Affluent Egyptians in Cairo Gloat Over Attacks While Eating Big Macs

The Wall Street Journal ^ | September 18, 2001 | YAROSLAV TROFIMOV

[Torie]

CAIRO, Egypt -- As the Bush administration works to draw moderate Arab states into its coalition against terrorism, it must consider the mood at a gleaming McDonald's outlet here on Arab League Street, a cosmopolitan avenue in a well-heeled neighborhood of Cairo. Sandwiched between a Rolex watch store and a BMW car dealership, the restaurant is packed with affluent university students dressed in American garb and aware of the billions of dollars in foreign aid that the U.S. has pumped into Egypt. It's the sort of place where one would expect to find sympathy for the American cause. But listen to what they're saying.

[2ndMostConservativeBrdMember]

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[CatoRenasci]

This is a time for choosing.

They have chosen.

Cut off the money. Now. Immediately.

[sendtoscott]

Washington, DC (Associated Press) - The Central Intelligence Agency has just released the details of a five year plan to hide pork products in McDonald's hamburgers. "This way, we get to send them to Hell" CIA chief George Tenet testified at a special Congressional hearing...

[Nuke'm Glowing]

Dear McDonalds,

Please in the interest of amusing the hell out of us, and getting back at these rich P.O.S.'s, send out an apology advising that due to the "Mad Cow" crisis, you made the mistake of sending the ground beef hamburgers to another country and sent the pork substitutes to all Cairo area McDonalds.

Thanks,
A Pissed Off American

[Bobby777]

you nailed it ...

[LarryLied]

Excellent find. What we all suspect but what we are not supposed to mention. Leave it to you to find it in a most credible source.

[patlaw_guy]

America has the best friends money can buy. Perhaps we should increase Egyptian Aid to 4 billion a year, they'll like us twice as much.

This is the funniest thing I've seen all day!

Hey--I'll raise you $4B! They'll like me best!

[redhawk]

It's time to drop some tactical nukes somewhere if for no other reason than to scare the living $#!+ out of these ungrateful punks.

[Map Kernow]

This story reminds me of an excellent and still pertinent book published almost 20 years ago, authored by V. S. Naipaul and entitled "Among the Believers." Naipaul's overriding impression of Muslims in their homelands was that they wanted all the toys and gadgetry the West had to offer, the money, the material things, and yet wanted to put on a big show---often a homicidal show---of "rejecting" the West, and its "soulless materialism." I suspect that their attitudes are not so different today, even among Muslims in Western countries like our own.

Naipaul also said of the newly created "Islamic Republic" in Iran: "They think that, if you just kill the right people, everything will work." How descriptive that is of the 9/11/01 murderers.

[tm22721]

I don't care what the media are saying. This is a clash of civilizations.

And what Bin Laden did was SAD (Self Assured Destruction).

BUMP

[cicero's_son]

Bump.

It occurs to me that by the time this is all over, bin Ladin may go down in what remains of Islamic culture as the greatest enemy Islam ever had.

He is seeing to its destruction.

[cicero's_son]

To put a finer point on it, the Germans thought Hitler was pretty nifty in 1941.

Today's reconstructed Germans disagree.

[etcetera]

Egypt has no oil. It's value to the U.S. lies in the fact that they're at peace with Israel. The U.S. expects Hosni Mubarak to calm down other, more rabid Arab states regarding Israel and it's U.S. ties.

[Leto]

Well they've learned about us for the past 20 years from CNN. Wonder why they have a negative opinion of us. We will buy them off while the hunt for the terrorist goes on. The money spigot should be turned off.

The Energy plan needs to be retooled to increase the use of neuclar energy and eliminate our need to import oil from the middle east. Let them eat their oil.

[lasereye]

According to a WSJ editorial last week, Egypt's largest newspaper has stated that Israel makes matzoh using the blood of gentiles.

[Mat_Helm]

The only people left in Egypt for the last 5000 years after the last pharaoh died are grave robbers. Egypt is a nation of thieves and grave robbers. The whole middle east is one big welfare state living off oil money from the west. If we open up all our oil off the coasts and in the Arctic we would not need any of their oil. Than who are they going to sell oil to and how are they going to buy food and clothing and building materials. If we start sinking every oil tanker that leaves the persian gulf we could bring the world to its knees in one big hurry. We could call it a BIG MAC ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[etcetera]

"It sounds to me that they get a highly distorted picture of America and Americans, and this contributes to their vindictive feelings towards us. How can we make efforts to get out side of the story across more successful? If we could make some of these nice folks realize there's another side, that might help us a great deal."

The Muslims who hate the U.S. will hate the U.S. no matter what. I bet you can find similar sentiments among the Kuwaitis. If Saddam weren't breathing down their necks you can be sure they'd spit on us, too.

[mountaineer]

All foreign aid to ANY nation who does not support us 100% should be CANCELED immediately.

If this isn't the bargaining chip Colin Powell is using with the recalcitrant nations, I will be very angry. It's a simple message: You're either for us or against us. If you're against us, you won't see another dime of American aid. Ever. You have 2 hours to decide.

[oneway]

It's time to drop some tactical nukes somewhere if for no other reason than to scare the living $#!+ out of these ungrateful punks

Do you really think dropping nukes on people willing to fly airplanes into buildings will scare them...I think not...lets just focus on killing them...Satan will provide all the fear free of charge..

[oneway]

and on another note:

Affluent Egyptians in Cairo Gloat Over Attacks While Eating Big Macs

You sure that Affluent is not a typo? Effluent...is the word that fits