The Nomad and the Olive Branch

I couldn't help but delay my rant on the GOP "debates", but after watching a program hosted by Ahmed Mansour on Al Jazeera last night, I decided to post instead about a topic that "required" my attention during the Abu Ghraib prison scandal . I was watching Mansour interview a British anti-war activist, and as the program continued, they called a number in Jordan. They could've called me so I'd give my opinion, but apparently they weren't calling an ordinary follower of the news. They called the symbol of Abu Ghraib himself , Hajj Ali al-Qaysi , who is now an Iraqi refugee in Amman. Ali al-Qaysi went on a little spiel, denouncing the occupation of Iraq by colonialist governments who have interests that totally oppose the interests of the Iraqi people (and rightly so). But that's not what caught my ears. What really caught my ears was his mentioning that there were mercenaries present at the base that worked for American corporations. He mentione...