BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Members of the local Arab community greeted Wednesday's attack on Iraq with mixed emotions: a lack of sympathy for Saddam Hussein balanced by a profound concern for average Iraqis.
Mr. Hussein has perhaps even fewer defenders among Arab-Americans than in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War.
But the U.S. airstrikes troubled some Tristate residents because of the innocent lives the attacks will inevitably claim.
“I'm totally in favor of eliminating Saddam from the power base, but not at the expense of innocent lives,” said Duraid Da'as, a Clifton community planner who was born in Baghdad.
“It'd be easy if it were an assassination attempt on Saddam, but when you're dealing with airstrikes, the accuracy of the bombings can't be accurate to one or two feet. Especially when you're dealing with Baghdad, which is very densely populated, it's inevitable that innocent people will die.”
While airstrikes had been discussed for months, and almost launched last month, the suddenness of Wednesday's attack surprised many locals with interest in the Middle East. Zeinab Schwen, a Palestinian-
American who lives in Symmes Township, tried to make sense of the attack as she watched news of it Wednesday evening.
“Part of me says, the poor Iraqi people. There are people who are going to die, schools and homes that are going to be destroyed,” Mrs. Schwen said. “Saddam isn't Iraq; Saddam is one person. Whether he deserved to be punished is one story. Whether the whole nation deserves to be punished is another story.”
Although there are only a handful of Iraqi-born Tristate residents, the local Arab community numbers at least 3,000, with the majority from Lebanon and Palestine. Arabs and Muslims alike were harassed in 1991, and some feared trouble in the days ahead.
Mr. Da'as said he would likely cancel a trip to Germany because of anticipated problems over his U.S. passport, which lists Iraq as his birthplace.
“I'm going to be minimizing my travel for the next three to four months, until this thing blows over,” he said. “That's one of the drawbacks of being born in a country like Iraq.”
Naima Da'as, Mr. Da'as' mother and proprietor of the Jerusalem Cafe in Clifton, worried about the bombing's proximity to two events: the now-delayed vote on impeachment and the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The month of fasting and prayer begins Sunday and lasts until Jan. 18, and attacking a Muslim country during Ramadan would be deeply offensive.
“He's in a bad situation. He wants to give people something else to talk about,” Mrs. Da'as said of Mr. Clinton.
