From the War Zone Called
The United States of America

United? Hmm. Not really. The journalist who interviewed us the other day is actually a reservist in the Air Force. He has been to Iraq in just the past year. An older man, well traveled and apparently, a Christian. As you can see, even he is willing to provide some of the truths as long as he remains faithful to this Patriotic Code that has been used to divide Americans amongst themselves.

In Ramstein Germany, at that AF base, I had the opportunity to meet with several members of that branch of the military. Nice guys, the cream of the crop. We sat outside the community center where they had set up a station to receive the refugees fleeing Israeli War Crimes in Lebanon. Fine people. All except one young man who was obviously just a jerk regardless of whose side of a war he was or will be fighting on. Jerks are the same regardless of what uniform they wear. Anyway, I had the opportunity to speak candidly with some of these fine young people about things...you know..things. They listened intently but especially two black guys. They were my real audience. There was also a Christian Maronite man, a moderate (yes, the Maronites also have their XENOPHOBES which is a better word to describe those who label all muslims as terrorists etc.).
We discussed both politics and Islam. There was also a young girl with us and her beautiful baby named Lilly.
The young girl was unmarried and had been staying with her muslim family from her father's side in Beirut. She was unmarried and copped to having left the neglectful father of the child in Phoenix, AZ. Oh...she was a cutie and the AF guys thought so too. I knew better though as she had been with us all the way from Beirut and I'd had the opportunity to watch as she demonstrated neglectful patterns of parenting. She had abandoned the tot on the USS Trent for over three hours leaving the people around where she had left the tot sleeping on a cot very worried and concerned. I think she is typical of many young women in America today (like the two girls in my daughter's senior class here)....helpless and with a child to care for. Anyway...the talk amongst the cadets turned to beer and the need to 'get some' because this young mother decided suddenly, at three in the morning GMT +1 that it would be a fine idea to get drunk with a bunch of strangers.

I stepped in and said, much to the surprise of those around me, "No, you don't need beer right now. You have a job to do and take care of Lilly." There was a bit of shock and the jerk looked daggers at me. A real Shaitan in him you see....but the black guys? They were amazed. When we ambled out to the bus that was to carry us to yet another AF cargo plane the two of them ran out onto the tarmac and shook my hand and asked where they could buy my book. I laughed about those Odes and the other, The Book of Warnings and told them...it isn't published yet but when you see it, my face will be there and you'll recognize it. You see, Islam is particularly valuable to blacks who have suffered and continue to suffer racial bigotry. In Islam there isn't such a thing as 'color' in terms of discrimination. All there is is discrimination against belief and non belief. And even then, non believers are treated with all due respect. All due respect until they violate us or our treaties with the Creator. Then they are treated like open enemies. The Shaitan you see, is the OPEN ENEMY of the believer....says so in the Quran. Easy to see for a believer. Very.

That however isn't what I wanted to relate here. At some point during the conversation, the AF cadets or whatever you call them, said to us, "Well at least you are going to a place where there isn't any war."

I said, "To the contrary. Americans are at war in their MINDS."

As we strapped ourselves into the jump seats in the cargo plane I happened to look across the aisle and notice the moderate Maronite Christian (and I say moderate in the sense that he has lived in the US for years and years and hasn't seen the inside of a church in about as long)...I saw him staring at me, his chin low to his chest so that his eyes were aimed up from under half closed lids...I saw him make a quick sign of the Cross as if to show me he wouldn't give up.

Yes, there is a long road ahead for Lebanon and for Islam. Islam wasn't over when the Ottoman Empire collapsed. That, my dear readers, was only the tiny beginning. And hopefully, the middle part will be much more pleasant now that some people on the planet have their thinking caps on.

"Hope the car starts. Hope is all there is." -The Book of Warnings, Darla Whitehead