Today, I respect arabs more than Americans.

[Against ME]

After hearing about the ridiculous amount of money a man got for giving up Uday and Qusay, I saw something that I would not see in our culture, people not selling out for money. After they reported about the 30 million dollars, they took to the street, and asked people about the other 25 being offered for Sadam. Many Arabs were quoted as saying, that "we" don't work that way, we don't do that kind of thing. Some thing cannot be bought with money one of them said.

It would be impossible to find one American to say this, let alone several in a given amount of time.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Against ME]

2. Give me a break,

cultural standards are cultural standards.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[whoYaCallinAlib]

13. I also lived in the Middle East . . . Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

No doubt, the people there would be just as quick to turn in a fugitive for money as we would do in our country. Maybe even more.

[Against ME]

16. I would disagree with you,

for I have also visited the middle east, and my brother-in-law lived their for 4 years.
And I would say that their culture is quite a bit different when it comes to things like this. And granted some would still sell out, but the plurality would not. Call it a generalization if you want, call it painting with a broad brush, but it is how it is.

[leftyandproud]

15. I think

they are still scared sh!tless that Saddam will come back

[KFC]

3. What about the Republican Guard briberies?

That facilitated our "cakewalk" into Baghdad. Couldn't be - bribery has no place in middle eastern culture.

[Lengsel]

4. sorry

every man has a price. if you actually believe that people from other cultures won't "sell out" then you haven't seen too much of the world.

[kcordell]

5. Twenty Five Million?

I'd turn the scum bag in for nothing.

[Yupster]

7. If I knew where a mass murderer was hiding

I'd turn him in and be happy to take the money too.

Whatever cultural defects that shows in me, so be it.

[Imajika]

8. Your kidding yourself...

"Many Arabs were quoted as saying, that 'we' don't work that way, we don't do that kind of thing. Some thing cannot be bought with money one of them said."

Hilarious. This has got to be one of the most naive posts I have ever read on this forum.

The entire region works on bribery, graft, corruption and selling out others for money. Infact, one of the primary ways Saddam was able to protect his regime was by doling out favors and money to buy people and tribes off, allowing him to pit the population against one another.

"Some thing cannot be bought with money one of them said."

Yeah, whatever. One of them said that? Big deal. That very one could well have been on the take from somebody.

"It would be impossible to find one American to say this, let alone several in a given amount of time."

Are you joking? How about the Arab Americans living right here in the USA? Would they sell out for money because they live in the States? Or are Arabs better people when they live in that part of the world?

"I saw something that I would not see in our culture, people not selling out for money."

Oh come on. Ofcourse people who are protesting or are otherwise unhappy with the US would say that. Very few people under any circumstances would go on TV and tell a journalists that they WOULD sell out for money.

Let me tell you, the average Iraqi is just as likely to "sell out" for money as nearly anyone else in the world.

Imajika

[Against ME]

18. No, you are the nieve one,

if you think every culture is as money motivated as ours. And any bribary done by Sadam, was done with other leaders, and important men, not to mention the mortal danger they would be in if they refused.

I think you would be suprised of how arab americans would act in such a situation. Atleast the one's that have not adopted the cultural standards of Americans.

And I think you misunderstood, the point was not if they would give Sadam up or not, but rather if they would give Sadam up for money. But yeah, if they are not willing to give Sadam up, then money will not change their mind.

Point of clearification, I have visited the region, and a family member lived their for 4 years, and the dispostition I described above was consistent with what he believed, and my experiences when I was over there.

[ForrestGump]

9. 'Baksheesh' means 'bribe'

'Baksheesh' is a Persian word. Persia is Iran. Iran is in the Middle East. Iran is next door to Iraq.

Thank you very much.

[roughsatori]

10. You only need to do a smidgen of research

to discover the utter falseness of your post. You may not be aware that all Iraqis are not Arab or Muslim. You could just google the history of The Ottoman Empire, or the Middle-East to discover they too have a long history of bribery involved with political and social life.

[Booberdawg]

11. Bull roar!

The Hussein Boys were tyrants and would have been sold out in a heartbeat by any one of millions of the poor shcmucks they terrorized and oppressed over the years.

Here's your one American that would not sell out - as much as I despise the village idiot that currently occupies the White House, I wouldn't sell him out to an invading nation for ransom.

Linda

[Against ME]

19. Giving up Sadam is not selling out if you hate him, and want him gone.

You misunderstood the meaning of selling out. Selling out is not doing something that you want to do, but it is doing something for money, when you wouldn't do it without the money, or if you were going to do it anyway.

I am American, I would give Bush up in a second, he does not represent me, and giving him up would not be selling out, but accepting the money would be. And I would accept the money.

[jiacinto]

12. How dare you insult America?

That's all I have to say.

[thebigidea]

20. good slogan... mind if I borrow it?

VOICEOVER: “Time for the game show that’s got everyone going gaga – with uncontrollable fear… yes, time to play HOW DARE YOU INSULT AMERICA?”

CONTESTANT: “I can’t wait to try my patience, and my patriotism…”

ANOTHER CONTESTANT: “For big money!”

HOST: “Don’t forget all the…”

ALL: “SHAMEFUL PRIZES!”

HOST: “And here’s our special celebrity guest Sean Hannity to…”

CROWD: “Ask the burning questions!”

HANNITY: “America… it loves you even when you sell your freedom to another, or let an immigrant get away with smiling. America… it gives me a reason to get up in the morning, to make someone that looks different have trouble breathing.”

ALL: “God Bless America!”

HOST: “Sean, great to see you again… say, are you ready to…”

CROWD: “ASK THE BURNING QUESTIONS!”

HANNITY: “Boy, am I ever. Let me put it this way… how dare you insult America?”

CROWD: "HOW DARE YOU INSULT AMERICA?"

flags keep popping up over the screen until its far too patriotic to see. Fade out.

[robbedvoter]

14. Uh, the man who sold his two cousins was American then?

Damn, I didn't know the Saddams were Americans!

[Tinoire]

17. I've read several stories of their pride and refusal to sell out

Seems to be the same thing with the Afghans and the Palestinians- a refusal of the majority to sell out to occupiers.

Well Georgie, you thought you knew it all, didn't you?


Two hours before the dawn call to prayer, in a village still shrouded in silence, Sabah Kerbul's executioners arrived. His father carried an AK-47 assault rifle, as did his brother. And with barely a word spoken, they led the man accused by the village of working as an informer for the Americans behind a house girded with fig trees, vineyards and orange groves.

His father raised his rifle and aimed it at his oldest son.

"Sabah didn't try to escape," said Abdullah Ali, a village resident. "He knew he was facing his fate."

The story of what followed is based on interviews with Kerbul's father, brother and five other villagers who said witnesses told them about the events. One shot tore through Kerbul's leg, another his torso, the villagers said. He fell to the ground still breathing, his blood soaking the parched dust near the banks of the Tigris River, they said. His father could go no further, and according to some accounts, he collapsed. His other son then fired three times, the villagers said, at least once at his brother's head.

Kerbul, a tall, husky 28-year-old, died.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=46167&mesg_id=46167

----------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Chicken Giveaway Doesn't Fly in Fallouja

FALLOUJA, Iraq — Sgt. Jason McGinn's Humvee convoy pulled up in front of the Saud ibn abi Wakas mosque with a load of frozen chickens Monday.

The chickens, rapidly defrosting in the midday sun, were meant for the needy families of Fallouja. McGinn's psychological operations unit was making the delivery as part of its efforts to win over clerics and civilians alike in this city west of Baghdad that has been a center of Sunni Muslim resistance to the U.S. military occupation.
<snip>

"We would rather eat rocks than eat chickens from Americans," he spat out. "Even the poorest person in Fallouja doesn't want chickens from you."

McGinn's unit was brusquely turned away at three of the four mosques it visited. The brushoff was yet another reminder for U.S. soldiers that hostility to the occupation runs deep in many quarters, and that it will take a lot more than frozen chickens to pacify Iraq.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-chickenrun15jul15235621,0,4455001.story

[maine_raptor]

21. Human Nature, pure and simple

Some will "give someone up" for 30 million, some for $50. Doesn't make a difference where that person lives, because the decision to do so is made with the head and the heart, not the soil or the culture.

[Against ME]

22. Ha

hahahahahahahahahaha

[Fescue4u]

23. Uh...wasnt it an arab

Who turned in Qusay and Hoday?

While not all Arabs would turn in Saddam, not all wouldnt either.

You also have to remember, that these have been people trained (at the point of a sword) to say the "right thing" in front of a camera, regard of how they really feel.

[tom_paine]

24. This is one pathetic thread

I could reiterate the numerous good points already made, from "baksheesh" to the guy who turned in Uday and Qusay (if that isn't more Free-Market Stalinist bullshit, that is)...but I won't.

Those posts speak for themselves and make the points well enough.

Plus, you never noticed how people put on a different face for the cameras, and an even MORE different face for the Foreign Press?

Of course, it simply isn't possible for people to say one thing to make themselves look or feel good that they would never consider doing if the actual situation arose.

:puke: :puke: :puke:

I have to say that something smells. Could be fish, could be cholostomy bag, could be troll.

Could be Teen Spirit for all I know...