Thanks to the Noble American People

Alaa, the Mesopotamian, has translated a post about President Dr. Ibrahim Al-Jaafari’s message of thanks to the President and People of America. The post was written in Arabic by an apparently eloquent and thoughtful man, probably a Shiaa, identified as Mr. Mussawi.

The translation with commentary involved explication of Arabic puns that Alaa compared, not unfavorably, to those of William Shakespeare. Mr. Mussawi made it apparent that this message of thanks was neither an easy thing for Al-Jaafari to do, nor some offhand remark made for the sake of politeness. It was an important event. It was also by no means a certainty that such thanks would ever be given.

Of particular interest to me was the classification system used by Mr. Mussawi for characterizing different types of Shiaa. He identified 1) the pious Shiaa who try to do the right thing, 2) the political Shiaa who pretend to do the right thing (Al Sadr), perhaps wrapping themselves in the flag of Islam, 3) and the mule-headed Shiaa who pillory others based on narrow-minded interpretations of selected parts of the Koran, a book which they may never have read for themselves. Sound familiar?

Alaa also coined a new word, toraboration, after Tora Bora, which seems to mean: hiding from one’s enemy, helplessly waiting for death, but remaining too spiteful to accept mercy. (I don’t know. Maybe you can do better.)

7/8/2005 11:01 PM