National Weekly Arab-American Paper Publishes Poems: "Yes, I am a Terrorist" and 'Bush is an Ape'

Al-Watan is an Arabic-language "national weekly Arab-American newspaper" published in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, whose mission is to provide Arab and Muslim Americans "with the most current, valuable, reliable, and informative news on political, economic, social, cultural, and educational issues, which concern the Arab-American community in their relations with the U.S. society at large… through maintaining a positive relationship with the community... coordinating efforts with Arab and Muslim American organizations to promote the achievements of the community as well as empower them through active involvement through political, media, social, and educational sectors."

Recently, Al-Watan published a series of poems titled, "Yes I am a Terrorist" and, "The Ape," which was accompanied by an image of President George W. Bush together with one of a howling chimpanzee. The poem depicts Bush as an ape worshiped by some Arab leaders. The following are the poems:

Yes, I Am A Terrorist
By Ahmad Matar [1]

The West cries in fear
When I make a toy from a matchbox

While they [the West] make a gallows of my body
Using my nerves for rope.
The West panics when I announce one day
That they have torn my galabia
While it is they who have urged me to be ashamed of my culture
And to announce my joy and my utmost delight
When they violate me.
The West is sorely grieved when I worship
One God in the stillness of the prayer niche[2]

While from the hair of their coattails[3] and the dirt of their shoes
They knead a thousand idols that they set atop the dung heaps made of the titled ones
So that I become their slave
And perform amongst them
The rituals of flies.
And he, they
Will beat me if I announce my refusal.
If I mention among them the fragrance of flowers and grass
They would crucify me
Accusing me of terrorism!
Admirable are all the actions of the West, and of its tails
As for me, as long as I am related to freedomv Everything I do is considered
Terrorism.
***

They have destroyed my world
Let them reap what they have sown.
If on my lips and in the cells of my blood
The globalization of destruction has borne fruit
Here I say it. I write, I draw it
I imprint it upon the forehead of the West
with my wooden shoe:
Yes, I am a terrorist!
An earthquake has its reasons.
If you understand them
You will understand my reasons.
I shall not carry a pen, but my claws
I shall not hone ideas, but my teeth
I shall never be kind,
Until I see the law of the jungle
And all its adherents
Returning to the jungle.
Yes, I am a terrorist
. From now on, I advise any informer
who follows me barking
To clothe himself with a tank
Because I will smash his head in
If one day he knocks at my door.

The Ape
By Nasir Thabet [4]

An ape is ruling this world
From Washington to China.
It doesn't matter,
But
The Arabs make him the prophet of the age.
Prostitution takes many forms.
* * *
The Arabs said: "He will soon become a human being."
I said: "You can count years and centuries."
* * *
They made me lose my temper when they said:
"What a just man!"
I shouted like a madman:
"Does he even know the language of reason and law?"
* * *
He [the ape] told them that day he would deliver his great speech.
They sat [waiting] like children for years in their chairs...
The accursed ape did not come.
They said: "It won't take long, he has reasons that we don't know."
And [still] the accursed ape did not come.
They left all their honor in the toilet
And kept waiting for wisdom [to issue] from the madman.
They abandoned their children, and their subjects' predicament, and their Honor.
But the accursed ape did not come.

Days passed
They were heavier to bear than Sharon.
He said: "The pressure on Zion has intensified."
Is it conceivable that silly children with stones will upset him.
While he [Sharon] is the poor wronged one?
Death to the children of Palestine,
Death to you, all the Arabs of the world.
You should be like mules kicking with joy.
Your honor is cheaper than a can of sardines.
O Arabs of the world,
When Sharon spits on you…
He is the wronged one,
And you – despite your feebleness – you are "terrorists."
They said, with a stupid smile over their mustaches:
"What shall we do with the spittle of your poor, pampered Sharon?"
"Let it be a gift for the holiday, a charity, some debt."
* * *
The [Arab] leaders have been asked:
"Your excellencies, what do you think of the ape's speech?"
They tremble with joy:
"It is most wonderful in its honesty and emotion,
" It is most eloquent in its vocabulary and lofty style.
"Thanks to the accursed ape."

Well, you said it! Did you, or anyone else read the VFW magazine issue for Sept. 2002? There is an acticle that starts on page 28, that is really good, and talks about terrorism in the Middle East. It tells about terrorist acts that have targeted Americans since about 1785. It describes the enslavement and torture of Americans starting with the Barbary Coast pirates. In the very early 1800's, the first decade, the American sailors were seized in Tripoli.

The article goes on to describe the way the captors treated the captives, and to read it, you may lose your dinner! It sounded like a nineteenth century Bataan death march and more! There were even cases where some supposedly converted to Islam, thinking they would get better treatment. Well, their fellow Americans went to get them out, and take them home, and the terrorist leader told them that if they wanted to denounce their new faith, and go home, they were welcome to.

Only one stayed, the four others apparently gave it up. What happened then? Well the terrorist leader got insulted when the four did that, and marched them off to Lord knows where. And their fellow Americans who were watching, they didn't say a word. Although one Marine told someone that the look on their faces was one of fear and despair(not exact quote). The four weren't heard from again! They must have been considered and turncoats, or something!

It's a really interesting article that goes on to tell about other terrorist incidents throughout the years, going up to the present day. The point the author was trying to make was simple. He says that there was so much to say about the treatment of the Al Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and never a mention of the way these same people would be treated in many places in the Middle East, if they were Americans, or one of the Allies. Including the serviceman who got killed after falling off the helicopter in Afghanistan.

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These are AMERICANS....!