14 Comments Add your own

• 1. mgman  |  February 24th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

  Good post Mitch.

  I think we still have a lot of ‘firsts’ to get through before the racial gender identifiers we use become even less relevant than they are now: First African-American this, first Hispanic that, first woman ‘fill in the blank.’ We have indeed come a long way towards MLK’s dream, but since that goal is part of an evolution, there will always be a little further to go. Some will use that as an excuse to say we haven’t changed and we’re still as horrible as we were before Jim Crow. Again, using small examples for large generalizations has always been a favorite. Not attaining the goal as a defining moment does not constitute failure.

  I grew up in the 1970’s in a suburb of Washington, D.C. While the region had and has a huge African-American population, my world was as homogenous as if I lived in a small Colorado mountain town. It may have been even more so because one could see the segregation in such stark reality. There were literally railroad tracks that separated our worlds. Economics and race is another layer. My experience has been that racial identifiers as indicators of character, status, superiority, inferiority, etc., are learned. Percentages of individual races in populations are that and nothing more. Until I left the intensity of my segregated environment, I didn’t know if I was a tolerant person.

  My recipe for someone who needs exposure to diversity of race and culture: Work in the restaurant industry in a large city. If you can survive the excessive drug and alcohol abuse, you will meet more people from varying backgrounds and find in yourself how tolerant you are. A few of my best friends from those days in Denver were Moroccans who taught me about how people are Muslim in America. There were white and Hispanic folks who worked in the restaurant that said degrading racial insults to my friends that I still can’t believe I heard. These days, I wonder how they are doing, if they are still here.

  In a side note, the Sunday Denver Post printed an interesting story in the Denver and The West section about Elizabeth Eckford, who was one of the “Little Rock Nine” from 50 years ago.

  http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8347677

  The black and white photo says it all:

  http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm16.html

• 2. Mitch Mulhall  |  February 24th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

  mgman... terrific comment...

  I'm way beyond taking a job waiting tables--not because the work is beneath me, but because I'm way beyond the kind of politeness it takes to do that job well. That'd make me a short-timer, no matter how you stacked it...

  Maybe I haven't had as rich a racial exposure as a western Coloradan can expect. While I have studied with Muslim Yemenis and Pakistanis in London, with Hindus from India, forget about the people I've met in worship in West Texas churches, I can't honestly portray myself as an expert in cultural diversity, but the person who tries to pigeon-hole my racial sensibilities based on the number of country-western songs on my iPod, or the NRA sticker on my truck is a fool. I think that's what you were gettin' at when you wrote, "Some will use [MLK's dream] as an excuse to say we haven’t changed and we’re still as horrible as we were before Jim Crow."

  Again, thanks for the thoughtful comment...

  Cheers,

• 3. mgman  |  February 25th, 2008 at 7:47 am

  (I think that's what you were gettin' at when you wrote, "Some will use [MLK's dream] as an excuse to say we haven’t changed and we’re still as horrible as we were before Jim Crow.")

  I'm really pointing to the hard-core fatalists among us who won't recognize some progress even when it bites them in the Prius (I feel I'm allowed to say that because I'm a bio-diesel-driving-alternative-energy-loving-country music-listening-gun-owning voter still looking for a party. No pigeon-hole-ing, here.

  Back to the subject word of your post, 'Caucasian.' I've been thinking about it all weekend, and I realize that this is one word, label, identifier that I've never questioned or examined at all. What's really scary is that in searching for history and origins of the word on the internet will dredge up some very unsavory content. The real question is:

  Where is Caucasia?

• 4. reckless G  |  February 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am

  I grew up in an Orange County California suburb that was 99.9% white. There were a few Latinos but no black kids. All I knew about racial prejudice and conflict was that it was something that happened in "the ghettos." I had no idea where “the ghettos” were, I just knew they weren’t anywhere near Huntington Beach.

  When my family moved to Hawaii after I graduated High School, I came smack up against racial prejudice. I and my family were the minority. Favor was unabashedly given to Asians in the schools and job market. Because I was white, I experienced both subtle and outright incidences of racism and hostility from the non-white residents which included Japanese, Chinese, Philippino, Portuguese, native Hawaiian, and mixes of those races. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, and I was all too happy to leave that island “paradise” and return to California.

  When we talk about race in America, we often forget that there is one state where Caucasians are outnumbered. No one even remembers when the “first” non-white political leader was elected in Hawaii because it was so long ago that it’s not even an issue.

  Regarding race relations in 2008 in the lower 48, when I visit my granddaughter’s elementary school in Southern California I’m always amazed by the racial diversity of the students. The Caucasian majority of my youth has been replaced by a sea of multi-culturalism. My granddaughter is half Vietnamese, her best friend is black, her other friend is Muslim, the boy she likes is Latino. They all mingle freely without regard for race or religion. It’s a complete non-issue for kids these days. So sometime in the near future, I’m confident that it will be a non-issue for adults also. When those kids grow up and vote in elections, the candidate’s race/religion won’t even be a factor.

  Sure there will still be Neanderthal throwbacks like Gary Hubbel who no doubt is passing on his backward views to his own next generation, but they are a dying breed that is swiftly being replaced by a multi-cultural evolution that judges people only on their “content of character.” The realization of MLK’s dream is not far off.

• 5. Mitch Mulhall  |  February 25th, 2008 at 10:29 am

  Sue,

  Was that "Neanderthal" blast absolutely necessary? I know Gary and his wife, and I know there is no basis in truth for what you said about his children.

  Are you suggesting multiculturalism is the embodiment of MLK's content of character dream? How does this, or does it, comport with the monotheistic tendencies of middle eastern cultures?

  Cheers,

• 6. reckless G  |  February 25th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

  Mitch, I admire the way you stand up for your friends, and have appreciated this trait on the occasions when you’ve come to my defense.

  I actually agree with a lot of what Hubbel said in his article. But I still think he, or at least the “angry white man” archetype he’s referring to, is a throwback to the old-fashioned dominant white male mentality as evidenced by the arrogance and lack of compassion in this statement;

  “The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.”

  …and the outmoded machismo in this one;

  “He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.”

  If our candidates are not considering the “angry white man” in their campaigns, so much the better. White men that are angry because multi-culturalism is changing the America they grew up in, don’t deserve consideration. It’s a new world and Neanderthals that can’t adapt, die out.

  [Are you suggesting multiculturalism is the embodiment of MLK's content of character dream?]

  Yes, the more exposure Americans have to other cultures, the more they are likely to look past skin color and religion and base their judgment of a person on their individual character. My granddaughter doesn’t see Black, Asian, Latino, Muslim, or Christian, she just sees a person who either exhibits good or bad characteristics. This is the result of growing up in a multi-racial family and school system. These are the future voters that won’t see any novelty or controversy in a non-male non-white candidate.

  [How does this, or does it, comport with the monotheistic tendencies of middle eastern cultures?]
  I don’t see the relevance of this in a conversation about the American civil rights movement or the consideration of a political candidate’s ethnicity, but I’ll go with it.

  I can’t speak for Middle Eastern cultures in general, but from my own observation and experience in Iraq, many Arabs are leagues behind us in racial equality. There is a tribal mentality that permeates all aspects of social and political interrelation. Each tribe believes itself superior to the others. This is what is behind the violent conflict we see in Iraq between Sunni and Shia, and often among those two groups, tribal status outweighs religious affiliation.

  It was this tribal mentality that Saddam was trying to override and suppress. He knew the danger that intertribal conflict posed to his nation and preferred that his citizens thought of themselves as Iraqis first. They didn’t of course, and still don’t. Without Saddam’s iron fist, Iraq is destined to become three countries, where Kurds, Arab Sunnis and Arab Shia each have their own mono-ethnic autonomy.

  It’s this same tribal mentality of arrogance, superiority, and intolerance that causes me to classify the “angry white man” as a Neanderthal.

  Now, what’s interesting about Barack Obama’s candidacy is that while Americans see his ethnicity as a possible plus in dealing with Middle Eastern cultures, I can pretty much guarantee that it is not. If Obama was pure black, ok, but he is of mixed race; a big no-no in Middle Eastern society.

  When I was in Iraq, I showed a picture of my family to an Iraqi man. He looked shocked and asked; “Is this ok?” I looked at the picture of my Caucasian son, his Vietnamese wife and their daughter, and realized he was talking about mixed marriage. I replied that in America it’s quite common. He told me it’s not so in Arab cultures. Mixed marriages are not just discouraged, in some cases they are forbidden. The children of mixed marriages are treated very badly and have no refuge in either of their parent’s ethnic cultures.

  So if we expect a mulatto president to engender respect in the Arab world, we are going to get a rude awakening.

• 7. Edward Troy  |  February 25th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

  If we look at this problem as a marathon instead of a quick olympic dash, we can perhaps see this as 1/2 a marthon completed. We have come a far way but we have far to go. Comparing ourselves to the pathetic bigoted cultures of past and present does us little good, compared to the vision of an egalitarian meritocracy and content of character ideals readily embraced by thoughtful Americans, such as those on this blog stream started by Mitch. I have met Gary I believe once in Marble, if he is who I remember, I saw no evidence of the bitter pill of crap he wrote. He did however write it. There is no defense or excuse worth listening to, and I wonder how quickly he would have folded if born into another family of color -- he'd understand that a level playing field was something he had to climb up to get to and get a jack boot in the teeth while trying to get there, only to find another level -- and the same deal. I have nothing but base contempt for such a person -- he is going to get paid for this pitiable belly ache. Pure diaper butt no matter how many guns he hides behind, notes he writes, and moping wimpering crybaby whines other people hear.

  I lived outside of Washington D.C. for much of my growing up years in the wealthiest part of Maryland -- Potomac. I was picked up by the police because they didn't believe I lived there, and got an undesired ride home to prove that I did, quite overt. Why should I have some of my lifetime taken for this kind of crap and have the Garys of the world enjoy aryan comeraderie.

  When Americans refuse to accept hyphenation and caucasian and become polylingual while being multi culturally fluent, we will be at the head of the class astride the world, because we will have that egalitarian meritocracy and characters of unassailable content.

• 8. Edward Troy  |  February 25th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

  I hope this thread isn't killed since there seems to be a serious effort to be as considerate as possible especially with the varied life experiences. One day saying "my fellow Americans" will mean exactly that. Come the day!

• 9. Mitch Mulhall  |  February 27th, 2008 at 8:57 am

  What should replace the ethnicity question?...

  25. Please check the box that best describes the content of your character:

  O - I'm a full-time philanthropist
  O - I take in stray animals
  O - I have good intentions
  O - Who's got the time?
  O - What the hell are you talking about?

  Cheers,

• 10. Mitch Mulhall  |  February 27th, 2008 at 10:02 am

  Sue,

  [I don’t see the relevance of [the question, “How does multiculturalism comport with the monotheistic tendencies of middle eastern cultures?] in a conversation about the American civil rights movement or the consideration of a political candidate’s ethnicity, but I’ll go with it.]

  You’re the one who introduced religion into this discussion of race. Earlier in that particular comment you wrote, “the more exposure Americans have to other cultures, the more they are likely to look past skin color and religion and base their judgment of a person on their individual character.”

  Does this hold true for people of other national identities, or is this uniquely beneficial to Americans?

  You tell the story of an Iraqi looking upon a photo of your family and inquiring whether the marriage of a “white American” and a Vietnamese is permissible. (The same person would ask the exact same question of me upon seeing a photo of my broader family.) Maybe I’ve been listening to too many Christopher Hitchens debates, but the taboo that gave rise to this question stems from monotheism.

  [Each [Iraqi] tribe believes itself superior to the others. This [perceived tribal superiority] is what is behind the violent conflict we see in Iraq between Sunni and Shia, and often among those two groups, tribal status outweighs religious affiliation.]

  WARNING::HUGE THREAD DEPARTURE COMING. JURY STILL OUT ON WHETHER IT’S WORTH YOUR TIME…

  No. My study of this subject does not lead to your assertion that Iraqi tribal status outweighs religious affiliation—at least where the Muslim faithful are concerned. I am certainly willing to depart from this conclusion where secularist and, arguably, Christian Iraqis are concerned.

  Tribal status may be an essential part of Iraqi identity, but within the ranks of the religious faithful, tribal status pales in comparison to religious belief. The central identity of Sunnis and Shi’a is a doctrinal choice about who was to be the rightful standard-bearer of Islam following the Prophet's death. The Sunnis assert Abu Bakr, the Prophet's father-in-law, while the Shi'a contend it was the Prophet’s cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib. This doctrinal choice splits an otherwise unified religion, but that’s a subject for another post…

  From this doctrinal difference springs a tension over which faction, Sunni or Shi’a, constitutes a religious majority in Iraq (ergo, which doctrine is “the preferred” in Iraq). The Shi'a, who migrated into Iraq from Iran several centuries ago, arguably enjoy a majority over Arab Sunnis, but there are also Sunni Kurds and Turks in Iraq who help Arab Sunnis mount an argument against this conclusion.

  A very telling, inside-baseball view of the pre-war dynamics in Iraq is available in a letter allegedly written by Abu Mussab al Zarqawi to Osama bin Laden. Al Zarqawi doesn’t have much good to say about any group in Iraq, but he aims the lion’s share of his invective at the Shi’a:

  These [Shi’a] in our opinion are the key to change. I mean that targeting and hitting them in [their] religious, political, and military depth will provoke them to show the Sunnis their rabies… and bare the teeth of the hidden rancor working in their breasts. If we succeed in dragging them into the arena of sectarian war, it will become possible to awaken the inattentive Sunnis as they feel imminent danger and annihilating death at the hands of these Sabeans. Despite their weakness and fragmentation, the Sunnis are the sharpest blades, the most determined, and the most loyal when they meet those Batinis (Shi`a), who are a people of treachery and cowardice. They are arrogant only with the weak and can attack only the broken-winged. Most of the Sunnis are aware of the danger of these people, watch their sides, and fear the consequences of empowering them. Were it not for the enfeebled Sufi shaykhs and [Muslim] Brothers, people would have told a different tale.

  Al Zarqawi writes of several groups, including “the masses” (which I take to mean the a-religious), the “Shaykhs and ‘Ulama,’” the Muslim Brother[hood], the Mujahidin, and the immigrant Mujahidin… But his principal focus is the Sunnis and Shi’a. According to al Zarqawi, any sense of tribal or doctrinal superiority is insufficient, individually or collectively, to cause violent conflict. Al Zarqawi regards the religious faithful of Iraq rather like a brand new stick of dynamite located hundreds of miles away from the nearest blasting cap—all al Zarqawi had to do was bring a flash point to the party. He figured that by attacking Shi’a religious landmarks and leaders, the Shi’a would blindly lash out against Iraqi Sunnis. The Sunnis would in turn get pissed, but they would at least target counterattacks against the Shi’a groups responsible for the mahem. By leveraging a difference of doctrine as insignificant in the grand scheme as the Christian question of whether to baptize by sprinkling or immersing, al Zarqawi had what he considered a sure-fire plan to send Iraq into a downward spiral of sectarian war.

  Fortunately, in addition to underestimating the accuracy of U.S. laser-guided ordinance, al Zarqawi badly miscalculated both the Shi’a and Sunni communities of Iraq. When Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, Ansar al Islam, or al Qaeda in Iraq attacked a Shi’a Mosque, or assassinated a Shi’a political or religious leader, the Shi’a grew to learn that equating such attacks to Iraqi Sunnis was utterly misguided and futile. Similarly, Sunni’s began to recognize that terrorists were planning and executing attacks from within their communities and began taking their own preemptive actions against the terrorists. Some eventually cooperated with coalition forces.

  I think it fair to say the single-sighted monotheism of jihadists like al Zarqawi and bin Laden failed to transfer in any meaningful way to Iraq’s Muslim faithful—Sunni and Shi’a alike.

  Why?

  How ironic would it be to find out that the jihadists failure in Iraq was due to the western ways—the secularism and Iraqi nationalism—Saddam Hussein attempted to instill?

  Reminds me of a quote from Dr. Zhivago:

  No deep and strong feeling, such as we may come across here and there in the world, is unmixed with compassion. The more we love, the more the object of our love seems to be a victim.

  Although contextually this is a reverie by Yuri about Lara, I can think of several ways this passage applies to present-day Iraq.

  Cheers,

• 11. reckless G  |  February 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

  [My study of this subject does not lead to your assertion that Iraqi tribal status outweighs religious affiliation—at least where the Muslim faithful are concerned.]

  I’m surprised at this conclusion as there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

  There are over 150 tribes in Iraq and more than 85% of Iraqis claim some form of tribal affiliation. Historically, Iraqi Muslims have not been in conflict over religious sect. In fact many tribes, such as Beni Tamim contain both Sunni and Shia members.

  “In Iraqi tribal society, custom is at least as important as religion and its dictates, often pre-Islamic in origin, frequently differ from those of Islam. Indeed, as one tribal Iraqi put it to me, “if you ask a Shammari what religion he is, he will say ‘I am a Shammari’ ” – the Shammari being a confederation which, like many Iraqi tribes, has both Sunni and Shi’a branches. Islam, of course, is a key identity marker when dealing with non-Muslim outsiders, but when all involved are Muslim, kinship trumps religion.”

  There have been many instances of strong cooperation between Sunnis and Shi'ites. This continues today as tribal chiefs are working to achieve unity between Sunni and Shia groups and band together to fight both al Qaeda in Iraq and the Mahdi Army.

  The majority of Kurds are Sunni, yet they joined with Iran’s Shia in the Iran/Iraq war. But even among the Kurds, tribal rivalries trump their Sunni allegiance.

  Instances of tribal conflict involving the same sect:

  The Sunni tribe Albu Mahal fought against Sunni al Qaeda leader Zarqawi's insurgents after they kidnapped and killed 31 members of his tribe to punish them for joining the Iraqi security forces. Sunni Arab tribes have clashed sporadically with members of Zarqawi's organization, usually in revenge for killings of tribe members.

  Tribal rivalry between the Mahal and the Karbulis, both are Sunni. Mahal tribal leader Sheik Kurdi Raffa Farhan, warned that animosity between tribes runs deep and will not be easily overcome. The Mahals have a land dispute with the Karbulis that stretches to the era of Saddam Hussein, when the Karbulis allegedly used their friendship with the dictator to seize prime farmland. "This is the tribal problem for a long time, not one or two years," the sheik said.

  The influence of tribal allegiances and rivalries should not be discounted. Sheikh Hassan Hatem Al-Ghadhban of the Bani Lam tribes mentioned that southern Iraqi tribes can easily mobilise an army of tribesmen to overrun Yusifiya, Mahmudiya and Fallujah, and that neither multinational forces nor the interim government can stop them from carrying out this threat. Another Sheikh from Bani Lam said that he can do nothing to prevent his angry tribesmen from taking revenge for their brothers and sons.

  The importance of tribal structure is illuminated here:
  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/tribes.htm

  Also, tribal conflict has long been an issue in Afghanistan which is 80% Sunni.

  Tribal allegiance in Afghanistan
  http://www.gl.iit.edu/govdocs/afghanistan/EthnicityAndTribe.html

  And let us not forget that among the Muslims in Darfur the conflict is a tribal one.

• 12. Star Eagle  |  February 28th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

  Once again a great and informative post G. Thanks and keep up the good work.

  While al Zarqawi and his "divide and conquer" technique certainly had a chilling and killing effect it also goes to show that the waters in Iraq run deeper than the simple logic of Sunni-Shia.

  I can only ask that we, in this country, see beyond our own "divide and conquer", and choose improvisation over blindly, or perhaps I should say, faithfully, following the script.

  http://freedocumentaries.org/

  Cut loose, have fun (kinda scary fun) and open your minds to something beyond your normal prescribed dose of liberal media (yeah right!).

• 13. Mitch Mulhall  |  February 29th, 2008 at 9:29 am

  Sue,

  Thank you for your numerous examples of Iraqis crossing religious identity to form alliances. No doubt that since the genesis of the Sunni Shi’a split there are countless examples of Shi’a / Sunni cooperation.

  Certainly, Sunnis and Shi’a recognize each other as Muslims and find common ground in the Five Pillars, and surely Sunni / Shi’a cooperation is as common as Catholic / Jewish, Methodist / Baptist, even Muslim / Jewish cooperation. Just this morning there was a story in the GSPI of a Muslim group supporting Jewish athletes who object to competing on the Sabbath.

  What your examples of Sunni / Shi’a cooperation fail to do, however, is to refute what empirical evidence indicates is true: that a significant doctrinal difference between Sunni and Shi’a exists, that Abu Mussab al Zarqawi described this doctrinal difference to Osama bin Laden as a way to incite sectarian war, and that in fact a variety of terrorist groups leveraged this doctrinal difference to drag Iraqi Muslims into sectarian conflict.

  The roots of Shi’a / Sunni conflict run deep. Shi’a Muslims believe the Prophet was chosen by Allah, and that his spiritual leadership extended to the Prophet’s bloodline. They believe that when the Sunnis chose Abu Bakr as the standard-bearer of Islam, they erred by failing to follow the Prophet’s progeny.

  Shi’a have a history of being persecuted by Sunnis. Throughout Islamic history, Sunnis have murdered many Shi’a saints, one of the most important of which was a grandson of the Prophet named Hussein (also Husayn). After being defeated in the battle of Karbala (c. 680 AD), Hussein would not declare loyalty to Caliph Yazid, so he was beheaded by Shimr ibn Thil Jawshan of the Umayyad Caliphate. The anniversary of Hussein’s death is called Ashura, a Shi’a day of ritual mourning and religious observance that was suppressed in Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein.

  During modern times, Sunnis ruled Iraq under the secularist-leaning Saddam, himself a Sunni. While Shi’a Muslims constitute a majority in Iraq, and an overwhelming majority in Iran, only about fifteen percent of Muslims world-wide are Shi’a. When the Ayatollah Khomeini transformed Iran into an Islamic state in 1979, he declared himself the supreme leader of all Muslims. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Islam states in the Middle East objected to the Ayatollah’s declaration on the basis of his Shi’a beliefs.

  In modern times, a host of every-day differences keep the Sunni / Shi’a divide alive. Sunnis allege that instead of missionary work to non-Muslims, the Shi’a harbor a deep-seated disdain towards Sunni Islam and prefer to devote their attention to winning Sunnis over to their beliefs. Shi’a have a different call to prayer, and during prayer, they prostrate by placing the forehead onto a piece of hardened clay from Karbala instead of the prayer mat. Some Sunnis believe this symbolic of a devotion to Hussein rather than the Prophet, a notion supported by the Shi’a tendency to give greater weight to the hadith narrated by Ali and Fatima. Shi’a also combine prayers, sometimes worshipping three times per day instead of five. Shi’a condone muttah—fixed-term, temporary marriage—a practice the Sunnis condemn… the list goes on and on.

  The fact is, the doctrinal difference between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims was and is a hot-button that terrorists like al Zarqawi pushed to create sectarian conflict.

  Cheers,

• 14. reckless G  |  February 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

  Mitch,

  Great info. Thanks for contributing to my ongoing quest to gain and share an understanding of these issues. I realize this isn’t where you intended to go with this post, and I appreciate your willingness to go there anyway.

  Rather than trying to refute the rift between Sunni and Shia, my comment was aimed at showing that there is a third rail in Iraq; tribalism, and sometimes (but not always) it trumps sectarianism.

  Tribalism has been left out of the public discussion about Iraq because it’s much easier for the media and politicians to describe the internal strife in Iraq in terms of Shia vs. Sunni. The American public has barely been made aware of the fact that until very recently, only 60 years ago or less, the people of Iraq were much like the Native Americans; rural tribal farmers and shepherds along with fierce warriors. Times may have changed, but clan loyalty and tribal customs have not entirely died out and should not be omitted from a discussion of the Iraq conflict.

  The American people had no idea what they were getting into with the invasion of Iraq. Most of us, myself included, knew nothing about either Islam or Arab tribal culture. That’s one of the reasons I went to Iraq. I wanted to find out for myself what these people and their religion were like. I talked to a lot of Iraqis; men, women, children, Sunni, Shia, Christian, secular. I visited churches, mosques, hospitals, and civilian homes in Baghdad and Basra, and a rural date farm in the north, and I came away with a deeper understanding than I ever could have gained from a Google search.

  When I came back, I wrote letters on the same topics we’re covering here on Aspen Post. I’m sure you remember the response I got. But most people now realize that everything I wrote turned out to be true…ergo... I continue to hope that someday people will realize that what I’ve written about Israel/Palestine is also true. Then perhaps the tragic occupation will end and Palestine will be free at last.

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