"There is another Arab world, the Arab world of life, diversity, welcome and humanity and even humor despite incredible challenges. This was the Arab world I saw. This was the Arab world we need to better understand. Certainly, I had encounters with extremism: on May 16 2003 the suicide bombing in Casablanca, just an hour away from me by train, brutally killed some 40 Moroccans, creating enormous popular movement and protest against Islamist terrorism. In a protest not widely reported in Western media, 2 million Moroccans marched for democracy after the blasts. In Yemen, the media and rumors have led people to believe September 11 was a Jewish plot organized by the Israeli intelligence service. At the same time, I met tribal sheikhs in Yemen who wanted to string up Usama bin Laden for trying to force a Usama bin Laden interpretation of Islam on his tribe."
letter to the author of the cassandra pages
link path thru :::wood s lot:::
