All Apologies

I found out about Al-Sharif’s murder on Saturday. He died on Thursday, after I posted this post and left for my vacation, and the whole world was talking about the London Bombings instead. I was watching Euronews where I was and somehow the story of his murder was never put on, instead it was all about the state of panic Europe was experiencing and the after-effects of the bombs. Nothing about the Ambassador. And then I get told about it on Saturday, in the passing, like it’s no big news. I turn on the Egyptian television and I see it there. I see the people condemning his murder yet blaming our government, and saying that we shouldn’t judge the Iraqi resistance because of it. And then I see his daughter in a TV Interview talking about how when her and her father lived in Israel for 4 years “amongst the Jews” nothing ever happened to them, yet when her father goes to an Arab Islamic country, he gets murdered. I saw the whole thing, and it depressed the shit out of me, especially after what I wrote. You know, deep inside of me, I was hoping that they wouldn’t kill him. Call it my inner pan-arabist, but I was hoping they would prove me and the rest of the world wrong. I was hoping that maybe those “Resistance” guys were really not very keen on being occupied, that maybe they are not as blood thirsty as they appear to be in the media, but rather just super-nationalistic or something and wouldn’t hurt a fellow Arab/muslim. But nope, no dice. Reality, once again, refused to be cheated. They killed the man, in cold blood, for no reason but for doing a job assigned to him by his government. But really, what did I expect? That the same people who have no problems slaughtering their own, would suddenly find it immoral to kill this man? That the Iraqi resistance was really noble at its core? God damn it, I know better. Everyone knows better. I guess for a few days I really wished that my outlook on the situation to be wrong and that people like Riverbend had it right , just so I can stop feeling so angry at what we have become. Childish hopes, and like any childish hope, they got destroyed when they landed on the hard rock of reality. Anyway… People are now running along blaming the government for his death: saying stuff like that they didn’t provide enough protection for him or something , or that we as Egyptian shouldn’t have sent an ambassador in the first place, since we as arabs should stand against the “occupation”. Islamist and Apologist MP Mohamed Abdel Qudos went and blamed the US adminstration alonsgide the Egyptian government for Al Sharief's murder, saying that what happend is a "reaction to their activities in Iraq", but naturally blamed the egyptian government for sending him as well. They forgot the most important reason why they should blame the government: The government would not pay Al Sharif’s ransom and they had one for him. My Father was talking to this higher-up guy in the Egyptian state department who told him that and when my dad asked him if the government will pay money to free A-Sharief , the guy told him that they won’t pay a single penny; Not because we refuse to negotiate with terrorists, but because our government doesn’t value the lives of its citizens at all, even those diplomatically representing it. Just not a priority to them. What? Pay them 100,000 dollars for one easily replaced egyptian, while the Secretary of State needs a newer Mercedes for his convoy? Get Real! And then you have the other reactions: Like the Mufti who said that murdering Al Sharif is a graver sin to god than destroying the Kaaba ( you know, that black building muslims do the Haj to?) as far as God was concerned. Hey, Mufti, I got a billion muslims who would probably disagree with you, but then again , ever since you came out with your Fatwa that “ political demonstration is a sin”I am not sure anyone really takes you seriously anymore. Or You have Dr. Zaghloul El Nagar, who is blaming the Mossad for Al Sharif’s murder and every other kidnapping and murder that happens in Iraq. His argument goes something like this : “It’s impossible for the Kidnappers and the Killers to be muslim, since kidnapping and killing is against Islamic principles. Therefore, It must the be the Jews!”. I wish I was kidding, or that I could really laugh at how stupid this guy is, but I can’t, because he is taken seriously by many people. It’s so simple: Just blame the Jews for it! The A.P.U. in action ladies and gentlemen. So I guess what depresses me more than his death, is that his death served no purpose. The Egyptian government will send a new envoy, the people in Egypt will continue seeing those people as “Heros”, because, after all, they are “beating the Americans”, and the thugs there will continue kidnapping people and killing them if their government won’t pay up (Kidnapping is the closest thing Iraq has to a growth industry these days). The song remains the same, nothing changes, this man got killed for no reason and almost nobody cares. I can only hope that the US and the Iraqi armies find and kill those bastards, because I no longer have any faith in our government or security apparatuses or intelligence agencies’ abilities to secure anyone, save their own people or do anything to bring their killers to Justice. Their death probably won’t bring him back, or make up for the loss his family now suffers, but it will be Justice. As morbid as it may sound, it would bring a smile to my face. I can also only hope that if any of his family or friends read those posts they would forgive me. It was wrong of me to wish it, even if it was to demonstrate a point or even if it would’ve woken our people up to the truth. We can not justify someone’s death with the political gain it would’ve created, as one person in my comments section said. That’s the terrorists way. That’s what the terrorists do. We shouldn’t stoop to their level. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to stoop to their level, even if it was done in Jest. So Al-Sharif Family: I am truly truly sorry and I hope you would forgive me. I am sorry for saying what I’ve said. I am sorry that he had to died on the hands of those murderers for no reason but for doing his job. I am sorry that the people who did it are arabs and muslims just like him and you and that they did it “in the name of Islam”. I am sorry that he was safer in Israel then he was in an Arab muslim country. I am sorry that our government didn’t do anything and forsake him the way it did. And I am sorry that the Egyptian people aren’t more enraged by this; I have no idea what happened to them to turn them this way, but I am sorry for it as well.