Maybe They Were Americans On the Inside, Trying to Get Out

You may have seen that an Al Qaeda affiliate is claiming it actually killed Americans in the Riyadh bombing last week; the pictures of dead Arabs on Saudi TV were just propaganda. I can't vouch for the rest of the casualties but here's one of the American victims I do know about: Nina Nasr Jubrane, age 26, newlywed, born and raised in the town of Qelhat, Lebanon, where I am staying, a recent graduate from the University of Balamand, through whose kind offices I am posting this message. I went to her funeral today. She was apparently planning to move to Canada eventually, so maybe that counts as American. She was a Christian too, so maybe that makes her a military target. But one of the other Lebanese victims (also a woman) was a Muslim. If you had told me two years and three months ago that I would be arguing about stuff like this, I'd have killed myself twice.

Comments

[Ruthless]

Tim, I wish I could kill myself three times to ease your pain.
There is no rhyme nor reason.

[joe]

Regrets.

Madness.

[Anonymous]

Wish I could say something. Regrets, Tim.

[Zathras]

I am very sorry to learn of your friend's death, Tim. I can only imagine what kind of arguments arise from an incident like this in a place like Lebanon; you will find few Americans who see anything to argue about, or who find it necessary to expose themselves to the lying effrontery of the enemy's public statements.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Clarification: I never knew the woman, though after a week of being around two towns in full-bore mourning, with her wedding photos up on every wall, I feel as if I did.