My Roots are Deep in Palestine

WORK AND ACTIVITIES 101

it with great interest; its articles were similar to my thinking I wasted no
time in contacting its editor, Fouad Elhage, because I was sure that we
shared the same ideology and belonged to the same movement, the Arab
Ba’ath Socialist Party.

I joined al-Moharer in 1997 and became the co-editor, in charge of
the English section, and Dr. Behnam Keryo joined and was the editor of
the French section as well the main translator and a contributor to the
English Section.

Al-Moharer means the “Liberator” or the “Editor;” both meanings
are valid and important. The English section was dedicated to enlightening
the world about the justness of the Arab cause, and to clear up the distortion
that clouds the minds of too many people about our struggle against
Western imperialism and Zionism. Al-Moharer was a Pan-Arab weekly
publication and it was read by a large audience in the Arab homeland and
by Arabs who live across the world. The most urgent matter for us was
that of Palestine and Iraq where the neo-cons and Zionists were launching
a vicious criminal war against us to erase our existence as a people and as
a civilization.

Our means were very humble. We were dedicated individuals and we
were volunteers, but the result was tremendous and rewarding. Many
people, educational institutions, and organizations provided us with
positive feedback, while the enemies of humanity sent us nasty letters.
Our readers were in the millions from around the world. We developed
the English and French sections. The Arabic one had the best writers
from every corner of the Arab world. Our articles were translated into
several languages and were published on several websites and in newspapers
around the world.

There were a good number of sites on the web that were against the
Anglo-American occupation of Iraq. What appeared to distinguish us
from most of them was that we took a strongly pro-Ba’ath Party, pro-
Saddam Hussein line.

Besides being the chief editor, Fouad was the webmaster; he had to
put in lots of hours, more than anybody else. He had to write the editorial
and other articles and edit the articles sent to him and read hundreds of
them to decide which ones were fit for posting

Fouad was a dedicated man with principles despite the hard work for
keeping al-Moharer running as print. He lost over $200,000 and he could
not continue and for this reason he maintained it only on the internet.
Al-Moharer encountered much harassment and many attacks at various
levels, such as attacking him verbally or trying to prevent al-Moharer
from cyberspace through the courts. We were accused of being anti-Semitic

102 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

for equating Zionism equal to racism and labeling the Zionist entity, Israel,
as a settler-colonialist entity

Well-known writers from the United States, such as Jeff Archer,
contributed many informative articles to al-Moharer about the situation
in Iraq during the embargo and the war that led to the occupation and
destruction of Iraq. Jeff Archer wrote hundreds of articles about Iraq on
his website that became a good source of information. Also, he wrote the
most-informative book about Iraq, The Mother Of All Battles, The Endless
US-Iraq War

Fouad Elhage, chief
editor of al-Moharer

Behnam Keryo,
editor of

French section

WORK AND ACTIVITIES 103

CHAPTER 11

MARIA, THE WOMAN OF MY LIFE

I was lucky to find a job in Springfield, Massachusetts sooner than I
expected. It was at Carters, a children garments maker. I was trained
at the factory how to make patterns and get them ready for the cutter.
Every morning, I took the bus to work. I noticed a young woman who was
taking the same bus every day from Liberty Street to her work on Main
Street. I found out later that she was working for Aetna Insurance Company
and her name was Maria Perdices Palomares. One day, I decided to
approach her and ask her if I could sit by her she did not object. Days
passed before I found out that we had common friends from Lebanon. We
became friendlier and we started talking about various topics. At the
beginning, I thought she was an Arab girl because of her features, from a
Lebanese or Syrian background.

I asked our common friends, Michel Issa and his wife Rita, to invite
her on a weekend so we could meet and be more acquainted. Michel gave
me a call to tell me that she was there. I wasted no time and went to the
house that was half a block away from mine. We were formally introduced
and she felt relaxed and at ease.

We started dating and visiting each other to be more acquainted. We
found out that both sides of the families had similar traditions; Cubans
and Arabs had similar traditions and similar values and this made it
easier for each of us to be accepted by the other family.

I realized that living in Springfield, Massachusetts was not for me
because opportunities to advance were very limited. I decided to go to the
New York area, and I ended up in New Jersey, across the river from
Manhattan.

I found a job at Jonathan Logan, a fashion house for women with
many divisions. I worked in the data processing department and was in
charge of the stock and distribution of work that came from data processing
to different areas such as accounts receivable and accounts payable, or
sent them with the messenger to the showrooms in New York.

We were very eager to get married soon. Why not? We were old enough

103

104 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

and mature, and we wanted to settle down to have a family. We wasted no
time. Maria was more religious than I and she wanted to have a church
wedding. We thought of marrying in St. Michael, a Maronite Catholic
church, but it did not work out because Father Shaheen, to my surprise,
refused and was very adamant about it. The reason was not convincing.
He claimed that I was not a member of his church, though my entire
family was.

I was very upset, then we

decided to go to the Roman

Catholic Church instead. The

American priest of the Sacred

Heart of Jesus was very amicable

and agreed. I just had to wait a

few days until that Catholic

bishop of the area gave me an

annulment for being married

before with Meta Wood. It was

not complicated because my

previous wedding was in a

Unitarian Church and the

Catholics do not recognize it. So

the permission to get married in

the church was granted to us.

Problem solved. The wedding took

place on September 24, 1966.

Maria and Ibrahim Because we did not have

enough money to throw a fancy

wedding, we limited the
attendance to friends and family. My friend since childhood, Adnan

Farsakh, got us the free place in a nice hall in the Syrian-Lebanese Club

located on Chapin Terrace in Springfield. Family and friends supplied

food, liquor, and music. It was a beautiful wedding. When I was in the

Army I was sending $80 a month to my parents and, to my surprise, my

mother saved the money and gave it to us at the wedding. We were able to

buy simple furniture for our small apartment that we rented on Fairview

road in Fairview.

After our son was born, we lived in several rented houses in the area.

Then, we encountered some difficulties with the last landlord and we

decided to buy a house. I told Maria to go and look for one. She found a
house on 67th Street in West New York, New Jersey that she liked. She
called me at work and told me all about it. The next day, I accompanied

MARIA, THE WOMAN OF MY LIFE 105

her to the real estate broker and the agent took us to see the house at 142
67th Street, West New York. We decided to buy it. We discussed the
problem with the real estate agent that we didn’t have enough money for
the down payment. But, we were lucky because I was in the Army, under
the GI Bill. We were qualified to buy the house with no down payment at
all. We signed the papers and the deal closed a few days later. Soon after,
we moved in and settled on the first floor. The second floor was rented to
a family of two, a mother with her child. They decided to leave and then
we rented it to another family to help us to cover the monthly payment on
the mortgage.

The four of us, Maria, Yazid, Carolina my mother in law, and I were
able to fit on the first floor and also we enjoyed the basement which was
semi-finished. We were very happy with it because it helped us solve all
our problems and be independent of the harassment of any landlord.

Our Children

Yazid was born in Englewood hospital on June 15, 1967, one week after
the Six Day War in our homeland against the Zionist entity in Palestine.
We were very happy and excited for his birth. Since Maria was sick and
her spleen was taken out, we decided not to have children anymore but
when he was nine years old we decided to have another child because
Maria has improved and Carolina Miriam was born on January 18, 1976,
also in Englewood. I was very happy to have a little girl and I was dancing
in the hospital from enchantment. I never had a sister and we missed the
presence of a girl in the house.

Both of our children are very successful in life. They achieved a good
education. Yazid has a law degree. Carolina at this time is working on her
Ph.D. in creative writing and poetry.

Our son was married to Ann Puotinen for 20 years. She gave him two
beautiful girls, Isabel, and Sylvia. They are both intelligent and they are
doing very well and I think they will go to college for further education.
They are talented in theater and acting. Isabel is more inclined to acting
and theater; Sylvia is more interested in art and fashion and I am sure
very soon they will achieve their goals.

Yazid practiced law for only one year and later he worked at several
places as an administrator. Carolina Miriam is married to Jeffrey
Pethybridge, a poet and writer. He is teaching at a university in Denver.
They have a beautiful son, Patrick, who was born November 16, 2004. He
is very smart and very talented and a very lovely child. The relation between
our children is very strong as they love and care for each other and so do

106 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

the cousins. Jeffrey, our son-in-law, is a good cook. Every time he visits us,
he takes over the kitchen and entertains everybody. He integrated
immediately in the family and got accustomed to Arab and Cuban
traditions. We feel very close to him especially, Maria, who loves him very
much and considers him as her favorite.

My Wife in Her Own Words

I was born in Baracoa, Cuba in 1937. My father, Manuel Perdices Peñes,
was a salesman for a Confiture Company who had the territory of Oriente
province as his responsibility and Baracoa was the outmost eastern town
in that province.

My mother, Carolina Palomares Toirac, and my father met through
mutual friends and their courtship was not very long, getting married in
1936. Soon after, they traveled to Antilla, another town in Oriente Province
in which my father had already a house which was also the “home office”
for his business. Early in 1937 my parents knew that they were having a
baby, so it was decided that my mother would return to her hometown to
give birth. So I was born on August 25. 1937 surrounded by my maternal
family.

I have very few recollections of my early years in Baracoa, in Antilla
and later on in Havana. When I was around five or six years old, I was
registered in a Catholic school, La Inmaculada. Later on, they moved me
to another school, Centro Gallego. Then my mother and I went to Baracoa
and I was enrolled in another private school. The reason of so many
changes was due to marital difficulties between my parents, ending in
permanent separation although no divorce. Finally, my mother and I
returned to Havana and with the help of my Aunt Cunina Palomares and
her husband, my godfather, Alfonso Ugartemendía, as well as some alimony
that my father was giving, we were able to settle and I was able to go to a
private school, Arturo Montori starting in fifth grade. I finished my studies
with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in 1956.

In the same year, I started at the University of Havana in the School
of Physics and Chemistry. Soon after, Fidel Castro and a group of followers
disembarked in Oriente Province starting an insurrection that eventually
brought down the government in 1959. My studies were interrupted and
the university closed its doors until later in 1959.

I had no other choice but to look everywhere for a job. l applied for
one in the telephone company, passed the exams and began employment
as an international operator. In 1962, I presented my papers lo leave the
country for the United States. My job was immediately suspended and in

MARIA, THE WOMAN OF MY LIFE 107

October of that year when the missile crisis occurred; the flights to the US
were also suspended.

For two years we lived in Havana, being financially helped by my aunt
and godfather and odd jobs that I found tutoring people in English

In 1964, I was able to leave Cuba via Mexico/Jamaica, arriving in
Miami, Florida in November, 1964. A few days later, I continued my trip
towards Springfield, Massachusetts to reunite with my Aunt Carmelina
and my Uncle Carlos who were in the USA since 1961. In the beginning,
I felt extremely lonely, out of place, wishing that I never left my country,
but those thoughts I quickly put to rest since my main purpose at that
time was to find a job and be able to contribute to my aunt and uncle in
their daily lives. After finding employment in an insurance company, I
decided to be very frugal with my salary to save money and bring my
mother to the US to be with me.

My efforts were rewarded and my mom came from Cuba via Mexico
at the end of 1965. At that time, she was 59 years old, a very strong
woman, very independent, and with the firm idea that she did not want
to receive any help from the government. She wanted to work in whatever
job she would be able to perform. Her English was very poor, knowing
only greetings and to say thank you. Despite her ignorance of the language,
she got a job in a factory, working in the industrial Merrow machines
because she was familiar with the Singer sewing machines. After that,
there was no stopping her in her learning of English and getting around
in her new environment.

At the beginning of 1966, I met Ibrahim in the bus that we both took
to work. Later on, a common friend introduced us formally at a gathering
and our friendship continued turning into love for both of us. As it turned
out, we did exactly as my parents; we had a short courtship and in the
month of September 1966 we got married in Sacred Heart Church and
right away moved from Springfield, MA to Fairview N.J.

Our son Yazid was born in June 1967 and by that time my mother had
joined us and she was a great help and support in many ways. I decided to
look for a job in Manhattan. I applied to various places and without
difficulty found a job in a bank (Marine Midland Bank) at night, from
6:00 p.m. until midnight. Those were the years in which I learned the ins
and outs of banking. The night shift went to wherever it was needed so I
was exposed to many areas of the financial system. Also I was studying on
my own the different things that interested me, such as money market,
foreign exchange, etc.

Many years went by and I moved to a day job within the bank. I was
able to attend a school for bankers in which I reinforced what I had

108 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

learned by myself. In 1975, we found that we were having a baby and were
very happy in spite of my age (I was 38) and the financial difficulties
involved. Carolina was born in January 18, 1976. I wanted to have more
time with her than I had with Yazid, so after my maternity leave was
coming to an end I requested one year leave of absence, which was granted.

Ibrahim had been offered a position in Baghdad in the Foreign
Relations Bureau. He accepted and the whole family left for Baghdad
including my mother, who stayed for a month with us helping me adjust
to the new country, new house, foreign language (to me) etc.. Carolina
was barely six month old, and Yazid had just turned nine and was very
excited and somewhat nervous to the whole prospect. Yazid was enrolled
in school and did well for the short time that we stayed in Baghdad.

I became very ill because the climate was not favorable to my asthma,
and after three months of trying, we both took the decision that the
children and I had to go back to the States. It was painful to leave Ibrahim,
but at the same time I was relieved that going back to my familiar
environment my health would quickly improve, which it did. Also, new
medications helped.

I returned to the bank and continued improving in my knowledge of
banking in various areas, but always with the firm intention of entering
the area of treasury. My idea was of being able to be a trader in the foreign
exchange room. That was not an easy task. At that time there were very
few women traders. In the meantime, I was able to work in the “back
office” doing the paperwork and settlement of the trades. When I realized
that in that bank I would never be able to achieve my goal, I started
looking for another job, getting a position in the back office of a Swiss
bank. Time went by and a spot in the trading room opened up for junior
trader, which I applied for and obtained. For several years, I worked as a
trader learning on hand what you can never learn in school. Those years
were invaluable. They were the basis of my future successes in the field
and allowed me to gain employment in the last bank where I worked and
from where I retired as chief dealer.

In all these years I had the help of my mother and my Aunt Cuni (she
became a widow and I brought her from Cuba to live with us). My mother
continued working in Englewood Hospital as a housekeeper until she
reached 72 years of age and was encouraged to retire. My Aunt Cuni was
taking care of my household, including the children, while Ibrahim and I
worked in our various fields. I am so grateful to both of them, They were
indispensable to us at that time. Later on, when old age restricted their
movements, we took care of them to the best of our abilities, not failing
them in their time of need.

MARIA, THE WOMAN OF MY LIFE 109

Our children grew up and left the nest in search of their own purposes
in life. We gave them the foundation of their beliefs and values and we are
happy to say that they became parents in their own right and outstanding
in their lines of work.

Wedding Anniversary

Many years have passed since Maria and I were married, 50 years on
September 24, 2016. On that day, many friends and family members
gathered together to celebrate at the Café Ba-Ba-Reeba in Chicago. A
week before the dinner party, 500 couples gathered at the Holy Name
Catholic Cathedral where a mass was held and the renewal vows were
solemnly performed.

At the gathering, our children, Yazid and Carolina were very joyous
and proud and expressed their joy with the following:

Yazid’s toast: I just wanted to thank everyone for coming to celebrate
this special occasion. My parents were engaged in the world not closed off.
They moved to Chicago rather than live in Florida or Arizona to be closer
to the family. They like the hustle and bustle of the city. They are on social
media and they text. They take public transportation and go to the opera
and restaurants. Everyone raise your glasses to my parents. Congratulations
happy 50th wedding anniversary. Toast to my parents.

Carolina Miriam’s toast: My parents tell me I was born in a blizzard.
I was a January baby. I’ve never been interested in the astrological meanings
around being born under the sign of Capricorn. What’s more compelling
to me is the Roman god Janus, from which we get the name January. Janus
wears two faces, one looks toward the future and the other looks towards
the past. He is the god of beginnings & endings, the god of gates, transitions,
time, and the god of doorways.

My parents are kind of Janus-faced, my father being from the old
world (Palestine), and my mother from the “new world” (Cuba). She is
the face that looks towards the future, the one who made all the plans,
who devised our vacations and outings, to the opera; the movies; the
ballet. She was the optimistic one, open to moving forward and upward in
this new life in New Jersey. She made Yaz and I excited for what was to
come.

My father’s face is the one oriented to the beautiful, rich, past. If each

110 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

of us had private verbs that set us in motion, his would be: to remember,
to protest, to proclaim how much better, sweeter, wilder, older, more sacred
things were “back home.” He’d look off pointing in the distance as though
he were just watching footage of his boyhood while narrating what he saw.
In loving him, we were all learning to love the back of his head.
But they did turn to look at one another. In January 1966, on a bus in
Springield, Massachusetts, he saw her and thought, “Wow. Striking eyes,
an attractive dress; she might be an Arab woman.” She saw him and
thought: he’s kind of short, but cute. They were married by September.

The house in West New York where Yaz and I grew up, 142-67th.Street,
was in the very best sense American, in that it was made up of immigrants
and exiles. Ibrahim and Maria’s relationship functioned in three languages.
Everything around the kitchen had three names. It was an “egg” or it was
“un huevo” or it was a “beda.” And we were numerous in that small
house where my brother and I lived with our parents, plus our grandmother,
plus our grandmother’s sister, plus the dog, and the sometimes guests,
who would stay, and the sometimes ghosts, all Cuban, for some reason.
We all lived there. It was full and loud, where yelling was a form of talking,
and cross-cultural translation a form of care.

And I feel particularly lucky that my own love of language was born
and nurtured there, under that Janus-faced gaze of my parents, within
that marriage that spans now 50 years. And so I want to raise a glass to
them, you each left a paradise. Thank you for the risks and heartbreak you
weathered, to make this long life together. It is a beautiful thing. We toast
to you and are grateful to be here in your midst.

Yazid and Carolina Miriam, Renewing the vows
our children

MARIWA, OTRHKE AWNDOMAACNTIOVFITMIEYS LIFE 111

CHAPTER 12

MY REFLECTIONS ON AMERICA

As a US citizen of Arab origin, I find myself torn between the
country of my origin and my adopted country. I am American by
choice, not by chance, like the majority of the Americans whose
parents or ancestors emmigrated to the United States decades ago. I was
forced to leave my country of origin, because my adopted country, the
United States of America, chose to support the Zionists to occupy my
country, Palestine.

When I was in my early teens, I became a refugee, like millions of my
compatriots who were forced to live in misery, in refugee camps, hoping
to return to our homes, to our towns and villages as we were promised.
Many generations died in agony, anxious to return, and their descendants
still hold this. Almost 70 years have passed, and we are still waiting.

Two decades after I became a refugee, I was destined to settle in the
United States. Whether I like it or not, I am here in the land of the
Indians that the white settlers from Europe usurped.

Unfortunately, all US presidents misled the American people and
engraved in their minds that “Israel” has the right to exist in my native
land, and they described my people, who were and still are the victims of
American and Zionist terror, as aggressors. They are accusing my Pales-
tinian people of being terrorists for defending their endangered existence.
The United States, along with the European countries, without any exclu-
sion, ignored the right of the entire population of Palestine to continue
living in their country and helped create this racist settler colonialist state
in our midst. The citizens of my country of origin, believing in their right
to return to their homes to establish their own state, are resisting Ameri-
can imperialism and racist Zionism by all means available to them. The
Zionist soldiers are fighting the Palestinians with guns, missiles artillery
and with the latest weaponry from the American arsenal. Unfortunately,
my people are using their bodies as weapons to resist the Zionist invasion
and occupation, because they are deprived and forbidden to have any
modern weapons to defend themselves.

111

112 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

The United States of America occupied Iraq for two reasons; one
reason was to destroy Iraq, which always has stood with the Palestinians,
and supported them through the years of bitter struggle against the most
racist movement that ever existed, Zionism espoused with US imperial-
ism. More so, the US launched its war of destruction against Iraq because
the government of President Saddam Hussein refused to give any conces-
sion to the Zionist-US imperialism that is trying to annihilate the entire
Arab nation,.

President Saddam Hussein belonged to a genuine Arab movement
that believes in the total liberation of Palestine and the rest of the Arab
land to unite the Arab world in one united Arab state. His belief did not
accommodate the racist US-Zionist vision and this triggered George W.
Bush to invade the land of the two great rivers, the cradle of civilization.

The second reason was the US and Zionist ambition to occupy the
oilfields to control the oil prices that benefit their partners in corporate
America. We see the result of this aggression. It is not painful to the Iraqi
people alone but also to the American people whose young men and
women are paying a heavy price; they are dying for Israel and for oil.

Elections come and go, a president is elected in the same image of the
previous one. To me, it does not matter who is the president, all of them,
from Truman to Trump, were and are controlled and dominated by the
Zionist movement. They support the illegitimacy of the Zionist Israeli
state, and each one promises us heaven on Earth and promises us change.
Promises don’t matter; what matters is the change of the heart of America.
We need a radical change where human life and dignity of all nations are
respected. A radical change is needed in the United States of America to
eradicate unemployment, to give a chance to people to advance economi-
cally, to have affordable education and medicine for every individual. We
need to eradicate homelessness and help everyone to have a home to raise
his or her family without fear of losing his or her dwelling to the banks or
mortgage companies. We are in need of total reform in the systems at all
levels. We need to live in peace and harmony with all nations. This will be
achieved when we liberate America from racist Zionist dominance and
make America indeed the land of the free.

Most of us, Americans, are forced to stay stagnant as if we were
destined to live behind a huge wall that prevents us from seeing beyond it.
This wall has been erected by past and present administrations. We have
allowed our presidents to force us to live in a republic of fear. Whenever
we look at television, we see and hear the “experts” parroting the president’s
lies about a threat that is coming to us, and if we do not react in advance
to prevent such a threat from occurring then the war will be here on our

MY REFLECTIONS ON AMERICA 113

doorsteps. The republic of fear created by our administrations is produc-
ing wars and chaos in the rest of the world, especially in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Yemen and Syria.

Iraq turned into chaos as a result of occupation, and a sectarian
regime was created and nourished by the US and its allies. In reality, we
attacked the Arab countries, and we destroyed their institutions. We are
trying to eradicate and distort their values that have their roots in history
for thousands of years, values that were the fundamental basis of Western
civilization.

With our help and support, Israel was created in Palestine and the
Palestinians were forced into refugee camps facing death, starvation, and
misery while foreigners took over their lands, homes and defaced the
history of Palestine. Each president arrogantly accused the freedom fight-
ers who resist tyranny and occupation as extremists who spread propa-
ganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. The
United States brought anti-Arab sectarian fascists to legitimize the occu-
pation, the robbery and mass killing in Iraq. The sectarian militias of the
thugs that the US brought from Iran are killing people with acid, electric
drills, saws, and fire.

A friend of mine who was a scientist in Iraq had to flee her country
with her husband and two children. She told me, “The Baghdad you
know does not exist. Wherever you look there are destruction and con-
crete piles. We were afraid to go out or drive around; women have to cover
their heads and are not allowed to continue their education.

“Presently, very few go to higher education. The sectarian govern-
ment is against anyone who is educated and they are assassinating scien-
tists whenever and wherever they find them. Hussein Shahristany was my
boss in the 1970s. When it was discovered that he was an agent to Iran
and the CIA, he was arrested. Then, in 1991, he ran away to Iran and took
with him all the names of the scientists and employees in the department
he was part of. After the occupation began, he came back to Iraq and
became Minister of Petroleum. This sectarian man gave all the names of
the scientists to the sectarian militias and they started killing the scien-
tists, sometimes three or four a day.

“They do not distinguish between a Sunni or a Shia, to them an
educated Shia is more of a target than a Sunni. Before the occupation, we
never experienced the difference between Shia and Sunni. We felt like we
were all one family, and religion never played a role in discrimination. My
husband and I were alarmed, especially when we were witnessing the
killings of our friends at the hands of the sectarian militias of the “govern-
ment” that Bush forced upon us. We received a serious threat and we were

114 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

forced to escape.
“We lost our workshop, our car, beauty salon, our apartment, and

house; we had to escape. Now, we are scattered and live in different parts
of the world. One of my brothers was a colonel in the Iraqi Army and the
other one was a professor at one of the universities in Baghdad. Schools
were very advanced; all of us got our education under the Ba’athist gov-
ernment, and education was free at all levels.”

Then, I asked her about the resistance. She said, “The resistance is
very strong and it is gaining more strength. The people are behind it and
it is our hope. The Iraqi people are missing the golden days when Saddam
was in power.” (the scientist happens to be a Shia.)

In an interview with Der Spiegel on August 15, 2006, former Presi-
dent Jimmy Carter was very critical of the Bush administration. He af-
firmed that hatred to the United States through the Arab World was as a
result of the invasion of Iraq. He stated, “The matter has gotten even
worse now with the United States supporting and encouraging Israel in
its attack on Lebanon”.

We wonder why President Bush always justifies any Israeli aggression
while the wiser former president said, “I don’t think that Israel has any
legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation
of Lebanon. What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 pris-
oners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two
soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the
civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza. I do not think that’s justified,
no.”

Bush’s speech about Iraq was another attempt to dupe us and force us
to stay in darkness. He pretended that he respects the United Nations
and its charter while he was the one to challenge the rest of the world and
the world’s organization and blatantly violated its charter when he in-
vaded Iraq and ruined it. In his speech to the General Assembly of the
United Nations, President Bush misled us far away from truth and reality.
There has been no progress and democracy on the march in Iraq or in
Afghanistan as he claimed.

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, a dictator who was not fa-
vored by the Bush administration until he received a threat to join the
war on “terror” or else, confirmed that the United States threatened to
bomb his country back to the Stone Age after the 9/11 attacks if he did not
help America’s war on terror The threat was delivered by Richard
Armitage, the then deputy secretary of state, to Musharraf’s intelligence
director, said the Pakistani leader to CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes.” Musharraf
said he reacted responsibly, i.e. he succumbed to the threat.

MY REFLECTIONS ON AMERICA 115

It is very hard to believe that our president was stunned and shocked
and that he had no previous knowledge of the threat that his undersecretary
of state delivered. Has he forgotten his infamous message: “If you are not
with us then you are against us?” This message speaks for itself and re-
flects his threat to the nations that disagree with him. Should we believe
Musharraf or our president who always hides the truth from us?

“As liberty flourishes, nations grow in tolerance and hope and peace.
And we’re seeing that bright future begin to take root in the broader
Middle East,” the president told the General Assembly of the United
Nations. But the reality is the opposite. The Palestinians and Iraqis are
not experiencing progress, prosperity or security. They are experiencing
poverty, chaos destruction and fear imposed upon them by the US and its
allies. Security is part of the past that does not exist in the “new Iraq.”

Why did we allow President Bush and his extremist neo-conserva-
tives to fortify this wall and keep us living under fear? This question
haunted me wherever I went and every time I watched our president, or
the experts of the media, theorizing and distorting the facts without any
remorse.

Will America destroy the wall of fear and isolation? Can we be part of
the civilized world? Can we be more productive than destructive? The
answer is with you, America. There is no difference among Obama and
Donald Trump and their predecessors. They also support the criminal
government of Iraq and ignore the suffering of the Iraqi people.

In December 2015, I wrote to President Obama the following letter
urging him to stand with the people of Iraq and his answer was the oppo-
site.

Here is my letter:

President Barack Obama
White House
Washington D.C

Dear Mr. President,
I believe that you were not adequate in your speech against terrorism.

You spoke about phenomena called ISIS or ISII. It does not matter, it is
one and the same; it is an organization that evolved from al-Qaida that
the United States propped and supported to fight against the Soviet Union
in Afghanistan

We cannot fight terror by bombing countries that your predecessors
already destroyed or occupied.

116 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

Mr. President, you have to go to the core of the problem and mend
the wrongs that the United States caused. The occupation of Iraq and its
destruction and what followed in Libya, Syria, and Yemen are the crux of
all the terror. If you really want to eradicate terrorism, then I suggest to
you to help the people of the area to choose their way of life and rebuild
secular governments.

You must have the courage to support the Iraqi people and recognize
the Iraqi national resistance instead of supporting the sectarian regime in
Iraq and their criminal militias that are terrorizing their people every day.
Iraq became a colony of the mullahs and a bastion of terror. The Iraqi
national resistance is the only force that is able and capable of rebuilding
Iraq and restoring peace, progress, and tranquility.
Sincerely yours,
Ibrahim Ebeid, US citizen, and Vietnam era veteran
Chicago December 7, 2015

Here is the answer to me:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington D.C.

Dear Ibrahim:
Thank you for writing. I have been meeting regularly with my na-

tional security team to discuss the situation in Iraq and how we can stop
the advances made by ISIL in Iraq and Syria. ISIL poses a threat to the
Iraqi people, to the region, to the international community, and to the
national security interests of the United States.

Part of the reason I ran for this Office was to end our war in Iraq and
welcome our troops home. As Commander in Chief, I will not allow the
United States to be dragged into fighting another war on the ground in
the Middle East. There is no American military solution to the larger
crisis in Iraq; the only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi com-
munities and stronger Iraqi security forces. Our assistance to Iraq in-
cludes sharing intelligence information, providing military advisers, and
delivering ammunition and military equipment. Additionally, we con-
tinue to work with the international community and government of Iraq
to provide support for almost three million Iraqis displaced by conflict.
Our partnership with Iraq is premised on an inclusive political process,
including steps that demonstrate the commitment of Iraqi leaders to repre-
sent the legitimate interests of all Iraqis. We are encouraged by the progress
made by Prime Minister Abadi to implement a national program to ad-

MY REFLECTIONS ON AMERICA 117

dress the urgent needs and grievances of the Iraqi people.
Beyond partnership with Iraq, we formed a global coalition of more

than 60 countries and partners working to deny ISIL a safe haven, to
counter the flow of fighters, and to diminish ISIL’s access to the sources
of funding and weapons that have fueled the group’s advances in the
Middle East. At the same time, we are leading a diplomatic effort to work
with Iraqi leaders and countries in the region to support stability. Iraq’s
leaders have taken important steps to enhance their relationships with
regional partners, and to rise above their differences to forge support for
a political plan for their country’s future. All Iraqis, no matter which faith
they follow, must be confident they can live safely in their country and
advance their interests and aspirations through the political process rather
than through violence.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts. America cannot and
should not intervene every time there’s a crisis in the world, but our
leadership is necessary to underwrite the global security and prosperity
upon which our children and our grandchildren will depend. And we
must do whatever is necessary to protect the security of our Nation and
the safety of our people.

Sincerely, Barack Obama.

President Donald Trump is equally like Obama. They both see one
side of the coin and ignore the other side. They see only the Islamic State,
ISIS as a terrorist group but they do not see the other groups that they
created, like the sectarian militias that are equal to ISIS or worse. To draw
the attention of Trump I sent him the following message.

President Donald Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20500

I am a US citizen and Vietnam era veteran, I am American by choice
and proud of it. My children were born here in the land of opportunity
and achieved the American dream.

I ask you, Mr. President, to revoke all the wrongs that your predeces-
sors have done to Iraq and its people. As you knew and proclaimed, there
was no terrorism before the occupation, Iraq was enjoying peace and
progress until it was destroyed and handed to Iran. I urge you, Mr. Presi-
dent, to help the Iraqis to restore a secular government and get rid of the
criminal sectarian one, and to get rid of the militias supported by Iran
that are equal or worse than ISIS.

118 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

We hope that you will seek justice for the Iraqi people and treat the
leaders of the sectarian militias as war criminals. There are many Iraqis
with tremendous experience in administering the state who are capable of
restoring peace and progress to Iraq that we must help and trust.
Respectfully Yours
Ibrahim Ebeid
4011 N. Francisco Ave # 110
Chicago Il 60618

(A few days later, the city of Mosul was attacked and the bombs of the
coalition killed more than 200 innocent civilians. The city of Mosul is
annihilated similarly to what happened to Fallujah, Anbar and Ramadi.
The struggle will continue until victory and liberation are achieved, I will
not be there, but I see it on the horizon.)

The complete destruction of Mosul by alliance forces

119

MORE FAMILY AND FRIENDS

My maternal grandfather

The four brothers, Ibrahim, Elias,
Michel and George

Family gathering in California 2013

119

120 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

Family gathering in Massachusetts Ibrahim, Maria, Yazid and Carolina in
West New York, New Jersey 1978

George and family in Springfield, Nidal, Ibrahim, Carolina, Anthony,
Massachusetts early 1960s Mariam, Jason and Jeff 2012

Cousins in Ohio Patrick, Katerina,Yassmine, Ibrahim,
Maria and Carolina in Chicago 2018

Elias and gang

MORE FAMILY AND FRIENDS 121

Maria, Father Jim and me The Ebeid and the Pthybrdge Family

Grandparents and grandchildren Patrick

Maria and Peggy 1966 Left to right: Maria, Carolina
Palomares (Maria’s mother) and
Mariana Aranda family friend)

122 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE

Left to right Michel, Ibrahim, Maria and Nidal at Provinncetown June 2018
Family gathering Cape Cod, Massachusetts 2018

123

124 MY ROOTS ARE DEEP IN PALESTINE