Jihad Ballut, former AlJazeera spokesperson, is now working for AlArabiyya TV. The pro-Saudi (who is not in the world of Arab media--now you know why I am suffocating) Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (and the director of AlArabiyya was editor-in-chief of Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat) interviewed Ballut and tried to hard to make him badmouth (you know about the bitter Saudi-Qatari conflict) AlJazeera, but he refused. So the editor of the newspaper prints the most misleading headline which does not characterize the contents of Ballut's statements. Ballut is son of `Ali Ballut, who (with Saddam's money) founded Ad-Dustur magazine in Lebanon and then in London in the mid-70s. I am told that he is writing a book about Saddam. I do not believe that people are responsible for the "sins" of the parents. For the purpose of full disclosure, I used to see Ballut (the father) at my father's office when I was a child. He was a Lebanese journalist and a good friend of my father. How small is Lebanon? I will tell you how small? I was watching a segment of a Lebanese drama on New TV yesterday and the person playing the villain (and not doing a great job I must add) was my cousin. By August of next summer, I would have lived half of my life in Lebanon and the other half in the US. Does that officially make me Arab-American, or half Arab, half American, or neither, or nothing? And why do most of my dreams (even if they involve Americans who are in my persona life) take place in Lebanon? Why am I telling you this, and why are you not answering me. Answer, NOW. When I was a child, a US president was making progress in Vietnam. And now, another US president is making progress in Iraq. Does that not prove Marx's point about history (it is Hegel's point in fact)?