New Age Islam

War on Terror

14 Sep 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

A Long Way from 9/11

By Shaista Aziz

I walked in to the newsroom just as the second airplane crashed in to the second tower. One of the news editors was in a total flap – he looked over and caught my eye and shrieked, “Muslim fanatics! Arabs have attacked the twin towers!” With that he turned around and got back to typing ferociously and glaring at his computer screen. To this day I don’t believe the comment he made were directed at me because I’m a Muslim. I just happened to walk in to the newsroom at that precise time. I took a deep breath and walked over to my desk. I remember thinking, “Gosh! It didn’t take long for the backlash to start.” A decade on from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, my life has changed in more ways than I could have ever imagined. Militia in Baghdad killed my father in law in 2008. His body was left on the street near the family home. A passer by picked up the mobile phone ringing next to his body. The passerby told the young woman calling the phone that he had answered the phone because the man the phone belonged to was dead and his body was in the street. He suggested someone should arrange to collect the body. The young woman calling the mobile phone was my 16-year-old sister in law. --Shaista Aziz http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?ArticleID=5478