RAWYA RAGEH remembers the confusion in Cairo the day the U.S. was attacked.
(AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)
Workers in an shop in Cairo watch Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld speak after the United States and Britain launched military strikes in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
I was in the back of a speeding taxi, trying to make sense of the static on the radio. Something about: "...and President Bush has condemned the terrorist attacks."
I was headed to a hospital where my aunt had just had surgery. When I arrived at her room, the first thing I saw was a tiny television in the corner -- and there it was, one of the World Trade Towers collapsing. As goose bumps covered my body, the first word I uttered was: "Bin Laden."
I turned around to see half my family staring in awe at the screen. We didn't move for the next five or six hours. I tried to argue politics with my relatives, who weren't convinced that "an Arab or Muslim would do that."
That night, my concern about the Middle East's future was mixed with concern over my own. I'm never going to graduate, I thought to myself. The American University will shut down. My college degree will be up in the air.
Indeed, the school administration announced that night it would close for an unspecified period of time. It reopened about 10 days later, but nothing felt the same. The Egyptian street's confusion about the attacks seeped inside the school walls.
More than half the international students had disappeared; in one of my classes, the number of students went from around 18 to 7. American professors tried to appear composed, but they couldn't hide their sorrow, and, at times, anger.
I remember one American colleague arguing with me and a group of other Egyptian students about some Arabs who celebrated the attacks.
We tried to explain that we thought "moderate" Arabs were just as shocked as anyone. We said many Arabs were frustrated at what they perceived as an American bias to Israel, which might make it harder to sympathize with America.
I argued with my American friend. I argued with my family. I knew from that day on I was going to be in the uncomfortable seat of having to explain each side to the other.
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MORE ON SEPT. 11
For more stories related to the fifth anniversary of the attacks, look at asap's special report Living with 9/11.
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asap contributor Rawya Rageh is a reporter for the AP in Baghdad.
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