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Quote by Edward Said

“The other view is of the official United States, the United States of armies and interventions. The United States that in 1953 overthrew the nationalist government of Mossadegh in Iran and brought back the shah.”

Quote by Edward Said

Author

Edward Said was a distinguished American academic, cultural critic, and public intellectual. He served as a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and is widely recognized for his seminal work 'Orientalism', which critically examines the West's depiction of the East. Born on November 1, 1935, in Jerusalem, he passed away on September 24, 2003. more

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“The United States that has been involved first in the Gulf War and then in the tremendously damaging sanctions against Iraqi civilians. The United States that is the supporter of Israel against the Palestinians.”

Firsts Has Beens War States United United States Involved Israel Palestinian Supporter Civilians Sanctions Gulf War

Author:Edward Said

“Most Arabs and Muslims feel that the United States hasn't really been paying much attention to their desires. They think it has been pursuing its policies for its own sake and not according to many of the principles that it claims are its own - democracy, self-determination, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, international law.”

“It's very hard, for example, to justify the thirty-four-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's very hard to justify 140 Israeli settlements and roughly 400,000 settlers.”

Years Hard Four Example West Thirty Justify Occupation Four Years Israeli Settlement Gaza Settlers Israeli Settlements

Author:Edward Said

“These actions were taken with the support and financing of the United States. How can you say this is part of U.S. adherence to international law and U.N. resolutions? The result is a kind of schizophrenic picture of the United States.”

Kind States Action Law United Results United States Support Taken International Resolution International Law Financing Schizophrenic Adherence

Author:Edward Said

“Ironically, many of these people, including Osama bin Laden and the mujahedeen, were, in fact, nourished by the United States in the early eighties in its efforts to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan.”

People States Facts United Effort United States Including Afghanistan Eighty Bin Laden Osama Bin Laden

Author:Edward Said

“It was thought that to rally Islam against godless communism would be doing the Soviet Union a very bad turn indeed, and that, in fact, transpired.”

Facts Would Be Turns Unions Islam Communism Soviet Soviet Union

Book:Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said

Source: Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said

“In 1985, a group of mujahedeen came to Washington and was greeted by President Reagan, who called them "freedom fighters." These people, by the way, don't represent Islam in any formal sense. They're not imams or sheiks. They are self-appointed warriors for Islam.”

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Author:Edward Said

“Osama bin Laden, who is a Saudi, feels himself to be a patriot because the U.S. has forces in Saudi Arabia, which is sacred because it is the land of the prophet Mohammed.”

Feels Force Land Sacred Prophet Patriot Bin Laden Arabia Saudi Arabia Saudis Osama Bin Laden Prophet Mohammed

Author:Edward Said

“There is also this great sense of triumphalism, that just as we defeated the Soviet Union, we can do this. And out of this sense of desperation and pathological religion, there develops an all-encompassing drive to harm and hurt, without regard for the innocent and the uninvolved, which was the case in New York.”

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Author:Edward Said

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.”

Source: The beauties of Johnson: choice selections from his works