ARABSONG: A Celebration of Life

Since publisher Glenn Thompson's death these great little books have fallen on hard times. Let's do our best to support them. To buy Beginners Books directly from the publisher, you can go straight to their new web site-- W&R

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The best book you've probably never heard of on the Arab-Israeli conflict

If you'd like to try to buy it used on Amazon, click HERE and it'll take you to the exact right spot. I will do my best to get this book back in print. I don't know Stephen Green, but I know a great book when I see it.

Speaking of great books, the easiest to read great novel ever?

My favorite writer of short stories --

(I can't choose books on the basis of the author's nationality.)

< Taking Back America

We have no voice in our own democracy and they waste our money on weapons we don't need.

< THE SALARY CAP: Why America Needs a Maximum Wage

Wake up! We need a 'level playing field' in Real Life more than we need it in Sports

< INTENTIONAL DUMBNESS:

27 Reasons Our Athletes Are Violent

Why it'll get worse. How it affects our children. How we can stop it.

Coming Soon

< 'Dear Geraldo..

< The Defense Budget

< The Bullshit Museum

< Suing Politicians

< Suing the Bush family

< Suing the Media

< Exhuming Democracy

F.A.Q.

Sidon, Lebanon 1969 -- Uncle Joe, Aunt Naifi & Mom

Uncle Joe, the oldest of dad's brothers, was born in Lebanon, spent most of his adult life in the U.S. working as a mailman, then returned to Lebanon after his retirement. All seven of dad's brothers served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Although my grandparents on both sides were born in Lebanon, my parents visited Lebanon only once -- immediately after dad retired.

From my father's Lebanon notes;

9/12/69 -- Left Detroit approx 3 PM

I try to sleep to pass the time but I'm too excited. Except for Joe who was born in the old country I will be the first of my brothers to see Lebanon. Those of us who were born in the U.S. and have raised families here are proud to be Americans but we are not one iota less proud of our Lebanese heritage. One of brother Pete's only regrets, may he rest in peace, was that he never managed to see our country. He made me promise to see it for him. Not a day goes by that I don't think of brother Pete. I miss you, buddy.

Is it possible that in a few hours I will see the country where my parents were born? And THEIR parents and their parents' parents, all the way back to the time of Christ? Did some man with my blood actually touch Christ? My dear, dear God. Thank You.

From "The Longest War" by Jacobo Timerman:

"Since we passed the border into Lebanon I have not seen a single house that did not show some war damage. I try to imagine how the dead were killed as I gaze on these ancient cities, reduced to ruins. I look up at high windows that seem like empty eye sockets, and I try to conceive of the faces of the mothers as they hurled their children from burning homes — perhaps they ran down those now-vanished stairs, or did they cover themselves under blankets and mattresses? I try to think what I would have done if I had been in one of those burned-out rooms."

continued...

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French Tunisian author Mondher Sfar asked me why I mixed personal stories of my parents and relatives in Lebanon with facts and nonfiction narratives? Mondher felt that readers might find that confusing.

Dear Mondher: The impression most Americans have of the MidEast is that no normal people live there. The media has created the illusion that every Arab/Muslim country is inhabited by maniacs and religious fanatics. The truth is that virtually every Arab/Muslim in America has family members still living in the "old country" whether it's the MidEast, Africa or Asia proper. Our family members are normal, sane human beings. So when you drop your bombs, you drop them on our families.

If America bombs Iraq, they drop bombs on my very good American Arab friend, Barbara Nimri Aziz ...

BULLETINS LIVE FROM IRAQ
Barbara Nimri Aziz, profiled in the column to the right, is a person of courage and conviction. In mid-February, Aziz went to Iraq. I will print her Bulletins from Iraq as she sends them. The opening paragraph (or two) appears below; for the full text of each entry, click "continued..."
Baghdad #1--Date: Sun., 23 Feb 2003 18:54, from B. N. Aziz

Greetings from Baghdad! Things are friendly, creepy, sleepless, historical, normal with the shadow of catastrophe too close. Everyone is speculating; we aren’t. Iraqis totally helpless, watching the world play with their fate. I remind myself that no one really knows what will happen. I do not even know how I myself will react if bombings begin. Will I run with others, towards any border, curse my foolishness, search out a safe hiding place among the network offices I detest..?

continued...

Baghdad #2--Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 14:02, from B. N. Aziz
It's getting closer! What, we don't know. A NUCLEAR BLAST THAT DECIMATES US into mute dust? A LOCAL REVOLUTION THAT TURNS US INTO SNIVELING COWARDS, crying I'M AN AMERICAN, a French, a British BYSTANDER--a good Christian? Not Shia, not Sunni, never met Aziz, never heard of a Baathist!! I was on my way to Kuwait and missed the turn?

continued...

Baghdad #3--Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 18:43, from B. N. Aziz
Three days in 12 1/2 years of crippling embargo make little difference in the normal course of things. But for Iraqis and those of us here visiting Iraq at such a junction, it's three days closer to a war of horrific yet unknown proportions, of total defenselessness, a war others will view in the comfort of their offices and homes, with their families. Even though we eagerly watch the political developments on the world stage, we know the Americans can and will do whatever they want.

continued...

Baghdad #4--Date: Tues., Mar. 4, 2003, from B. N. Aziz

One day closer. To what? It is good to see foreigners continuing to arrive in Iraq, from Egyptian poets to Rev. Herb Doughtry, musicians and south Korean activists, and Serbian anti-globalization workers. They come to see for themselves, to meet officials, even to beg Iraq to make still more concessions to please US war mongers, some come to pray, some to show ultimate objection to the US. All stand in solidarity to one degree or another. But let’s face it. It’s sometimes boring waiting for this war.

continued...

Baghdad #5--Date: Sun, Mar. 9, 2003 10:56, from B. N. Aziz

March 8, 2003 International Women's Day! So what? It's still war mode, for Iraqi women as well as their sons, their fathers, their brothers and babies.

In Mosul, 400 km north of the capital, it is a glorious spring day. Night rains nourished the gardens on the banks of the blue Tigris, and soaked the wide open hills of sprouting green wheat. Serene. Spectacular. Comforting. Emerging blossoms we see here and there behind walled yards in the old neighborhoods are apricot trees.

continued...

Baghdad #6--Date: Mon, Mar. 10, 2003, from B.N. Aziz,

Today on WBAI with Hugh Hamilton, live discussion from Baghdad 3:20 pm NY time, www.wbai.org on the web. Another day closer! And as we move towards the edge of this abyss, do we really see any more clearly what kind of war this will be, by whose bullet we will perish? Or do we know how any one of us can respond? I don't know about you, but I feel like running. We are moving from a state of quiet terror to panic. Mercifully, somewhere in all this, Iraqis have time for art...

continued...

Baghdad #7--Date: Tues., Mar. 11, 2003, 12:32 from B.N. Aziz

Some things are not rumors. Mohassen and her children are back in Baghdad.   They returned (involuntarily) from the Jordan border yesterday. Just Imagine.

Imagine years of determination to stay in your country, despite everything. Imagine, your loving husband working The Arab Emirates, phoning you to join him, to send the girls to him, just to visit. Imagine declaring to all friends, "as an Iraqi, I will not leave my homeland. This is my country. I love my country. I will not allow the Americans to take it from us, from my father, from my president, from any Iraqi."

continued...

Baghdad #8--Date: Fri., Mar. 14, 2003, 20:35 from B.N. Aziz

Such a lovely bright summer day, how can there possibly be war looming so close? How can there be thousands of tanks ringing Iraq? How can there be ships loaded with deadly missiles aimed at Abu Nawas Street and Candle Restaurant and the medical college? How can there be cellars filled with food rations for 5 months and water bottles and medical aid kits and latrine pits in the gardens?

continued...

Baghdad #9 [Kerbala, Iraq] -Date: Mon., Mar. 17, 2003, B.N. Aziz

I never imagined that in 3 years, Kerbala Hospital would look as I saw it today. I could detect the change from a quarter mile away, noting from the road that the structure had been painted. As my car turns into the main gate of the hospital, I count 15 ambulances most new models.

continued...

Baghdad #10: "Are you OK?"

Am I OK, having left hundreds of Iraqi friends to stand alone against those formidable killing forces? Am I OK sitting on my ass in Jordan, locked out of Pacifica's coverage? Am I OK spending hours every day trying to dial into Baghdad homes I lived and laughed and loved in?   --B.N. Aziz

continued...

Baghdad #11--Date: Mon., Mar. 24, 2003 from B.N. Aziz

This is it. These are my predictions. It is a popular time for predictions. Clearly the US war on Iraq is not going as announced from the coalition side. But from the Iraqi side, it may be on schedule. This is not 1991. Iraq is not Afghanistan. I heard this repeatedly from Iraqis over the past months.

continued...

IRAQ

Q & A in Search of Clarity

Let's cut the crap & speak plain Detroit English

Q: Is America "in imminent danger" of being nuked by Iraq?

A: Of course not. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!

Q: Is it your opinion that the president is mistaken?

A: No, he's not mistaken--he's lying. To put it in plain Detroit English, President Bush is a lying sack of shit. I know it, you know it, every politician and media person in America knows it. So when Jennings or Brokaw or any of the other Talking Heads quotes the president without mentioning that the man is a liar and a fool, the media becomes complicit in the president's lie. Reality Check: We are in greater danger of being attacked by little green cabbage heads from Mars than we are of being attacked by Iraq.

Q: What is the main threat to the American people? What are WE worried about?

A: That’s a no-brainer: we are, by far, most worried about terrorist attacks on our own people in our own country.

Q: If we caught a group of conspirators acting in a way that would increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks on America, what should we do with that group?

A: Give them a fair trial and if they are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, seriously consider capital punishment.

Q: If we attack Iraq, will that increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks on America?

A: Of course it will. Everybody in the world is in agreement on that point, so even if you don't object to an attack on Iraq on moral grounds, anyone who cares about saving our own lives must stop the moron in the Whitehouse. Put the sleazy little prick on trial for endangering the lives of everyone in America.

IRAQ, continued

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The pleasure of being of being an AyRab in post-9/11 America...
Because of the attacks on the World Trade Center & Pentagon and the resultant Arab bashing, because of the genocide-in-progress of the Palestinian people and because Americans may allow their sinister and stupid president to slaughter more innocent people in Iraq, I feel obliged to get more involved in the ridiculous endeavor of showing Americans (ostensibly devoted to the principle that all people are equal!) that we Arabs & Muslims are fully equal, fully human, fully everydamnedthing.

I am going to help us get honest answers to questions that are now matters of life-&-death importance to all Americans, including:

< Who benefits if America attacks Iraq? And who suffers for it?

< WHO exactly benefited from the 9/11 attacks on America?

< WHO started the racist hogwash about Arabs & Muslims---and WHY?

< How much money does the Bush family owe the citizens of the U.S.?

< Israel---WHO does it benefit? Is it a "strategic asset" of the U.S. or a huge moral & financial drain? Does it benefit, or hurt, the Jewish people?

< Israel---HOW much money does it owe the people of America?

... and dozens of other questions that nobody is asking. Or if they are asking them they are not answering in plain English ---

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Exciting News! ADC (American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee) featured my book Arabs & Israel for Beginners on the ADC web site. They refer to Arabs & Israel as the "one book to read ... in order to understand the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians." The spunky graphic sidebar on the left appeared on ADC's front page. A click on the book cover elicited the brief description and review in the insert below. For more on ADC, go to LINKS.

ADC Update
We have received many requests by people who wanted us to recommend one book to read or one movie to see in order to understand the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. So, here are our recommendations:

BOOK: Arabs & Israel for Beginners
by Ron David

Review from the Publisher
Arabs & Israel for Beginners covers the Middle East from ancient times to the present. This book is relentlessly fair to both Jews and Arabs. Arabs and Israel for Beginners is the perfect place to start if you want to learn more about 12,000 years of Middle Eastern History.

Review by Paul Lappen
The author does a wonderful job at taking a complicated, emotional subject like the Middle East conflict and explaining it in clear terms that anyone can understand. This book is incredible. As I said, it is full of easy-to-understand facts that never made it into the US media, like 17 years of Arab peace offers. If I could, I would give this book three thumbs up. (Paperback: 210 pages)

"A truly eye-opening book. A must read."

Thank you, A. D. C. Thank you Paul Lappen. Thank you Nino Kader.

Arabs & Israel for Beginners is available at Writers & Readers new website W & R (the same as the "Buy it online" link above) and at Amazon.com.

FICTION, anyone? (Y)

Would you like to see a few excerpts from a novel that won an $8000 grant but nobody has the stones to publish? I assure you, it's unlike any novel you've ever read --

The Autobiography of Muriel Sharon

by Ron David

< Chapter 1 - The Paris of the East

< Chapter 2 - Isolde & the Duke