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=> Thank you Abu Jassim

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Friday, July 2 2004, 18:18:17 (CEST)
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"Arab" Americans
Posted By: Peter BetBasoo <keepa@ninevehsoft.com> (nat-201-163.arlut.utexas.edu)
Date: Friday, 2 July 2004, at 10:28 a.m.
Read below. We should send a clarification to thiw writer that Assyrians are not Arabs.

.....Jassim, thanks for alerting us...consider it done.

Dear Mr. Ryser,

I enjoyed your article. My name is Farid Parhad. I was born in Baghad, Iraq and have been an American citizen now for 40 years. I was especially pleased to see the word "Assyrian"...as I am a sculptor of Assyrian descent who created the first Assyrian Monument in over 2500 years which was installed at United Nations Plaza in San Francisco in 1988. A second monument, this time of Queen Sumurammat, known to the West by her Greek name of Semiramis, will be installed in Chicago soon.

I hope that establishes for you my respect for my Assyrian ancestry. I would therefore like to caution you and fellow journalists from too readily believing the idea put out by a mnority Christian sect variously known as Nestorians, or Church of the East, who have tried for decades to convince Iraqi authorities that they and only they are the direct descendants, no less, of the ancient Assyrians.

This has been a device to pry a corner of Iraq loose for what they claim are its indigenous inhabitants...them, dating back 6000 years. The truth is far more complex and interesting. All of the people of Iraq today, whther Christian, Muslim, athiest, Jew or Buddhist, their various religions notwithstanding, are descendants of the ancient civilizations, of which there were many more than the Assyrian, in the region called Mesopotamia by Westerners and BetNahrain by us, "The Land Between The Rivers"...those being the Tigris and Euphrates.

Arabs are, properly speaking, those born in Saudi Arabia, of which there are Christians and Jews as well therefore not all Arabs are Muslims. Likewise any Muslims in Iraq, or Mongolia and Malaysia for that matter are not “Arabs”. Since the Muslim religion originated in Arabia there is a tendency by Westerners to call all Muslims “Arabs” because their religion came from Arabia. But that would be similar to calling all Christians, whether in America or Canada or Mexico, “Israelis”, because their religion originated in that country.

Thank you for a wonderful article.

Sincerely,

Farid Parhad

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