Published on Friday, May 28, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
I Have Met the Enemy ...
by Patricia Kneisler

For the first time ever in my life, I had someone threaten to kill me
tonight. He was nearly apoplectic with rage, screaming curses, his finger
right in my face, his eyes slits of venom. Ex-Navy lifer, I gathered.
Probably in his late 50's. Beer belly. A person so devoid of humanity I was
stunned.

Good lord, you might ask. What on earth did you, a 52 year old professional
woman, do to provoke that?

All I did was exercise my duty as a very concerned citizen in what I thought
was America. I stood silently out on the sidewalk in my California town with
a sign in each hand. One sign showed a tally of the number of Iraqi civilian
dead from the Iraq Body Count website . the other the number of coalition
soldiers dead to date. This is my regular Thursday night gig, something I've
done every week for 14 months now.

In fact, it was early in the vigil . so early that my retired friend Tom and
I were the only ones there. That's when the car whipped over to the curb
directly in front of us and Mr. Ex-Navy got out and came around to confront
us.

"I want to tell you both something," he began belligerently .

To which Tom replied smoothly, "Oh, good . please do."

"I served in the Navy for 27 years. Served in Viet Nam. And it's f**cking
jerks like you who got a lot of good men KILLED over there!"

And that was just the warm up. He had plenty more where that came from.

Mind you, I'd heard of people like this . fellow Americans who firmly
believe things that reasonable, charitable and empathetic people simply
could not with any sense of decency believe. But in my sheltered existence,
I had never actually met one face to face, much less been on the receiving
end of one's wrath.

Well, I thought . I have my talking points ready. I know my arguments. We'll
just address one issue at a time here.

That's when I heard him thunder that old bromide, "Three thousand people
died in the World Trade Center!!"

Aha . I knew what to say to that. I showed him the sign with the dead Iraqi
civilians on it . those 11,000 some odd souls who have died because we
invaded their country. "But these people had nothing whatsoever to do with
the World . "

He made a dismissive gesture and said, "So what."

"Huh? We're talking 11,000 human beings here ."

"You don't get it, do you? You people really don't get it. These - people -
are - MUSLIMS!"

"So?"

"They are MUSLIMS! They want to kill us all. If they were over here now they
'd slit your throat and RAPE you!"

"Bull****," I said through tightening lips.

"MUSLIMS are the ENEMY," he spit.

"Bull****," I said again.

It went on. More of the same . a spewing forth of such ignorance and
delusion as I have ever heard. People like Tom and I were ruining this
country with our protest . ruining it. We were worse than filth. We ought to
be locked up.

The man took enough of a breath for Tom to get a word in edgewise. "What
about the Constitution?"

"**** the constitution! I WILL NOT LET YOU PEOPLE DESTROY MY COUNTRY! I WILL
NOT LET YOU!"

"No," I replied. "It is us who will not let YOU destroy our country. We -
will - not - let - you." Well, OK, I called him an asshole, too. Tom is my
witness. I thought of those 11,000 innocent dead Iraqis and I called him an
asshole.

As he finally stormed back around to the driver's side of his car, a
shouting match ensued (not on Tom's part . I'm afraid he was the only adult
in the group). And then came the parting shot:

"Bush will win in a LANDSLIDE. And if he doesn't, WE know where to find you.
WE can take care of you. WE can make sure you don't EVER **** with this
country again."

Yes, people say that to one another these days in . where was it that I
thought I lived? America? The land of Thomas Jefferson? Of mom and apple
pie? Of noble, lofty principles? Of goodness, sweetness and light?

That's when I thought of Abu Ghuraib. In fact, the pictures seemed to flash
like a slide show through my brain, one after another. Grinning, leering
Americans torturing human beings stripped of every shred of their humanity
in the eyes of their torturers.

And I understood. Mr. Ex-Navy would have fit right in.

I met the dark underbelly of America tonight. I really did meet the enemy.
And he really is



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