Fp why do they hate us

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said recently. They want to control women. Attempts to control by such regimes often stem from the suspicion that without it, a woman is just a few degrees short of sexual insatiability. Observe Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the popular cleric and longtime conservative TV host on Al Jazeera who developed a stunning penchant for the Arab Spring revolutions — once they were under way, that is — undoubtedly understanding that they would eliminate the tyrants who long tormented and oppressed both him and the Muslim Brotherhood movement from which he springs.

Qaradawi has since issued a fatwa against female genital mutilation, but it comes as no surprise that when Egypt banned the practice in , some Muslim Brotherhood legislators opposed the law. And some still do — including a prominent female parliamentarian, Azza al-Garf. Cairo has a women-only subway car to protect us from wandering hands and worse; countless Saudi malls are for families only, barring single men from entry unless they produce a requisite female to accompany them.

Yet we never hear how a later marriage age affects women. Do women have sex drives or not? Apparently, the Arab jury is still out on the basics of human biology. Enter that call to prayer and the sublimation through religion that Rifaat so brilliantly introduces in her story. Just as regime-appointed clerics lull the poor across the region with promises of justice — and nubile virgins — in the next world rather than a reckoning with the corruption and nepotism of the dictator in this life, so women are silenced by a deadly combination of men who hate them while also claiming to have God firmly on their side.

Then — the s and s — as now, clerics on Saudi TV were obsessed with women and their orifices, especially what came out of them. I wondered. How much does Saudi Arabia hate women? And nothing happened. No one was put on trial. Parents were silenced. This, however, is no mere Saudi phenomenon, no hateful curiosity in the rich, isolated desert. The Islamist hatred of women burns brightly across the region — now more than ever.

After it cleared Tahrir Square of protesters, the military detained dozens of male and female activists. Tyrants oppress, beat, and torture all. We know. The doctor was sued and eventually acquitted in March. What hope can there be for women in the new Egyptian parliament, dominated as it is by men stuck in the seventh century?

A quarter of those parliamentary seats are now held by Salafis, who believe that mimicking the original ways of the Prophet Mohammed is an appropriate prescription for modern life. Women are not to be seen or heard — even their voices are a temptation — so there they are in the Egyptian parliament, covered from head to toe in black and never uttering a word.

The Muslim Brotherhood, with almost half the total seats in our new revolutionary parliament, does not believe women or Christians for that matter can be president. The hatred of women goes deep in Egyptian society. Those of us who have marched and protested have had to navigate a minefield of sexual assaults by both the regime and its lackeys, and, sadly, at times by our fellow revolutionaries.

On the November day I was sexually assaulted on Mohamed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square, by at least four Egyptian riot police, I was first groped by a man in the square itself.

According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, between and , the United States conducted military exercises in 41 countries and counterterrorism training in 79 countries. From an emotional point of view, Sabra and Chatila are the Pearl Harbor of the movement for Palestinian independence. In September , Israeli troops surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in southern Lebanon and stood by while Christian militiamen, over a three-day period, massacred at least people, including women, children and the elderly.

Foreign journalists, including Americans, who entered the camps as soon as the killing was finished, were sickened by what they saw. Unfortunately, the Israeli defense minister who approved the action was none other than Ariel Sharon, who is now the prime minister of Israel.

One might wonder why an act committed by Lebanese and overseen by Israelis would arouse hatred against the United States, particularly as the US government officially condemned the massacres. The reason is simple.

As the rest of the world well knows, Israel could not survive without US aid. Those Muslims who hate us do so not just because of Sabra and Chatila, but because they blame us for every outrage and brutal act committed by the Israeli government.

I happen to be both American and Jewish. I am glad that the United States supports Israel. But that does not mean that I feel compelled to agree with the actions of either the government of the United States or the government of Israel. Remember what President Bush said in his speech to Congress?

The F, used in the same conflict, was made by General Dynamics. The gravity bombs used in Gaza? General Dynamics again. The GBU bomb guidance kits used in Gaza? That would be Boeing. For most Americans, their reaction is So what and Who cares. Israel is justified in attacking Hamas.

If civilians die too, too bad. Actually, the majority of Gazans are not supporters of Hamas. But for the victims of these U. To us, Kuwait was a defenseless maiden who was raped and brutalized by a vicious thug. The US, like a knight in shining armor, went in, rescued the maiden and chased away the vicious thug. But the Muslim world saw it differently. To them, Kuwait was a spoiled and arrogant rich kid, who did nothing to earn his wealth and who, nonetheless, treated his poorer cousins like dirt.

They view US military action in the Gulf War not as a brave and noble action, but as an act of hypocrisy. But because he fought against a superpower, a non-Muslim superpower, he was transformed into something of a hero in parts of the Islamic world, particularly in its farther reaches.

If young soldiers are going to lose their lives, Americans want to believe that it is for a noble cause — that these ultimate sacrifices are being made to defend ideals in which we believe. In Kuwait, Americans were dying to defend a nation in which no elections were held, no legislature existed, and women were not even allowed to drive.

Of all the beleaguered peoples in the world, the United States chose the Kuwaitis to defend. Of course the US has a long, long history of supporting repressive and despicable dictators all over the world, not just in the Middle East.

If we need these dictators for geopolitical or economic reasons, then we are more than willing to overlook human rights violations. This policy may benefit our short-term best interests, but the people who live under the oppressive rule of these US-supported dictatorships see it differently.

It is only natural that some of them might hold it against the United States. And, unfortunately, it is not surprising that some of them want to seek revenge. Our hatred for the government that replaced him even led the US to cozy up to Saddam Hussein. One of the Islamic dictatorships that the US passionately supports is the one that rules Saudi Arabia. It would appear that it is this unholy alliance that inspired Osama bin Laden to intensify his terrorist campaigns.

In organizing a coalition to fight the Taliban, the United States is again ignoring human rights considerations. Pakistan is ruled by a military dictatorship. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the least open regimes in the world. At the moment, our friendships with these governments seem to be necessary compromises with our ideals, but in the long-run they could backfire just like our earlier support for Saddam Hussein and for the Taliban.

Update: Americans like to think that we support ending dictatorships and replacing them with freedom and democracy. But this righteousness has been selective. George W. Yet it is still the case that the United States invaded a country that had not attacked us, dismantled its regime, and took hardly any precautions to prevent the predictable outbreak of violence. Having uncapped the volcano, we are hardly blameless, and that goes for pundits like Friedman who enthusiastically endorsed the original invasion.

Third, the fact that people died as a result of certain U. Nor do I think it was wrong to try to catch Bin Laden — even though people died in the attempt — and I would support similar efforts to capture him today even if it placed more people at risk.

In other words, a full assessment of U. Even if we view these figures with skepticism and discount the numbers a lot, the fact remains that the United States has killed a very large number of Arab or Muslim individuals over the past three decades.

Even though we had just cause and the right intentions in some cases as in the first Gulf War , our actions were indefensible maybe even criminal in others.

It is also striking to observe that virtually all of the Muslim deaths were the direct or indirect consequence of official U. By contrast, most of the Americans killed by Muslims were the victims of non-state terrorist groups such as al Qaeda or the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans should also bear in mind that the figures reported above omit the Arabs and Muslims killed by Israel in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank.

To say that in no way justifies anti-American terrorism or absolves other societies of responsibility for their own mistakes or misdeeds. Because whitewashing our own misconduct makes it harder for Americans to figure out why their country is so unpopular and makes us less likely to consider different and more effective approaches. After all, how did we react after September 11? Stephen M. Foreign Policy, Military, Iran.