"

"I remember George Washington said in his second farewell address that he hoped to say something that would be treated as from a departing old friend with nothing biased or attached to special interests. Maybe the best way to learn about Middle East is to step out of the environment and propaganda of the US.

I don't proclaim I know, and I am not even a member of this nation of world leaders. So I don't have the responsibility to learn what would be right about Iraq. From my limited contact with people from Middle East, all I knew was that area was an area of serious confusions. If American wanted to spread American style democracy, they would have better chance starting somewhere closer to home.

In the time I worked with 20 developers with 11 nationalities, I have worked with only one Java programmer from Iraq who is forever waiting for his Canadian citizenship in Vancouver, BC. He is quite a fierce looking dude, young, athletic and with his favorite sport being Karate. His first and last names are both "Ahmad", which he said meant "Praise the God". He joked that every time we call his name, we were saying "praise the God" not only once, but twice. I suppose anybody with such a profile would have 10 times more difficulties than a Chinese crossing any border in Europe or North America these days. He said one of the funnies question answer session would be: "what's your name"? "Ahmad"; "What's your last name"? "Ahmad"; "Do you understand English? I am asking your last name".

He is an average developer with no outstanding performances or unbearable mistakes in a software development team. When asked by co-workers at lunch time, whether he is a "Shiite or Sunny" he replied "Well, that question again. Actually, before I left Iraq, I never knew there was that big of a difference. Yes, I am a Sunny, but living in a mixed area in Baghdad".

His co-workers will also occasionally ask him "what do you think of Saddam Hussein"? His reply would be that Saddam was a mystery to the Iraqi people and to the rest of the world. Nobody knows his agenda. He was supported by U.S. to gain power, for which irritated the Iraqi people. Then he irritated the Iraqi people again by invading Kuwait and more importantly causing the trade embargo. Before the UN imposed embargo, Iraq was a country with relatively higher standard of living than most Asian countries. Afterwards, Iraq became one of the poorest countries in Western Asia. In summary, through Ahmad's generation, Iraqis had two sources of irritations: Saddam and the US.

It's definitely not a scientific survey of popular opinions, but on the other hand, it revealed a scary fact. Such opinion could be so easily found in such an irresponsible and casual environment, it's scary to think American media couldn't find it. If reporters want to ask me where to learn about true opinions from people in the Middle East, I would only suggest them to talk to some taxi drivers. I learned from two more taxi drivers to confirm what Ahmad told me and I felt I wouldn't want to vote to start a war in Iraq whether being a world leader or not.

When hearing American media spent significant coverage convincing the public that their soldiers would be welcomed in Baghdad like they were welcomed in Europe after World War II, I wondered whether voters, senators, reporters got chances to talk to taxi drivers in big American cities or big European cities. Well, voters and senators drive their own cars and that was understandable. But for reporters to be more out of touch than a computer geek like me, that was very disappointing.

Speaking of the media, this open and "believed-to-be" objective media is not so objective if you simply step outside of the United States once in a while. The Abu Ghraib Scandal came to light in almost April of 2004. But in the summer of 2003, I saw published in a Swedish newspaper, pictures of naked Iraqis males standing in the streets of Baghdad, handcuffed, with "Coalition" soldiers standing behind them.

I walked into a pub in downtown Stockholm, and a black man with African accent stopped me and asked 'Are you from America'? I answered 'Well, I am from North America, but from Canada'. Since Canada did not register with him immediately and he probably though I was from Idaho or Montana, he started questioning me angrily 'if somebody committed crimes, you put them in cuffs, is there any need to take off his cloths and make him stood naked in the streets?' Then he unfolded the newspaper in his hand, and there it was: "Coalition" soldiers holding their guns standing along with hand-cuffed naked man.

I had my beer and thought it funny that when I left, he finally registered that country where I came from with large land mass but tiny population. He came to me again and said: 'I really admire your Canadian prime minister. He stood up to the United States and said 'No' to the invasion of Iraq'. I bet he didn't know the name of the Canadian Prime Minister at the time. If you take a survey at a global scale, overwhelmingly majority of the people in this outside of Canada, who even can always respond to the country name "Canada" at the first mentioning of it, usually can not name the Canadian prime minister. It's very difficult for people to remember leaders of other countries. But almost every American knows Saddam Hussein these days and felt the guy was threatening each American citizen personally -- what a brainwash.

. . .
"

It was a long conversation between David and Bud that happened on and off during the Greater Houston and Downtown heavy traffics morning hours from a suburb called Pearland to somewhere on Main Street.