OK. Article from the Detroit Free Press:
The holiday was Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast, and Houssain Sareini was testing his faith in God and country.
The Dearborn native was a Navy sailor aboard the USS Vicksburg, stationed in the Persian Gulf in January 1996. And Sareini was the ship's chief swimmer: If any aircraft crashed overboard, he was the one responsible for diving in and saving the pilot. At the same time, he worked 12 hours a day in the combat center, scanning radar for hostile planes.
Through it all, Sareini was determined to make sure he didn't eat from sunrise to sundown, as required during the month of Ramadan.
"I'd be lying if I said I was able to do it every day," Sareini said in a recent phone interview. "The job was demanding. But I managed to do it about half the time."
The story of Sareini, today a petty officer awaiting a possible call-up, is in many ways the story of the more than 4,000 Muslims in the U.S. armed forces. They're proud of their backgrounds, but they're also loyal Americans. And as the United States strikes Afghanistan, they're behind President George W. Bush, serving as important symbols of the country's commitment to religious tolerance.
"I don't see Islam and America as being opposites," Sareini said. "I see evil people who have done a terrible act, and the United States has a responsibility to act."
In recent weeks, Bush has repeatedly stressed that the ongoing war is against evil, not Islam. "We are the friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith," he said.
Sareini agrees.
"When you hear the commander in chief say things like that, it's important," he said. "It was a good gesture, especially at a time like this."
Sareini, 25, comes from a family with a history of service in the armed forces. Uncles, grandparents and cousins have all served in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps. A cousin, Abdullah (Jake) Sareini, was called up recently by the U.S. Marine Corps. Jake Sareini speaks English and Arabic and served during the Persian Gulf War, when he helped translate the words of prisoners, said his wife, Vanessa.
"He loves the Marine Corps," she said.
Houssain Sareini's mother, Suzanne Sareini, who is American-born and of Arab descent, is a Dearborn City Council member. She worked for the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and his father. Today, she's worried about her son.
"I'm tremendously proud of him, and like every other parent of those in the military, I hope he doesn't have to go," she said.
Her son was born in Dearborn, part of a large Lebanese population that fled to the city after civil wars racked their homeland. His father is an immigrant from Lebanon who started out on the assembly line at Ford Motor Co.
After he graduated from Fordson High School, where the majority of students are Arab American, Sareini spent a year at Adrian College.
But he wasn't satisfied. "I wanted something with a little more action," he said. He rose quickly and was selected for a special prep school in Rhode Island.
In late 1995 and 1996, he was stationed in the Persian Gulf, part of a 400-member crew that kept tabs on Iraq and tried to enforce United Nations sanctions. Today, he's close to becoming a commissioned officer and is working on his master's degree in biochemistry at Iowa State University. Through the years, Sareini has had his share of teasing from his colleagues about his ethnicity, but it's mostly minor jokes.
"When you're out on a ship for a long time, you have your pranksters to make time pass," he said. "But I've always been treated with respect. It's all about your performance and character in the Navy. Cream rises to the top. If you want it bad enough and carry yourself appropriately, you'll rise above."
Sareini tries to pray once a day, and he's given his children Muslim names; he has a 4-year-old son named Mohammed, and a 2-year-old daughter named Rena. His wife, Wendy, converted to Islam after their marriage.
Sareini said he is concerned about some of the backlash directed at Arab Americans, and recalls the internment of Japanese Americans after World War II. But he adds that ultimately Americans judge people on who they are, and not where they're from.
It's an idea echoed by Jim Turner, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, who said the armed forces gives "equal treatment to all service members regardless of religious preference."
Sareini added:
"The president is right to look at this, not as us versus them, or Christianity versus Islam," he said. "It's good versus evil."
I wonder how he feels looking at his 4 year old that his namesake had a "wife" only 2 years older? I wonder if he believes the whole world will be someday placed under Sharia law --the sooner the better? Does he believe Muslims should live among Christians and Jews? If he really follows the Koran he would find some incompatibilities.