IP: Whooping It Up -- In Beirut, even Christians celebrated the atrocity. - wsj opinion journal

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Whooping It Up
In Beirut, even Christians celebrated the atrocity.

BY ELISABETTA BURBA

Saturday, September 22, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT

BEIRUT--Where were you on Sept. 11, when terrorists changed the world? I 
was at the National Museum here, enjoying the wonders of the ancient 
Phoenicians with my husband. This tour of past splendor only magnified the 
shock I received later when I heard the news and saw the reactions all 
around me. Walking downtown, I realized that the offspring of this great 
civilization were celebrating a terrorist outrage. And I am not talking 
about destitute people. Those who were cheering belonged to the elite of 
the Paris of Middle East: professionals wearing double-breasted suits, 
charming blond ladies, pretty teenagers in tailored jeans.
Trying to find our bearings, my husband and I went into an American-style 
cafe in the Hamra district, near Rue Verdun, rated as one of the most 
expensive shopping streets in the world. Here the cognitive dissonance was 
immediate, and direct. The café's sophisticated clientele was celebrating, 
laughing, cheering and making jokes, as waiters served hamburgers and Diet 
Pepsi. Nobody looked shocked, or moved. They were excited, very excited.

An hour later, at a little market near the U.S. Embassy, on the outskirts 
of Beirut, a thrilled shop assistant showed us, using his hands, how the 
plane had crashed into the twin towers. He, too, was laughing.

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http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001194



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