Young Americans and Egyptians talk, but don't see eye to eye

From jihad to occupation – East and West define the basic terms of the Middle East debate differently.

from the May 9, 2007 edition

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At this gathering, almost of all of the participants agreed that the use of force would be warranted for a just cause, but they differed on what that just cause would be.

It reminded me of a party in Iraq a few years ago that was held by members of a private security company, most of whom used to belong to elite US military units.

The topic of gun control came up in conversation. One of the security contractors had been helping to secure convoys of supplies running through the sniper allies around US bases. Almost every day he ran a gauntlet of peril – potshots from unseen enemies and the strain of wondering if every dead cat on the side of the road was hiding a bomb.

He defended the right to bear arms in the US and said that if America was invaded and the government capitulated, his personal weapons would be put to use in the service of liberty.

"I'd fight until I was killed, then my wife would fight until she was killed, and, then, I hope my son would pick up his rifle and fight too,'' he said. "That's what it means to be a patriot."

That's not too different an attitude from the men trying to kill him, I suggested. He looked at me as if I was crazy. "They're not fighting for anything. They're just terrorists."

I told this story to some Egyptian students during a break at the conference. They had been venting their frustration over the cultural gulf on display at the gathering. "Exactly," said one. "There's no common ground there at all; He doesn't understand they're fighting for their homeland."

Many of the problems were predictable. Fadel Soliman, a Koran scholar, started out by condemning the 9/11 attacks and calling them un-Islamic. But he had some of his US audience up in arms when he said jihad was obligatory for all Muslims, and said specifically that fighting and killing American soldiers in Iraq is required.

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