mr-damon/egypt

There is a reason so many people here talk with casual certainty -- and no embarrassment -- about the United States attacking itself to have a reason to go after Arabs and help Israel. It is a reflection of how they view government leaders, not just in Washington, but here in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. They do not believe them. The state-owned media are also distrusted. Therefore, they think that if the government is insisting that bin Laden was behind it, he must not have been.

"Mubarak says whatever the Americans want him to say, and he's lying for them, of course," Mr. Ibrahim said of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president.

Americans might better understand the region, experts here said, if they simply listen to what people are saying -- and try to understand why -- rather than taking offense. The broad view here is that even before Sept. 11, the United States was not a fair broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and that it then capitalized on the attacks to buttress Israel and undermine the Muslim Arab world.

The single greatest proof, in most people's eyes, was the invasion of Iraq. Trying to convince people here that it was not a quest for oil or a war on Muslims is like convincing many Americans that it was, and that the 9/11 attacks were the first step.

"It is the result of widespread mistrust, and the belief among Arabs and Muslims that the United States has a prejudice against them," said Wahid Abdel Meguid, deputy director of the government-financed Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, the nation's premier research center. "So they never think the United States is well intentioned, and they always feel that whatever it does has something behind it."

Hisham Abbas, 22, studies tourism at Cairo University and hopes one day to work with foreigners for a living. But he does not give it a second thought when asked about Sept. 11. He said it made no sense at all that Mr. bin Laden could have carried out such an attack from Afghanistan. And like everyone else interviewed, he saw the events of the last seven years as proof positive that it was all a United States plan to go after Muslims.

"There are Arabs who hate America, a lot of them, but this is too much," Mr. Abbas said as he fidgeted with his cellphone. "And look at what happened after this -- the Americans invaded two Muslim countries. They used 9/11 as an excuse and went to Iraq. They killed Saddam, tortured people. How can you trust them?"

"I wanted to help," said Refaat, 28, who was slightly embarrassed when he was asked why he gave the wrong directions with such conviction. "I was actually going to tell you to ask the flower vendor on the corner. He knows all the streets."

Navigating Egypt can be a challenge of understanding, not just the language, but its culture, values and norms. A pile of trash may look like litter to a foreigner, but it is a commodity to poor people who recycle and re-use almost everything. In Egypt, it is routine, absolutely routine, to get the wrong directions.

That is not because people are mischievous, but because if you ask for help, they feel obligated to try to help - even if they send you off in the wrong direction.

There is a lesson in this confusion that has more value than merely cautioning tourists to bring a map, sociologists, political scientists and intellectuals agreed.

The United States' relations with Egypt are strained - from the man on the street, to the president, rightly or wrongly, Egyptians are feeling disrespected by Washington.

It is not just about the invasion of Iraq, or the perennial feeling of favoritism for Israel, or the mild critiques coming from Washington about Egypt's lack of democracy. It is what people here see as the demonstrated failure to understand how they think, what they value - even when those values mean sending someone off mistakenly in the wrong direction."

Egypt has virtually no organized political opposition, except the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned and barred from politics.

But events Sunday underscored the rise of a potentially more dangerous challenge to the government's monopoly on power: Widespread public outrage and a growing willingness by workers and professionals to press their demands by striking.

The main complaint is economic, driven by rising food prices, depressed salaries and what opposition leaders say is an unprecedented gap between rich and poor. It is hard to say if the streets were empty Sunday because people stayed home for fear of getting caught in the crossfire between protesters and police, or because of the call to stay home as a form of protest.

Either way, the government took the threat of a mass mobilization so seriously that it issued a warning to potential strikers, saying it would "take necessary and resolute measures toward any attempt to demonstrate, impede traffic, hamper work in public facilities or to incite any of this."

A friend's jasmine plant on our balcony in Ma'adi, Cairo, 2005

"The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center. Dressed in full regalia and observing all military police protocol, the members of the orchestra are at a pivotal time in their careers. It's not just the political nature of an Arab military police band playing traditional Arab music in Israel that makes this event so important; budget cuts and many reorganizations have threatened the continued existence of the Orchestra. Faced with the heavy burden of this assignment, the stoic conductor Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) is determined not to foul their excursion. Despite all Tewfiqs efforts, it's not long before problems arise."

"Islamization in Egypt" -- a short segment about the increased insistence on women wearing the hijab and other coverings in Egypt, and the potential for a more fundamentalist society in the country.

"Sharm, as it's called colloquially, is a place where tourists flock to do nothing consequential. The same is true for diplomats."

After more than three decades of introducing thousands of tourists to the thrill of Egypt's unique and sprawling deserts, Shannon is planning to retire in the fall. Equal parts adventurer and philosopher - Indiana Jones meets Yoda - he is now helping to teach a new generation of guides not just to showcase Egypt's natural beauty but to behave as a life coach - knowing when to intervene, like when the tires are buried deep in sand, and when to fade into the background, so guests can experience the buzzing silence of the open desert.

"When you go to the sea, you get prepared; you will pack your towel, your bathing suit," he said in an interview in his apartment. "When you go skiing, you pack skis. Now you are coming to Egypt; get prepared for it as well. If you expect logic to prevail, you will find your intelligence insulted 200 times a day."