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[|Our Interviews] Transcripts Write Up


 * Final** **Project** **Transcript **

--How was your sense of patriotism changed after the 9/11 attacks?

__Mr__. __Herrick__: “I don’t think we were attacked for any reason other than we had given them no choice. Because they did not feel that they had a choice in their destiny. We had not…we had chosen not to engage them…I guess, in some respect, I’m disappointed with our government, be it Democrat or Republican, [with] our choice of leadership or direction, or lack of direction, that has caused certain groups to feel alienated or not a part of the democracy that we preach.”

--When the war versus Iraq was proposed and initiated, did you support it? After current developments in the procession of the war, the direction and action taken, and the newly disclosed information, how have your views changed?

__Mr__. __Herrick__: “[I believe] that Saddam Hussein needed to be removed form his position of power…however, I do not think that as a part of a democratic society that we had any right to make decisions to attack another country, for which we have had a long standing tradition of always taking the first blow. We did not attack Iraq until the terrorists who were supported by that government attacked us…Saddam Hussein had not attacked us…we took a pre-emptive strike by ourselves in a small group of nations felt compelled to do what we wanted them to de even though their people did not necessarily feel that it was right…that the evidence was compelling enough…when Saddam Hussein looked out his window he should have seen the entire world with guns pointed at him saying “you’re done…you need to go”…just like George H. did back in ’91…we had the entire world in there saying get out of that country to the south where he had invaded [Kuwait], they said “you must leave,” we pushed him out of that country as an international force and when we had accomplished that we placed sanctions on him to keep him isolated until he chose whether or not he wanted to participate in the world. Saddam Hussein was not effectively given that chance, however, he had never complied with the requirements of the United Nations sanctions and something needed to be done about him, but it needed to be the whole world’s conviction to do that, not just ours.”

__Mr__. __Muradian__: “Though I am from Iraq, and I was against the war from the beginning, the reason why I was against the war. Was because I knew the war would cause more damage and harm, not only for Saddam and his regime but for the people too. And after the war we could not find the massive destruction weapons, not only that but we ruined all the infrastructures and people in Iraq, including my family there, the rest of my family there they are living their for months now without electricity, uh in poor hygiene there is no clean water for drinking and there is no oil and they are suffering from lack of medicine and food.”

__Mr__. __Abdul-Hafiz__: “Like most of the world community, I did not support it. The war had no sufficient justification for it, and as President Bush started recently, many of the information used to justify the war was incorrect. Furthermore, the war created a risk which did not exist before.”

--Do you think your life has been changed as a result of the attacks and the ensuing wars?

Anonymous [New York Attorney]: “Yeah, I think it has been changes. It’s made me think of that aspect of our country’s responsibility in the world. On the home front here, it has made me apprehensive. I’ve back to my old ways, but for the longest time I was avoiding large gatherings; I was not walking through Central Station anymore on my way home and my way to work. Stuff like that lasted for about a year after that. The immediate impact was great for me as far as being someone who didn’t have any close friends of relatives who died in the attack, of course. Gail [his wife] was very afraid in the following weeks, and I was afraid too, but I kind of took a more rational approach. The kids of course didn’t know anything about it. So, my personal life changed for a while. I didn’t go to any hockey games for a long time, because they were at Madison Square Garden, which I though it might be a target. I didn’t go to the Halloween celebration that I was going to take the kids to in Central Park because I wanted to avoid a gathering like that. That kind of stuff continued for about a year, but now I am back to my own ways.”

--How would you change the nation in order to ensure that situation such as the one we are in today don’t happen again?

__Mr__. __Muradian__: My grandfather used to say we have to live with 1001 friends and not even one enemy. This is a principle and I believe it works. You know if we can live with all the nations on this planet as a friend then I believe that is one way to stop wars. I think if we can make the whole world live like the same as the people who are living in USA. Like see our constitution does not talk about religion. So if the whole world cannot talk about religion and everybody will live like in the whole planet as one country. Same for us in USA everybody colorful religious all of them is living as a US citizen, if the whole world can live like this I believe there will be no war and as friends.

__Mr__. __Abdul-Hafiz__: “I think the best protection against such attack is one, to have a just and global policy that applies to everyone, and not a policy that is driven by interest groups; and two, by sticking to our ideals, or to by sticking to the ideals of our founding fathers that have to do with freedom, liberty, and justice for all.”

Anonymous [New York Attorney]: “That’s a complicated question because there are so many things that I think could be improved. Politicians are able to be swayed one way or another because the rest of us are not looking. That’s not a good thing. I think on of the most immediate changes we could and should have is people to pay more attention to the government’s demands, to be more responsive, and refuse to take the government at face value when we are told things because all of us certainly recognize that the government is subject to, willingly or unwillingly, to a large amount of manipulation by people who seek to use the government’s power for its own purposes. The people who don that run the gamut form your regular citizen to the biggest corporation. People need to start thinking more in terms of the common good, and that advancing the common good is good for all of us and we will all prosper that much more, but…you know…that’s long-term thinking and a lot of people just don’t have a long-term horizon. So…that’s my general answer.”

--Seeing as we are fighting a war on terror without the approval of the United Nations, do you believe that is America’s job to fight the war? Do you believe the administration’s terrorism policies have been effective?

__Mr__. __Herrick__: “I believe that we need to find a way to convince the rest of the world that we are doing the right thing…if the rest of the world does not believe that this is correct, then we need to find a way to convince them to want to be a part of it…not through threats of military action or isolationism, but through the democratic principles that we claim to live by to show that democracy is the light of freedom and the light of a better way of life for all people…and if we can’t live by those principles and convince other nations to go along with what we’re doing then we need to rethink how we’re doing it…now I think it goes back to not being inclusive or engaging in political relationships with these organizations to try and understand what their position is…I think we have isolated ourselves… I think our administration has isolated us, possibly to our doom at some point, I don’t know…that’s what scares me. I believe our administration’s current policies have put our nation in peril…possible peril, in the world.”

__Mr__. __Williams__: “I don’t believe that the administrations terrorism policies have been effectively at all. But I would argue that in order to defend American interests, in order to protect Americans at home, that some kind of a domestic terrorism policy needs to be in place, but I am against the United States becoming the watchdog for the entire world and going out without the resolution or the mandate of the American people to fight terrorism abroad; I’m all for protecting our borders, I’m all for insuring the safety of Americans at home, but without the help of the international community and the UN the cost of America taking on this battle for the world will certainly seem to have a huge negative impact on our economy over time. Domestically, although I’m against much of what the patriot act has put in place, I do believe we need to have some sort of safeguards to protect Americans at home.”

Anonymous [New York Attorney]: “I don’t think we have a terrorism policy in this country. So, I certainly think it is not effective. The terrorism policy has been hijacked by people who for some absurd reason wanted to make war in Iraq, whether it was so that we could co-opt an oil-rich country at a time when we believed that we would probably lose Saudi Arabia at some point in the future when the Saudi family loses the throne…I think it’s going to happen in the next decade or so. I don’t think we have any policies for fighting the war on terrorism. I think that what we have is something masqueraded as war on terrorism.”

{Musical tracks in order of play "(song)", __band name__: "Paranoid", __Black Sabbath__ ; "Get Up, Stand Up", __Bob Marley and the Wailers__; "Rock the Casbah", __The Clash__; "Down with the Sickness", __Disturbed__}

Write Up
After the project the views and beliefs of our group did not change. We all had strong opinions concerning the war and these opinions were strongly used to influence our questions. We did however learn that most other people were in fact against the war on terror in the first place. The changes made to our opinions or more perhaps to our perspective were found in the reasons people were against the war. For example, our interview concerning Kareem Muradian opened our eyes to the views and conditions of the people in Iraq. Sure we had all heard of the horrendous conditions but never really heard it first hand. In this interview we heard words that we had connected with bad things after the attacks: regimes, Iraqi’s, oil. All these terms seemed to have a negative connotation but after the interview, the truth seemed to come out on meanings of words. While not a culture shock, since we have all known his son Ibrahim for many years, it was a reality check on the internal associations we have come to make concerning people of middle eastern descent. Our group also realized the difference between beliefs of the people and beliefs of the media. We, ourselves, had our own opinions but through the interviews we were able to relax a bit because media has not overtaken all of America, just brainwashed the majority, and that is ironically uplifting. The project helped us to further our range in thought by examining and listening to different points of view, and this will help our generation to help stop the violence and corruption a narrow minded point of view can create. As a group, most of our personal opinions were, coincidentally, similar to those expressed by those we interviewed, and their points stated further backed our thoughts. We found that those in close proximity to the attacks and those who had a connection with the war (such as family in Iraq) felt the effects and aftereffects of the war more than those who didn’t have such connections. For example, the New Yorker’s life was drastically changed immediately following the attacks, because of how much his daily routine was changed (staying away from the mass transit system) and large gatherings (such as Madison Square Garden and the celebration in Central Park), while the Iraqi native felt the economic pinch of the war against Iraq, having to support his family still in Baghdad. The comment made by Mr. Abdul-Hafiz about the government and interest groups really struck us, and, after thinking and reasoning on the subject both collectively and individually, we concluded that this statement was valid and well noted. Mr. Herrick’s comment on the previous Iraq operation (Desert Storm in ’91) was also a very good point, in that in Desert Storm, the entire world was against him and wanted him out of Kuwait…the operation was quick, and restrictions were placed on the Hussein regime (which weren’t followed). The fact that we were only backed by a small number of other countries (and the number of troops they deployed was comparatively small) really proved that we shouldn’t be doing this operation. In similar fashion to us, we found that those living on the west coast who didn’t have direct connections to New York or the wars weren’t really affected by the attacks. As reflected by the President’s approval rating, people from all walks of life feel that anything by the name of “terrorism policy” has been unsuccessful, or misguided in their efforts. This project has done a lot for the members of our group. It strengthened all of our political positions and opinions of our government, and opened us to another form of easily accessible technology. This was beneficial project because it made us go out into the world and use the varying opinions of the public, instead of just our isolated thoughts.