Weapon-mention as political statement?

[Michael Bailey]

anybody know anything about the name "Abdul Sayid"?  Da Conho gains
the point of view for a nice monologue after this, and in fact is
treated quite respectfully.  He mentions Abdul Sayid again, and
Pynchon uses his love for the machine gun to introduce the theme of
love for inanimate objects.

It seems to me that Pynchon's remarkable talent for picking salient
detail would make Abdul Sayid a name worth searching, yet I've found
nothing yet.

Isn't V. set around the time of the Suez crisis? Could some of the
historical flashbacks also be organized around their relevance to
1956?

For my part I'm glad of this thread for that reason (& it makes me
want to try harder to read _Vineland_ against its contemporary
history, although it has worked on me as a timeless classic, creating
a world of its own.)
Also because it might spark some interest in V. in Robin, where it's
apparently lacking.
Now if we can mollify Kai towards the current reading with trenchant
comments and glorious jaunts off-topic...we might have a righteous jam
session...