Gorilla’s Guides

In Which The Gorilla Ponders Bewilderment

Sometimes when we are working on preparing a posting we come across a report that makes us stop and rub our eyes in disbelief. The report below from Reuters which was published yesterday February 28th 2008 is one such:

It’s headline shouts to the world that America is “bewildered” by its image in the Arab countries.

Datelined from Tunis, the Tunisian capital, the report leads by saying that David Welch, Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs said on Thursday that Washington is bewildered by its image in the Arab and Islamic world.

No, really he did say that, those are the words he used at the end of his visit which included a tour of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia …

“We are bewildered by the image of the United States in the region.”

The report goes on to point out briefly that the image of the United States of America is worst among the Arab and Islamic peoples because of its support of Israel and its actions in the Middle East since the attacks of September 11 September.

Welch went on to make what must rank as a clear early contender for understatement of the century. No, really he did, this is what he said …

“It is not easy to convince people in the region to like the United States politically,”

See what I mean? That’s definitely a strong early contender …

He went on to ask that the people who live here “understand the policy at least.” No, really he did, that is what he said …

“understand the policy at least.”

According to Reuters, and who am I to doubt them, he went on to claim that that matters are not bad as envisaged by some Arab media, adding that there had been great interest in the elections in the United States during his visit and that Americans wanted to reduce their poor image and were concerned to know why it was so poor. The report ends with another clear early contender for century status. This one comes under the heading of “Rip Snortingly Funny For Those Who Like Their Humour Very Very Dark Indeed” :

The United States has allocated billions of dollars to improve its image in the Arab and Islamic world through programmes for human rights, and education reform, and improving the status of women.

So there we were Nur, Saba, Ali, Omar, and me messaging back and forth getting the subscriber’s posting of the day’s events ready, and then I came across that Reuters report. I do have a very dark sense of humour and so do Nur, Saba, Ali, and Omar. You need a very dark sense of humour to deal with seeing, hearing, and above all smelling, the horror that America has cynically, deliberately, and viciously, unleashed upon the Middle East repeatedly. So of course I messaged them the URI to the report, an electronic cacophony of dark hilarity broke out and we damned near didn’t manage to get the subscribers’ version out at all - which would have been a first. As it was it it went out two hours late at which point we started on the non-subscribers’ version.

There’s nothing bewildering, not even slightly, about why America is loathed throughout the Middle East. When a nation is busy waging genocide against an entire group of peoples it is completely unreasonable, but very typically American, not to expect them to detest you for it. America is detested throughout the Middle East not because the people who live here do not “understand the policy” but because they do.

markfromireland