You Worry Me

Hyattsville letter

[hawaiian]

The following letter was published in the Gazette, Hyattsville, MD, October 11, 2001, on the Community Forum page.

"You worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.

"I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, and professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate but I know nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On Sept. 11, nineteen Arab-Muslims hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants and children's mothers. So I notice you now.

I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that have destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help.

As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to differentiate between you. How do I differentiate between the true Arab-Muslim-Americans and the Arab-Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, ... [edited for brevity]... while they plot the next attack that will slaughter those very same good neighbors and children? The answer to my own questions that it is past the time for me to try to determine this. The events of Sept. 11th changed the answer. It is time for every Arab-Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, if you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation that He will protect and prosper it? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots? Are you willing to preserve this freedom with the spilling of your own blood? Do you love America? And if this is your commitment, then I need you to start letting me know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the "innocent" (I worry who you regard as "innocent") and condemnation of "unprovoked" attacks (I worry what is "unprovoked" to you.) I am not interested in any more sympathy; I am interested only in action. What will you do for America-- the country -- at this time of crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America." I want to see Arab-Muslim young men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money and time and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.

The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Deliver them up, now. But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisal.

The few Arab-Muslim representatives that have appeared on the media are defensive and equivocating. They seem more concerned with making sure the U.S. prove who is responsible before they act, and protecting their own people from any violence directed toward them, here in the U.S. and abroad.

If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up.

Because even if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true, it matters little if large numbers of current Islamic practitioners interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.

I want to know where every Arab-Muslim in this country stands and I think it is within my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters.

I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here; as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no "gray" areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to you to show me where you stand.

Until then...you worry me."

[Lazamataz]

The Terrorists Handbook (7000 pages plus) explains in great detail how to blend into a community to avoid suspicion--everything from shaving beards and putting away the turban for awhile to volunteering to coach a junior league soccer team. Future up-and-coming terrorists are encouraged to become a part of the neighborhood because their missions could take a decade to come to fruition and they have to avoid suspicion for their plan to succeed. Univeristy degrees in biochemistry and microbiology, pilot training and licenses, haz-mat transportation companies and drivers, moving companies, charity fronts, ISPs, travel agencies, medical school and residencies...the ones we know about thus far have taken great pains and lots of years to set up their networks and plan their murderous deeds. Do they have nuclear engineers working in our power plants? Do they have operatives in the officer ranks of our armed forces and current administration? Do we smile a friendly "hello" to someone who is secretly plotting our demise? Surely.

I think tit for tat could be in order. Certainly in our great country there are more than a few CIA operatives who would be willing to inculcate themselves in the Islamic culture, pretending to be a terrorist, and slowly work their way up the ranks. Eventually I am sure we will have Mullahs On The Ground in every country.

[ChemistCat]

"...there are many Muslims in this country who hate the goons who killed our people on 9/11. So please, don't give up Christian values for the terrorist. It gives them a win..."

Fine, great, wonderful. I would like to hear from them. If the media won't give them a voice, then Rush Limbaugh, Free Republic, Glenn Beck and dozens of "nonmainstream (nonliberal)" outlets would be happy to hear from them. I'm not going to go out and attack anyone. You know if another serious attack happens, as Ashcroft & Co fear, that there will be citizens taking on anyone swarthy skinned and "looking" Muslim--it's not a matter of what I WISH would happen, it's a matter of what WILL happen.

But I've been the advocate of innocent Muslims since 9/12, despite being SERIOUSLY FLAMED for it, and I think it's time they started speaking out for me and my country in return. Time for them to speak. Time for allied Arab governments to come down firmly on our side, too. Hardly any of our allies would have thought us evil if we had NUKED the Taliban on 9/12, but we didn't know enough to do it, and the world expects our passions to have already cooled??? What's with that? How many weapons of mass destruction does it take to justify self-defense?

I will stand between innocence and evil any time. Innocence however has got to be prepared to show clean hands. Islam--you've been called--are you with this evil offshoot of yours or against it?

My own faith was once called upon by the law of the land to reject a practice others found abhorrent, but a practice considerably less offensive to any portion of humanity than the mass murder of thousands of noncombatants. We responded by humbly choosing to obey even a law onerous to the Saints of the time, a law that required them to change the way they ordered their families. Not only did we comply with the demands of the nation to forsake plural marriage, on the basis of that obedience we began to excommunicate any who defied the law of the land to fulfill that spiritual law. For the sake of peace with our country, we changed something rather fundamental to our faith's expression. (Almost all churches have had to modify their practices to suit some ordinance or IRS regulation, so don't think I'm just picking on my own.) There is nothing unreasonable about asking our Muslim citizens to behave as America's citizens, to defend her, to guide her, yes, even to betray terrorists to her. Mormons have had to fight Mormons--there were Latter-day Saints on both sides of the lines in World Wars I and II. It's a terrible thing but we recognize that the citizen and the nation have reciprocal obligations. Some Muslims are saying that they are Muslims first. If that is how they truly believe, in the face of what people claiming to be Muslims have done, then they are our enemy, and not ours at all.

I've heard from Muslim chaplains in our own military who have spoken out critically against our nation's policy (in clear violation of the USCMJ.) I've heard of surveys that say that a significant portion of the nation's Muslim citizens believe 9/11 was justified, and the occasional freak who says he wants to go fight against us with the Taliban. I've heard way too much of Louis Farrakhan, believe me. His rhetoric went way beyond criticism of our President--something we all feel free to do--into treason and sedition. I've read exactly ONE intelligent essay by a Western Muslim that thoroughly repudiated 9/11, and it has not, apparently, received the broad attention in Muslim circles that I had hoped it would get.

The ball is still in the Islamic court, but if it comes smashing back with death attached and no apologies, I know that there will be violence against American Muslims. If they don't see that coming, they're as foolish as the rest of us.

[nobdysfool]

This gay-socialist I used to work for had a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus, protect me from your followers"

I recommend "Allah, protect me from your followers" I think it would be a good seller...JFK

I'd like one that says "Jesus, protect me from Allah's followers"...

[muggs]

bump

[bimbo]

I agree with your sentiments 100% ... I even agreed with those sentiments in Nov. 2000 ... and I voted for the only candidate who raised immigration as an issue - Pat Buchanan. Unfortunately, Buchanan was successfully (and wrongly) portrayed as a "racist" even on FreeRepublic. (You may even get some "racist" flames, yourself!)

[b4its2late]

Great post.

[Texas Mom]

There are also many American Muslims who sympathize with Osoma. Click here and and Here

Just for starters.

[Victoria Delsoul]

The few Arab-Muslim representatives that have appeared on the media are defensive and equivocating. They seem more concerned with making sure the U.S. prove who is responsible before they act, and protecting their own people from any violence directed toward them, here in the U.S. and abroad.

They truly show where their support and loyalty stand.

[GOPJ]

It's a small world. I've defended Mormon relatives in the past. There are those who would treat you the same as you want to treat Muslim citizens. Did you know that? There is a defined enemy in this war, and it's not individual defenseless Muslims living in this country and yes, if you ask me if I would "nuke 'em" if there's one case of smallpox in this country, my answer would be "yes." Yes, in a New York minute. And maybe for much less than smallpox. I'm sick of the evil ones.

But if you want to know if I'll join a group to beat up some Muslim citizen and kill his children while when he's in a Mall parking lot, then my answer is NO. NO. NO. NO.

[Travis McGee]

Certainly in our great country there are more than a few CIA operatives who would be willing to inculcate themselves in the Islamic culture, pretending to be a terrorist, and slowly work their way up the ranks. No, there are not.

Therein lies one of our greatest disadvantages in this asymetric war. We do NOT have young CIA officers who speak perfect local Arabic or Pashtun, who are willing to spend years with no women, no booze, no TV, but only sleeping in filthy blankets on cold ground, with intestinal diseases from the bad food and water, for the small chance of "rising through the ranks".

And if compromised and captured, the agent-in-place's torture death would take many days of screaming horror and agony. So no, we do not and will not have our own American agents within the islamic terrorist movement.

.

OTOH, these girl mutilating goat sodomizers can just fly or walk in to the USA, move to a house down your street, (paid for by ??), and we are forced by our own govt to "cherish their unique contribution to our diverse and multicultural society".

They need to prove their loyalty to the USA over the international moslem ummah, or they need to be expelled.

[Lazamataz]

Therein lies one of our greatest disadvantages in this asymetric war. We do NOT have young CIA officers who speak perfect local Arabic or Pashtun, who are willing to spend years with no women, no booze, no TV, but only sleeping in filthy blankets on cold ground, with intestinal diseases from the bad food and water, for the small chance of "rising through the ranks".

We can recruit locals. The promise of 72 virgins and clean sheets and honey and wine IN THIS WORLD might do the trick.

It's worth considering and pursuing.

[DonnerT]

I like this wording.

God Protect U.S.
from the followers of Allah!

[ChemistCat]

I hope I am not coming across as advocating violence. I am saying that they *will* be the objects of violence as time goes on if they don't make their position clearer. This is a prediction, not any kind of wish. However, action and inaction have consequenes and I think the Muslims ought tob e able to foresee the results of their silence as well as I can.

I tried to adopt a kitten during the month of October and because he had some black fur, I wasn't permitted to, because of a "Halloween Hold" on all "black" kittens. Because there are people out there sick enough to torture a kitty just because it is October--and pay $45 to do so--I was not able to adopt this kitten. It got sick in the shelter and was euthanized. That kitten was deprived of a loving home and its life because of the POSSIBILITY that it might be tortured. THIS WAS NOT **MY** choice nor was it a choice I endorse.

I would not endorse people going out and beating up on Muslims. However, just like that animal shelter with its policy, I know that other people are going to start making decisions like, "THis guy looks suspicious and he MIGHT be about to kill me; I'm gonna get him first." It's going to happen. W did a tremendous job restraining it, but the Muslims didn't follow through.

I'm not going to risk my life, my property, or my family when this backlash starts; at least, I won't be defending adults who could have worked to prevent this. They have a grace period here, and they're not using it.

The enemy within our borders isn't any less our enemy; in fact, I think it's considerably more dangerous than anyone in a cave in Afghanistan or a lab in Iraq.

[Bernard Marx]

I think tit for tat could be in order.

OK. Tat. (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

[Bernard Marx]

Bumped and bookmarked.

[SpottedBeaver]

Very well said. I will disagree with having Islamics in the military and a few other places, but that's a little beyond the point. There has been a deafening silence from Arab/Muslims.

On the note of silence. I was at a restauraunt the other day for lunch and someone of obvious Arab-Muslim descent walked in and the entire place became uncomfortably silent for a few, long seconds.

There are a lot of people that won't come out and say it, but are worried.

Thanks Sabertooth for the flag and thanks hawaiian for the post.

[SarahW]

Bump for clarity. Silence is approval.

[Twins613]

I am pleading with you to let me know.

Americans plead with no one. We demand with terrorists, and the blood of the innocents of 9/11 allows us to do so freely and without hesitation. Those who are with us in the Muslim community should declare themselves before it is too late.

[Travis McGee]

If you think people get nervous in restaurants when arabs walk in now, wait until they start using human bombs in pizza parlors.

[Whilom]

Excellent.