"Those who emigrated in the second half of the twentieth century

brought with them diverse national identities, developed by the nation-state to inspire their loyal citizens so they would defend national security against outside enemies. For immigrants, their attachments to these national identities are continually tested by events in their home countries and by American foreign policy toward their countries. Such home ties became strained during the Gulf War in 1990-1991, when Gulf Arabs questioned the authenticity of the "Arabness" of citizens of the northern states (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia) who opposed Saudi Arabian and American retribution against Saddam Hussein, and dismissed them as "Arabized" peoples who did not understand the threat that Saddam's military posed to the Gulf states. At the same time, some Arabs of the northern tier criticized Gulf Arabs as greedy and gullible and accused them of contributing to the disempowerment of the Arab people in their willingness to spend tens of billions of dollar to support American destruction of Iraq and to empower Israel in the process.

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Becoming American? The Forging of Arab and Muslim Identity in Pluralist America (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2011), p. 6.