In New Jersey, a Muslim-Dominated Town Weighs in On War

FOX News ^ | Monday, March 17, 2003 | Liza Porteus, Fox News

[Motherhood IS a career]

PATERSON, N.J.

[prairiebreeze]

A couple of months ago CNN interviewed a Muslim who is affiliated with some Muslim/American integration organization. He was knowlegeable and articulate. Toward the end of the interview the question to him was something like "Do you see Muslim Americans wanting to play a role in fighting the war on terror (paraphrased)? His response was that the response by Muslim Americans regarding this was "sad" in his opinion. He stated that in the work he did he tried to convey to them that "you are an American citizen first", but that Muslim Americans he was in contact with largely thought the WOT was somebody else's problem.

The interview was immediately closed and those statements were edited out of the trascript of the interview on CNN's web site. I checked.

It was one of the most honest responses I've ever seen an Arab give on TV to this issue. And I'm certain it horrified CNN producers.

Prairie

[prairiebreeze]

One more thing---I've never seen this guy back on CNN since.

Prairie --I don't get FNC -- we all have our crosses to bear :^)

[fml]

I feel for you. Isn't Paterson on dump?

[hdrider]

It's nothing but oil, it's nothing but money," said Rebhi Abedrabbo, a bakery owner. "I feel like the whole U.S. foreign diplomacy is all wrong … you cannot force democracy on other people."

POSTER CHILD FOR AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP! And what does this idiot think fires his bakery ovens...sea water?
Gee, I wonder how many bagels he makes a day?
Another HYPOCRITE!

[dead]

Yes, Paterson is a dump.

But it's within five miles of some of the most upscale towns in the state - Ridgewood, Allendale, Mahwah, Ho-ho-kus.

My town isn't too swanky, but it's light years ahead of Paterson.

[Motherhood IS a career]

I'm tired of the bleeting of these fresh off the boat immigrants.

One more thing... I happen to be an immigrant myself, and I might take your anti-immigrant comments personally, but my guess is that you are more against anti-americans (some of whom may be immigrants) than you are against immigrants.

I do agree that it's particularly hypocritical of people to come to this country and then forget why they're here, forget why it's possible for them to speak their minds freely, why it's possible for them to worship freely, and why it's possible for them to put food on the table as a result of honest work. It is downright shameful.

[RonF]

"We have to start and finish something — we haven't finished anything yet," said Timucin Karca, who was born in the United States but raised in Turkey.

This is actually a good point. I do agree with your response re: multi-tasking, but even though I'm involved with multiple projects at work, I still have to show progress in all of them.

[lasereye]

That's the absolute fallacy of the "We should concentrate on Al-Qaeda first" argument. Does anyone really think we're going to ever be able to say "We've captured every Al-Qaeda terrorist, the war's over"!

That's one of the fallacies. The other one is that the bulk of our military could be deployed to search for Bin Laden. He's believed to be in a city in Pakistan, in the middle of thousands of civilians. What do tanks, fighter jets, cruise missiles etc. have to do with that? Nothing. We don't have permission from Pakistan to send in tens of thousands of troops anyway. Al Qaeda are caught through intelligence.

[RonF]

"We do not back what some of these more fanatic so-called Muslim people are doing," such as Saddam and bin Laden, Aydin said. "The Muslim community in general is on the same page as the rest of the world … where right is right and wrong is wrong."

Then let the Muslim community in general put pressure on the Pakistani and Afghan natives where Osama is hiding to produce him, and to stop the financing of terrorism.

[Chad Fairbanks]

"What I see in Palestine and Israel happening is more important than Saddam Hussein. There's enough pressure on him [Saddam] already — he's trying to comply."

BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA ahem. Sorry. I thought that was funny...

[Cachelot]

What I see in Palestine and Israel happening is more important than Saddam Hussein. There's enough pressure on him [Saddam] already — he's trying to comply."

Same old same old. Saddam is trying to be good, Arafat should be allowed his terror. These people will never ever change and will never ever be at peace with anyone at all.

[F16Fighter]

"We do not back what some of these more fanatic so-called Muslim people are doing," such as Saddam and bin Laden, Aydin said. "The Muslim community in general is on the same page as the rest of the world … where right is right and wrong is wrong."

MEMO TO MUSLIM COMMUNITY:

It would behoove you to say it OFTEN, and say it LOUD.

[Knuckle Sandwich Combo]

"We do not back what some of these more fanatic so-called Muslim people are doing," such as Saddam and bin Laden, Aydin said. "The Muslim community in general is on the same page as the rest of the world (of a billion Muslims...?) … where right is right and wrong is wrong (according to...The Koran?)."

"We have prepared for the unbelievers, whips and chains and blazing fires!" Koran 76:4

[sonrise57]

ping for news from our old stomping ground.

[Dialup Llama]

Yes the 'Sadaam is trying to comply' line is a real knee slapper. Does the interviewee not think that Sadaam has in his power the ability to uttterly comply? There is no 'try.' The idea that the revelation of a few outdated weapons amounts to trying to comply is silly. Only to a person completely mired in middle eastern conspiracy news would this make sense.

[Dialup Llama]

>Same old same old. Saddam is trying to be good, Arafat should be allowed his terror.

Wisely, Bush has written Arfat off and has stated that a Pali state cannot be founded with the likes of Arafat.

[PallMal]

Paterson is home to about 15,000 Arab-Americans — people of Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, Circassian and Syrian

Note that none of the respondents to this article were of Iraqi descent. Every American (or Brit) who is of Iraqi descent that I have seen on television are supportive of the war.

During one of the "peace" rallys in London, an Iraqi woman was refused to speak because she was going to tell the truth of the evil of Hussein and the oppression in Iraq. A week ago, I was watching WGN out of Chicago, and the local news had an Iraqi group based in Chicago -- everyone in the group (including a college professor!) was for the war. The basic line that was stated (I believe it was the professor who stated this) "every protester in these peace rallies that we have seen are not from Iraq".

[gunnedah]

If we keep the gates open and flowing freely we wont have much longer to worry about this.

[Calpernia]

Did you notice all the programmed 'left' responses?

[denydenydeny]

He said the community in Paterson is "easy prey" both for hate crimes and for law enforcement officials targeting Arab-Americans in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

It wouldn't be hard for Middle Eastern terrorists to blend in here, and FBI agents are frequently seen walking the streets of Paterson since the terrorist attacks.

"...will that be the end of our Sept. 11 problem?"

The article fails to mention that MANY OF THE 9/11 HIJACKERS SPENT MOST OF 2001 IN PATERSON.