Tea and Terrorists

Aswan is a fairly popular destination for tourists. They usually come in gluts, as cruise ships pull alongside the boardwalk, disgorging hordes of potential customers for hawking vendors.

Almost all the tourists head straight to the nearest shiny souq, or bazaar. My instinct is to do the opposite, and head straight for the slummiest part of town (invariably where all the Egyptians actually live). From there, my M.O. is to visit each tea/sheesha house I find, sit down with whatever stranger hails me over (one always does) and sip a tea with them.

Usually they can barely speak English, but they're great fun. And occasionally you meet some really interesting characters.

For example, tonight. I sat down next to a group of guys my age in a teahouse watching the Brazil-Ghana soccer match (a good game, by the way). The guy next to me had decent English language skills, and we talked for a good hour.

After many teas and one sheesha, we had sufficiently bonded that he felt comfortable enough to tell me his employer: Gamaat Islamiyya. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, which I consider to be a political party rather than terrorist organization (in the sense that they have renounced violence and not violated that pledge), Gamaat Islamiyya definately is, in the sense that it advocates armed violence to achieve political ends.

Remember how the military took me into protective custody at every night stop on the way down? It was to keep me away from this guy. [Note: Gamaat Islamiyya does not target foreigners-- as he explained, they have a strong incentive for this.]

But heck, when life gives you terrorists, give them tea.

Now, in the States whole forests have been levelled since 2001 to explain (explicitly or implicitly) 'why they hate us.' The nice thing about breaking out of the comfort zone here in the Middle East is that you can do what 99% of Americans cannot: ask the terrorist.

There are so many questions we would all like to ask: Why do you hate us? What do you realistically hope to achieve? Why kill innocent civilians, or use violence at all? What kind of social base does your organization have? Does it have a bureaucracy? Casual Fridays? Boxers or briefs?

I didn't know what to ask. So I just asked him to tell me what he thought I should know.

Over the next two hours, we had a fascinating conversation covering everything my insatiable mind could devour. Some of what he said was expected; some surprised me.

For now, I have to play the tease. Because I need time to meditate on what he said, why he said it, and how I interpret it.

But really, our conversation, while direct and poignant, is just one of many, many conversations I have had with the peoples of the Middle East. I plan to roll all these conversations, and my interpretations, into one big post on Middle Eastern politics once I leave the region.

Anyway, a lot more interesting than the souq, no?