"Thanks, but no thanks Ussama"

Folks, this is an article from Hareth Raad, Lebanese Information Center Staff Writer, Friday, October 29, 2004; www.licus.org
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Praise the Heavens, Lebanon has found a new protector.

In the darkest hours of our nation, few would have thought that we would find a helping hand in the least likely of all places. Some would say that the hand of God always reveals itself in mysterious ways. A light to shine in the darkness for all those who choose to see.

I chose to see it last night [Smooth: "Last nite" refers to last Friday's most recent video tape of UBL threatening America ] - Thank you Ussama Bin Laden for defending Lebanon.

When the Towers in Manhattan crumbled under the force of hatred and the delusions of a handful of misguided suicidal men seeking some prophetically glorious end, few people at all were aware that this was a valiant attempt at vindicating the suffering of an obscure nation. A nation whose population for the most part -with internationally verifiable polls-was largely aghast at the attacks of September 11. Even the Lebanese didn't know that good old Ussama was reaching out 22 years later to take vengeance for the destruction of Beirut's bullet riddled buildings. I'm sure they would have danced in the streets with glee to know that a Saudi murderer was so burdened with the suffering of a country, occupied largely by a Christian "blasphemous crusader" population , that he chose to go about killing some 3000 people to get things off his chest.

How distinctly Arabesque of him. Kill innocent people then blame it on defending the suffering of Palestinians or Lebanese.

Still my heart goes out to him, myself as a Lebanese who has seen his home destroyed several times over. I feel his pain. It was not his fault that he inherited 300 Million dollars. It was not his fault that in his youth he gallivanted in decadent Beirut in a Ferrari before figuring out that he preferred Johnny Jihad to Johnny walker. It is not his fault that he was busy using American weapons and helped fight the Russians in Afghanistan while Lebanon and the Lebanese were being raped by Palestinian guerrillas and the Syrian army.

Everything is different now. Naturally because he says so. Poor soul, devastated by the invasion of Israel in Lebanon. Now I perceive everything. Prior to this I couldn't reconcile why 3000 people burned to death, today I smile replete with understanding. Ahh, thank you Ussama. You make me proud to be a Lebanese.

We really needed another bad association. It wasn't enough being pillaged, invaded and used to promote most of the vicious acts of terrorism over the past 29 years. No, to top it all off we are now the cause celebre of Ussama Bin Laden. It wasn't enough to have Hezbollah, Syria and Iran make us the villains of the universe and implicate us as kidnappers and terrorists. Nope, not enough. We needed Ussama to get a conscience instead.

All the Commissions, panels, analysts, thinkers and even the common Joe can stop wondering why September 11 happened now. Ussama said it was because of Lebanon.

Thanks again, but no thanks!

I think back to my father in times like these and the way he felt about life and sure enough his old favorite saying comes to mind: "When you live among roses, you tend to smell like roses, but when you live among camels, you tend to smell like dirt."