Last night, as every other night these days, I was up watching the "news" on TV. As a muslim in America, going through the aftershocks of the September 11th attacks, I find myself doing that a lot lately. After all, I did have to leave my job at a firm in the aftermath. My workload was steadily increased until I could not possibly keep up. And after I obviously failed to keep up, I was called away to the manager's office, and told I needed to improve my performance...or else. It's not the bigotry that upsets me. It's not the paranoia that upsets me. It's not the indifference that upsets me. What upsets me, is the fact that this same manager once sent me an email stating that if any of the customers, made any derogatory or bigoted remarks due to my background- I am a Pakistani-, that I was to notify her at once, and she would take action against it.

The sad thing about this is, the media stereotypes have replaced me. It has seeped into the collective American psyche, that I am not to be trusted. And it happens on a totally subconcious level. Americans don't even realize they are doing it. By that, I mean most Americans. The 84 percent that approve of George Walker Bush, and his actions. He would like me to believe that it's not a war against my Faith. And yet muslim charities are targetted. He would like me to believe it's against "terrorism". And yet, the JDL's assets are not seized as I write this.He would like me to believe that his war is "just". And yet the "evidence" against Usama Ladin shows up after three thousand of my Afghan brothers and sisters have been killed.

I am not against George W Bush. I believe I would be against be Al Gore as well. He would have used the pretext of September 11 the same way. I might be wrong. God knows best.

Getting back to the topic at hand, I saw a muslim cleric on TV, and he got hammered about whether HE believed the Usama bin Ladin tape. Whether it was genuine or not, and so on and so forth. People have been so manipulated by media, feelings, and horror, that they forget the real issue. The real issue is not whether it's genuine or not. The REAL issue is that guilt has to be proven BEFORE one takes action. Where has the evidence been shown prior to last night? "It's been shown to our allies" but the American public who "voted" for him, is either too stupid, or too untrustworthy. I will only pick on only one "ally" in this case. The Govt of Pakistan, vis-a-vis General Pervaiz Musharraf. Dictator or not, I have heard of him trying to implement some good things since the coup in Pakistan. Better than any of the "democratically elected" goverments since 1989. I digress. If Gen. Musharraf had not towed the Washington line, it would have been branded a "terrorist" state, and would have had to face the music. It needed no "evidence". The economy is in tatters since(and even before) the US sanctions which were placed after Pakistan blew the the so-called lid on it's Nuclear Weapons Programme. The Government of Pakistan is looking for the US' favor. It needs money. It needs legitamacy.It needs recogition. Former President Bill Clinton refused to be photographed with Gen. Musharraf once because he was not "democratically elected". Pakistan does an about face, and voila, the sanctions are gone

ANYWAYS, the problem with muslims is that, they either do not have a charismatic person, who can go on national television, and answer all these questions about the tape's "validity" and defend Islam. Or news broadcasts just happen to pick people who have beards, or who have an accent, or who are complete idiots when it comes to answering tough questions.

May God have Mercy on all of us.