this get into the U.S. in the first place?
Probably on a student visa
The whole lot of them seem to me to be psychopaths. They feel their own pain, but treat everyone else as an object. How many Israeli suicide bombers have there been? How many times has Israel deliberately sought to kill the innocent and non-combatant? And I thought these parents were proud that their kids were martyred, so what's the point. Of course, these guys all took Calypso Louie's Million Man Math, 3,650 Palestinian kids killed in a year? Not true.
More like "due to the retromigent reactionaries in Arab countries, including and especially in the palestinian groups".
Know what? I don't care what they think. I don't care if they think we desire terrorist attacks. I really don't care anymore. We have tried to be nice but we give them an inch and they try to take a mile.
It's time we remember who we are and start acting like it. We were and are lions. We roared and fought to make this country the great country it is.
We walk softly and carry a big stick per Teddy's advice. Now it's time to unleash the "big stick" and show the world once again what it means to be American. To hold our heads high and look our detractors in the eyes and tell them where they can go. If they don't move out of our way then we'll run over them.
Manifest Destiny has always been ours and always will be. If anyone doesn't like it then too bad they can go get f*****.
Now, I think that we should stop asking these nuts why those terrorist attacks happened and stop listening to their bleatings. We already know why. Because they hate our success and our freedom. They can't control us like they can their illiterate sheeples and it enrages them as our success also stirs a horrible envy in them.
Yes indeed! that's what they are!
Of the very few muslims that live in the Island is generally known that they support Bin Ladden and don;t like us at all. The only reason they remain so quiet is because their numbers are so low...
Considering what has been seen throughout the world I would like to see them gone from our Island for good.
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