HunterByrd

Omar at Iraq the Model has been visiting a BBC-opened Arab reader forum for reflection upon the third anniversary of the death pilot's trip to Manhattan. Omar tells us that most of the traffic is, in fact, from Arab countries. As would be expected, there is much anti-American government sentiment. However, he points out that at the time he translated some of the quotes reflected below, there were but two from Iraq which expressed hatred toward America.

Contrast that with what you hear in the media.

Omar chose only to post positive statements. ". . . I decided not to translate any of the offensive comments which you can find almost everywhere."

“The truth is that people who encourage the dialogue and call for friendship with the US are the people who have reached a conclusion that the era of arrogance, fake heroism, ridiculous Baáthist slogans and Arab stubbornness that made Arabs the most backward among nations, has come to an end. It’s enough to acknowledge that the economy of a European country such as Spain is stronger than the economy of the Arab countries collectively. The pro-American youth are the best and the most educated while those who consider them traitors can bring only death and doom.” -- Yugene-Baghdad/Iraq.

“The Arab youths are living under cultural, religious and even sexual repression while people in the West enjoy all aspects of freedom and this motivates the Arabs to immigrate to the US or Europe to be able to live in a civilized environment but unfortunately most immigrants fail to merge with the western communities because of the effect of the religious heritage they accumulated since childhood therefore they tend to establish a closed Islamic-Arab community in America or Europe and this will eventually lead to a conflict between the two cultures”-- Mohammed Othman-Syria.

“The problem lies inside us, the Arabs; whether governors or citizens. We’re still living the era of backwardness, ignorance and crying for the past. We don’t understand how decisions are made in America and the defect is within ourselves.I’m a big admirer of America and the progress that America had achieved in such a short period.One more thing, those who offend America must not forget that it was America who helped the Muslims in Albania, Bosnia, Kuwait and Sudan. Where is the Arab civilization? We never saw the Arabs offer help but we all saw the food packages and flour sacks carrying the letters USA.The problem with Arabs is that they always have find someone to put the blame on.” -- Fadi-Libya.

“America is the leader of the world and she represents the tip of the pyramid in economy, science, sports, military power and many other fields and if someone is looking for progress, justice and freedom then America is his destination while those who want to bring back the dark ages consider America their enemy.It’s true that America and her society have some negative points but these look tiny when compared with the positive ones.America’s success is a success for the civilized world and her failure is a failure for the whole world. If you don’t trust my words take a look at America’s allies and friends and see how they live and then take a look at America’s enemies, they’re living in poverty under oppressive tyrannies. Just make a comparison between the two Koreas to have a closer view” -- Mohammed Khafaji-Babylon/Iraq.

“America offers freedom for free. It’s true that I’ve never been there and I don’t have friends living there either but I keep America in my mind and sole. Hatred was brought to us by the extremists; the enemies of mankind.I and every true Iraqi love America because to us she represents freedom and liberation. America untied us from Saddam’s chains and also liberated Yugoslavia from her dictator and liberated Germany before that. History is full of events that support my feelings”Hazim Al Shammari-Bafgdad/Iraq.

However, the finest quote comes from Omar himself. We must stay the course we have embarked upon. The naysayers -- they are legion -- talk about billions spent, soldiers dead, and failed plans. Decades of instability in a major region of the world is no longer tolerable. The tyranny which pervades the Middle East must come to an end. If it does not, then society as we know it will end.

I have a secret to share with you; we (my brothers and I) used to hate America some years ago, just like the vast majority of Iraqis and that was the result of being isolated from the rest of the world by the thick walls Saddam built around us. We used to be reading one newspaper, watching one channel and hearing one voice; the voice of the “mighty leader” that looked eternal but those feelings gradually changed after we started to see more clearly who was actually responsible for Iraq’s misery and began to open our eyes, ears and minds to other points of view and to other sources of information in a seriously dangerous search for the truth.Later, the uncertain feeling changed to a more positive one when we realized that our only chance to get rid of the tyrant was in America’s hands especially after 9/11 and the events that followed that day as we saw that America is determined to fight terrorism and terrorism-supporting criminal regimes. -- Omar

The hate Omar used to harbor is the same hate which fuels 'the insurgents' in Iraq. The hate must be particularly vile when you consider that it is mostly Iraqis who are victims of it.