Editor’s note: Khaled Ishqua, a first-year international studies graduate student from Yemen, will be one of the speakers at today’s “After September 11” teach-in, sponsored by the political science department and ASUO. Yemen is a country with a population of 18 million people in the southern tip of the Arabic Peninsula. Ishqua spoke to the Emerald about his presentation, the incidents of Sept. 11 and the American response. His words have been edited for brevity and clarity.
What were your reactions to the attacks of Sept. 11?
I can say I share the grief of the families of the 7,000 people in Washington (D.C.) and New York. I don’t think the criminals who did this, who prepared two years to kill civilians, had any respect for human beings. The United States lost 7,000 people, and all of humanity lost 7,000 people.
What is the general response in Yemen to the American response to the attacks of Sept. 11?
A lot of people there think that the war is not a war against bin Laden. They feel that it is a war against Islam. They remember the previous military actions. If you go back to Iraq, and Saddam Hussein was the main point for making a military action, he should have been brought down, instead of waiting 12 years and after millions of Iraqi people have died of starvation because of economic sanctions.
The whole region is against the war, but that does not mean that they are against bringing terrorism down. That is a different issue.
Are people in Yemen fearful that the war could spread throughout the region?
They are fearful that World War III is happening. They ask how many other countries can be driven to such a war — like Palestine, Israel, Pakistan and India. Pakistan is being supported by the U.S. government. This is going to make another problem in the Kashmir region. This is going to bring that region into war. The Yemen people think of it as a long-term war, and we all pray that it is going to end very soon with the least numbers of civilians dead.
I don’t think that making war in other regions means that we will be safe here. I say “we” because I have brothers and sisters who are American citizens, and I have nieces and nephews who have American blood.
What can be done to spread goodwill?
I would say increasing exchange programs — through education — which I am part of. I am on a scholarship. Increasing cooperation channels between governments, like security systems. We should improve relations between security systems in the regions to make sure terrorism does not have the same chance as before.