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The following is a letter from a pilot. This well-spoken man, who is a
pilot with American Airlines, says what is in his heart, beautifully.
YOU WORRY ME!
By Captain John Maniscalco,
American Airlines Pilot
I've been trying to say this since 911, but you worry me. I wish you
didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love,
that your color and
culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this
country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it
worries me.
I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands,
professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and
our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their
grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of
their attacks.
On September 11, ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in
my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and
brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and
crashed them into buildings, killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons,
wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless
public servants, and children's mothers.
The Palestinians celebrated,
the Iraqis were
overjoyed as was most of the Arab world. So, I notice you now. I
don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage, hate and
prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your
help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in
an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between
you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.
How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the
Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools,
enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR
constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter MORE of the
same good neighbors and
children?
The events of September 11 changed the answer... It is not MY responsibility to
determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions,
with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for
every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me.
I want to know, I DEMAND to know and I have a right to know, whether or not you
love America ..... Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly
display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your
many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation; that He will protect it
and let it prosper? Or do you pray that Allah will destroy it in one of
your Jihads?
Are you thankful for the freedom that this nation affords? A freedom that
was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their
lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also
paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America?? If this is your
commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it
Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time
with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions YOU are taking as a
community and as a religion to protect the United States of America.
Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent,
because I worry about who you regard as innocent.... No more benign overtures of
condemnation for the unprovoked attacks,
because I worry about what is unprovoked to
you. I am not interested in any more sympathy; I am interested only in
action. What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of
crisis, at this time of war?
I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want
to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless America'. I want to see young
Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of
money, time and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as
a whole.
The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC
attack. Many of these people live and socialize right
now in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are.
Hand them over to us, NOW! But I have seen little even approaching this
sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive
community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets.
You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have
threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.
The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were
defensive and equivocating.
They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who
was responsible before taking action. They seemed more concerned with
protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the
United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and
denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan,
and Arafat.
IF the true teachings of Islam proclaim
tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from
the Koran and
statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if
the teachings in the Koran are
good, pure, and true, when your 'leaders' ARE teaching fanatical interpretations,
terrorism, and intolerance? It matters little how good Islam SHOULD
BE if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly
and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been
demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built
upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members
are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members
(some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out,
year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of
our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air.
A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms
against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A
form whose rules are so twisted, that theirtraveling members
refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.
We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter,
to take away that which is so precious to us -- our rights under the greatest
constitution in the world. I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this
country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of
this country to DEMAND it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of
my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is
protecting you and your family.
I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor,
my friend, as a fellow American...... But there can be no gray areas or
ambivalence regarding your allegiance, and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where
YOU stand. Until then,
YOU WORRY ME!