Hurt and disillusioned, some Arab fighters go home

Reuters | 4/09/03 | Mariam Karouny

[piasa]

fyi

[CasearianDaoist]

Not for long...

[aruanan]

"I went there to be a martyr, not to be murdered by a brother," he told Reuters. "We went there to help them liberate their country, and all they did was shoot us in the back."

What a naive little doof. Other quotations, direct and indirect, explain much better why he left, since his opportunity to die a martyr never disappeared had he really wanted to take advantage of it:

1. It was uncomfortable. "I was sleeping behind mounds of sand and firing from kalashnikovs on helicopters. It was craziness," he said.

2. It was scary and unpleasant. "We stayed at the front five days and we didn't eat anything. I saw two dead bodies shot in the head."

3. I didn't get what I really wanted. "Salaam, who returned with a friend who did not want his name used, said Iraq had promised them an Iraqi passport, a house and an Iraqi bride after the war ended as a reward for fighting."

4. "Salaam is not normally religious." No, he's usually opportunistic and self-serving.

[hellinahandcart]

"I am proud that I went. I also felt that my father was so happy that I left. He didn't say anything but he was proud," said Salaam's friend.

He wasn't proud, just "happy you left"...

[TxBec]

Salaam, who returned with a friend who did not want his name used, said Iraq had promised them an Iraqi passport, a house and an Iraqi bride after the war ended as a reward for fighting.

Wait.. just one woman?? (wonder how the "lucky" girl would have felt about it, too..)

[kittymyrib]

I seriously doubt if there is a real Saalam in the first place. This sounds just like one of those ficticious stories that the libs at Reuters and the NYT write from their hotel rooms in every war.

[Larry Lucido]

Salaam, whose name means peace

Sorry, Salaam, but "Islam" already means "peace." Your name will have to mean something else. How about "moron"?

[PLMerite]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't let the tent flap hit your camel in the butt on the way out.

[Textide]

Others like Salaam, whose name means peace, went on their own.

They have a way of misnaming things in that language.

[shezza]

"People must understand we went there for jihad. Iraq is a holy land and we must protect it," said Salaam...(who) is not normally religious.

Uh huh. Free citizenship, free house, free bride -- must have been pretty appealing to a homeless, jobless, girlfriendless Lebanese from a squalid refugee camp. "Holy war" my patookus. These jihadists (and the mercenaries-from-everywhere-but-Iraq fedayeen) couldn't care less about their Iraqi Muslim brethren.

[Alouette]

Iraq had promised them an Iraqi passport, a house and an Iraqi bride after the war ended as a reward for fighting.

What would he want with an Iraqi wife and a passport if he is going straight to Islamic valhalla to romp with his virgins?

[Jim Noble]

>>Salaam, who returned with a friend who did not want his name used, said Iraq had promised them an Iraqi passport, a house and an Iraqi bride<<

Now that last one'd be hard to turn down...

[steve-b]

Salaam went to Iraq to do battle with Americans and die a martyr. He returned home with shrapnel wounds and tales of fighting U.S. military might with a rifle.

In the civilized Arab world of 2050:

"Grandpa, tell us the story about what an idiot you were when you were a kid."

[NoClones]

The stupidity and ignorance of the typical arab never ceases to amaze me.

But then, look at their educational system. It indoctrinates is stereotypical 'beliefs', discourages critical thought and the use of logic...

In fact, it reminds one of the educational system here in the US.

[glockmeister40]

Hurt Dead and disillusioned, some Arab fighters go home

[patriciaruth]

Iraq had promised them an Iraqi passport, a house and an Iraqi bride after the war ended as a reward for fighting.

And Uday had given the droit de signeur okay on all the brides to be.

This is sick, sick, sick....

[GraniteStateConservative]

Yep, it's a lot easier for them to be in one place so we can get this done and go back home. We should hold a big party for jihadists and then blow the place up.

[patriciaruth]

Ping.

[Publius6961]

What?!

No Iraqi passport?
No Iraqi bride?
No Iraqi house?

I'm shocked and saddened!

[angkor]

I want to see many more stories of the reaction from the feckless "Arab street."

Especially their extreme disappointment at the sight of Iraquis celebrating and praising America and GWB in the streets of Baghdad.