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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Carl Yeh
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HBSBNffiMHHHNHHMHI
Muslim student shares perspective on Saddam, Eugene
Columnist Hannah Dillon
interviews Waleed Al-Aghhari
for a view from the place she
once taught in
I sought out Waleed Al-Aghbari, presi
dent of the Muslim Student Associa
tion, not to talk with him about the
controversy over whether or not the
ASUO should give money to the group,
though it did edge its way into our conver
sation toward the end. Instead, I wanted to
find out his thoughts on Saddam Hussein
and how it is for him as an Arab here as we
seemed to be unwilling to stop the thrust
toward bombing Iraq despite the outcome
of Kofi Anan’s llth-hour negotiations.
Waleed is a senior in economics. He is
thinking about getting an MBA, coming
from a business family. He is one of 40
Arab students on this campus. The others
hail from Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia.
Hannah
Dillon
About being here,
Waleed said he could
have studied back home
in Yemen, but school is
more advanced in the
United States as we have
the latest methods, books
and technology. Also, he
was looking for a chal
lenge. He wanted to learn
about other cultures, get
new ideas, meet new
people, see how others
miiiK anu ueiiave, wmcn wouia serve nim
well in business.
He has made friends with people from
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other
Arab countries. “I’ve learned so much
from my friendships both in and outside
of school," he said. His English is impres
sive, especially for having studied it for
what I think is a short time. When I tell
him so, he shrugs and claims it should be
better for what he thinks is a long time of
study.
Waleed finds Eugene to be a nice place
to be and to go to school. "I feel free to go
out and talk with people, meet people and
form new friendships.” I ask him if he’s
ever felt discriminated against. He is
diplomatic and tells me that he feels
Americans are friendlier than Europeans. I
instinctively nod while he considers my
question further, and then he replies, “The
government and media immediately
thought that the Oklahoma bombing had
been done by an Arab group. But the [gov
ernment and media] are different from the
people. The people are still human beings.
But if I go to a grocery store and I feel that a
person is discriminating against me, I
won’t give them my money. I’ll go to an
other store. It’s just like that If someplace
is not good, you learn that there are plenty
of other places that are.”
About Saddam: “He is a dic
« tator and is being
stubborn
their suffering and dying. Saddam’s power
satisfies him. He’s living in a paradise for
himself.”
Waleed emphasized the fact that he, the
Iraqis, Kuwaitis, etc., are all Arabs. They
have the same history, ancestors, language
and share so much in common. They are
one people, which is
why it is so hard
for him to fl
pie dying ot
hunger and
diseases? He’s
not human at all; he
doesn’t have any feelings.
If he really cared about his people,
he’d resign and make them and other na
tions happy. He has enough food and
medical care, but the common people suf
fer. The embargo doesn’t do anything.
What’s the point of making an embargo?
The head of the people doesn’t care about
ijg''-'think
| M about the
}ja possibility
YW of bombing
tm Iraq and
W people,
f caught in the
middle, dying.
When I asked
rjffr how the Persian
Gulf War had affect
* ed his country, he
looked puzzled. “Oh,
you mean Desert Storm?” It
created a big misunderstanding
and division among Arabs. Because
Yemen didn’t take a strong enough stand
against Saddam, they were accused of
standing with him. As a consequence, 2
million Yemenis were expelled from resi
dency in other Gulf countries. To this day,
Yemen is still dealing with the economic
fallout of suddenly having to accommo
date more people returning to it than the
number of its inhabitants.
I asked why he thought Saddam was so
intractable. It seemed to mystify him, too.
He reminded me that Saddam had had his
own uncle, cousin and nephew killed be
cause he was suspicious of their loyalty to
him. “I’ve never been married, so I don’t
have children, but I have a nephew here
who is like my own son. I could never kill
him. That shows you the mentality of Sad
dam Hussein.”
Why then, I asked, hadn’t his own peo
ple tried to get rid of him if he’s so bad?
"They have,” Waleed emphasized. “Of
course there are people around him who
would like to see him dead, but they fear
him to such a degree that they can’t do any
thing toward him.” Waleed knows of at
least two attempts within to kill Saddam,
but he got information about it and “slaugh
tered the guys who were having the plan.” I
asked him if he thought the United States
should kill Saddam. “You can’t kill Sad
dam Hussein,” he pronounced, shaking his
head.
One of the underlying reasons I wanted
to talk with a student about Saddam was
because I spent a number of years teaching
English to Arab students on their way to
college, and I just wanted to chat. I miss
those students now and again and am still
delightfully amused remembering the fre
quent occasions for belly laughs and ac
companying tears we had in my classroom,
as well as the passionate debates about the
burning social and political issues of our
day. There were painful times then as well.
When the U.S. Marines were blown up in
Lebanon, I remember entering my class and
none of the students would make eye con
tact with me and were extraordinarily sub
dued. It was the time of the massacres in
the Sabra and Shatilla Palestinian refugee
camps and the makeup of my classroom
was a microcosm of the contending groups
and complex alliances of the Middle East.
I had the next best thing of being in my
homeland but spending my time with a
gamut of new and wonderful flavors of
fered by those from places I had never been
and might not ever get to. (There are those
of us who will always seek out "the other,”
but that’s another column). Suffice to say,
Waleed Al-Aghbari proved as friendly, hu
morous and heartfelt as I had the fortune to
come to know in another place, at another
time.
Hannah Dillon is a columnist for the Emer
ald. Her work appears on alternate Fridays.
Her views do not necessarily represent those
of the newspaper.
READERS’ VOICES
Is it time to switch to a semester system?
IMU, I lllINK ll S KlflU
of nice to be able to
change your classes
three times in a year
instead of twice a
year.”
Pat McCarthy
Computer and
information sciences
« 101 of aoroaa pro
grams have semes
ter systems. It’s hard
to transfer credits
because of it."
Karen Ikegami
Biology
rean, i ininK so. i
think the quarter sys
tem is too short, and
it doesn’t allow you
to get to know your
instructor or your
people in your class
es.”
Mike Thierfelder
Fine and applied arts
no, it s nice to nave
3 break; you get new
classes and a change
of scenery."
Amy Nickolisen
Pre-education
no, it gives you a
chance to learn more
things, get a wider
range of experi
ences. I like the
shorter terms.”
Dylan Byrnes
Environmental
Studies
No, actually, I like
the trimester system
because of the
breaks between each
term. I think 10
weeks is a good
length.”
Ryan Suvoy
Undeclared
No, I teach here,
and I think the stu
dents get just really,
really tired by the end
of the term. I think
the breaks between
terms are really im
portant for focus and
energy.”
Janine Sepulveda
Instructor
“No, I like the oppor
tunity of having more
classes and having
one more quarter.”
Matthew Myers
Graduate student