by Harun Rashid
Feb 14, 2003
There is growing awareness that the US, like a hurt and enraged Tyrannosaurus rex, is flailing blindly in the dark, wielding its terrible force, but completely without direction or strategy. The declared "war on terrorism" has degenerated into a lawless adventure in Afghanistan, and now a cowardly move against the sovereignty of Iraq. It is marked by a total disregard for the fundamental freedoms Americans have always held dear. The United States now conducts its foreign policy like a slum landlord. It is not attractive, nor is it a position of strength. On the contrary, it is a position of weakness; it deteriorates into more weakness as the days pass.
Where, one repeatedly asks, is the regard for truth? What has happened to character, the implacable dedication to truth and honesty? The United States of America has become a nation top heavy with lost morality, devoid of its hallowed ideals, and intent to trample the peace of the world in an effort to achieve an impossible concept of domestic security. It attempts to erect an impregnable shield against ill-defined and largely imaginary threats. All its assumptions are sadly wrong and confused. In the attempt to use cold war methods of deception and disinformation, it has lost its way, and now flounders in a slough of disarray and despond. It is an example of the high and mighty, once rightly proud, brought low by pride and incompetent leadership. How can one explain the behaviour of the once statesman-like Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who now has lost credibility and the respect of the world in a craven attempt to justify attacking Iraq using lies and deceptions?
The Muslim world watches while Washington funnels forces into the Middle East to attempt the conquest of Iraq. Yet, Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein are peripheral and incidental aspects of the events of 9/11. Like a small, battered rabbit pulled incongruously from a tattered hat, Bush junior has produced Saddam and Iraq as the mythical missing enemy. To make a target of a geographical area, demonstrating a dismal disrespect for its sovereignty, and to make an armed attack without a declaration of war, is the lowest of the acts open to a nation. It betokens weakness, not strength; wrathful destruction, not enlightened understanding. The threat to America comes from within, not from without, and that has been the prophecy of its eventual destruction. The threat comes not from foreign terrorists, it comes from the declining standards of decent conduct within.
For want of a tangible target, Saddam Hussein and Iraq have been selected for attack. That Iraq is essentially defenseless, having recently been defeated by the same armies, does not cause the Americans concern. The US appears the schoolyard bully, but it is not children who are taunted, it is the oldest civilised area of the world. Iraq is to be destroyed, killing the cream of its manhood, and including its women and children. It is a humanitarian's nightmare, an archaeologist's despair.
A threat from Iraq cannot be demonstrated. The UN inspectors cannot find any weapons of mass destruction. There are now apparently no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons manufactured or stored in Iraq. All the weapons supplied to Iraq by the West during the war with Iran have either been used in conflict or destroyed. That is the only conclusion to be drawn from the careful inspections carried out by the personnel of the United Nations since the end of the Gulf War. Why must the US and Britain perjure themselves to prove otherwise? It is sad to see mature men in office lie to their public, as every Malaysian well knows.
The whole world sees that Iraq has coveted oil reserves. The value of this oil rises with each day of uncertainty, with each day of increasing demand, with each day of diminished supply. When China develops its auto industry, it could require as much oil every day as the United States. Where is this additional oil to come from? It is a worry, as all countries become desperate competitors.
The little country of Israel is seen to be eager for Iraq to be invaded by others. That has been the Israeli way, to have the blood of Palestinian refugees shed by others, so that they cannot be blamed. Israel is said to have provided some of the plagiarized material recently read by Blair to the House of Commons, and repeated by Powell before the United Nations and Congress. It is a noxious concoction pasted together by Blair's own boys in black cloaks, operating out of Downing Street. It is not the first time Israel has covertly intervened to promote its interests.
Belgium has announced that those responsible for the genocide of Palestinians may be brought before the bar of justice, to answer charges brought against them by the survivors of Palestinian massacres. Israel is alarmed, having thought its military leaders (now political leaders) were safe, after a prior judgment gave them immunity. What the world requires to be heard in open court is the testimony of surviving eyewitnesses. In previous cases, these eyewitnesses have been assassinated before they could testify. Are we to see the same "targeted assassination" methods used again?
There is an historical irony. After WWII, the US was the prime mover in converting the industrial world from coal to oil. It was thought Western interests would easily control oil. Now that decision is at the center of the present conflict, where the US must risk its national economy on the supply of dependable and cheap oil. This irony arose because the rich oil sheiks were able to send their sons to Harvard and Yale to study economics. They came home and told their fathers, "Why don't we nationalise the oil?" Today the wealth of the West is transferred to the accounts of the oil countries, and the higher the price, the faster the rate of transfer. That is irony.
Another is the rise of National Socialism in Germany. Hitler claimed the Germans were a superior racial stock. Others were untermenschen (lesser humanity/primitives), thereby justifying their extinction, with the concomitant appropriation, without compensation, of their homes, businesses, and land. These undeserving "lesser people" were rounded up and exterminated like so many vermin. Germany required lebensraum (living room), and this was most conveniently taken from defenseless neighbors like Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland (largely Jewish), and Russia.
The German genocide began long before WWII broke into open combat with the unwarranted invasion of Poland in 1939. Jews were persecuted from the early thirties, sent to concentration camps, gassed and cremated, while the world largely looked on without concern. Most countries united in denying the fleeing Jews entry. There was no refuge, many ships were turned away like unwanted garbage scows, their captains forced to return the poor passengers to a certain death. Only a lucky few escaped Hitler's net, as the rest of the world looked askance, pretending ignorance and indifference with a nonchalant insouciance.
In the aftermath of WWII, Israel was formed, largely through terrorism, in the mandated territory of Palestine. The land, homes, farms, and businesses of Palestinians established there for a thousand generations were taken as spoils after the 1948 war, when they were refused a right to re-enter the new state of Israel. Jews around the world emigrated to Palestine, a term they now deny ever existed. Almost a million Jews came to the new Israel from Iraq. These Iraqi Jews are still there, fifty years later, living in the homes of the dispossessed Palestinians. They all know that Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, lived in Ur, on the banks of the Tigris-Euphrates River. The Torah, the holy book of the Jews, was written there. Abraham subsequently moved to a land along the Mediterranean Sea, but all Jews know that their earliest "homeland" is in the present Iraq.
Now comes the irony. Many Jews regard themselves the "Chosen People of God." Many Israeli's therefore consider the Palestinians to be "non-chosen" and therefore a lesser folk. To these Jews, Israeli policy is right and proper, that all Palestinian land belongs to Jews, as a gift from God, only delayed somewhat in delivery by events of the past two thousand years. Israel is reserved for Jews, and is therefore a racist/religious state. It is a messy business, because native Palestinians, who are Muslims, and have been Muslims for fourteen hundred years, consider themselves the equal of everyone else in the eyes of Allah (literally, The God). In Islam, all are children of Allah, and therefore there is no racism. Against the Israeli claims of superiority, the Muslim Palestinians resisted, and continue to resist. The conflict has lasted fifty years.
The Israeli's decided to settle the matter in a final manner. They decided to enforce a "final solution" to the matter, just as Hitler did seventy years ago in Germany. The Palestinians are thus being eliminated in a surreptitious policy of genocide, exactly as the Jews of Europe were eliminated by Hitler. It is Holocaust II, perpetrated by the victims of Holocaust I. The plot is identical. There is a superior race exterminating its "lesser" neighbors, their death and property appropriation justified by a need for more "living space." One may recall the pride expressed by Germans under Hitler; they were very proud of their culture. They proclaimed to the world they were a superior, civilised people. The Israeli's say much the same, considering themselves superior, and to be highly civilised. They extol their arts, their science, their industry, yet they bulldoze Palestinian residences. A few days ago the Israeli’s shut down two Palestinian universities. Still, they claim to be a civilised people. Now that is irony.
In the midst of the ongoing genocide much of the world again looks casually aside. The genocide goes largely unremarked. The United States has repeatedly declared that Israel is a staunch and worthy ally, and that it will be defended against the claims of the Palestinians. The defense of Israel has become a sore point in relations between Muslim countries and the United States. It has led to disaffection so intense that groups of Muslim men, declaring themselves dedicated to fighting the injustice to the death, are intent to bring clarity to the American behaviour. Their strategy is to force the Americans to look more closely at what they are doing vis-à-vis Israel and Palestine.
So far, those who attempted to improve US understanding and consciousness have been unsuccessful. The Americans refuse to be brought to their senses. The reasons are not difficult to understand. If the United States admits it has supported an Israeli regime engaged in genocide, then it becomes a knowing accomplice. To avoid this confrontation with basic honesty, the United States constructs a facade of innocence and high-minded morality, declaring that all critics are "evil" and "full of hate for our freedoms." The US says that Israel must be defended because it is a "democracy." In the entire affair, the US refuses to ask itself, "What did I do?" It is in the little questions that honesty begins. This dishonesty threatens the structure of the world, making for a perilous and uncertain future. A large part of the problem is that no one trusts the US to act humanely, honestly or unselfishly. That such a power should be so untrustworthy generates unsavoury foreboding.
The hypocrisy is clear to all but the Americans. In the United Nations, the US postures as a benefactor, denouncing any voice of sanity as being senile, and what is worse, threatening economic, diplomatic and undeclared retaliation for "failure to join us in the defeat of terrorism." The world today, however, is not totally comprised of limp lemmings, and many refuse to follow the United States, Britain and Israel over the precipice. These war-mongering states threaten that they will keep all the spoils, a threat that may lead to a general conflagration at worst, and a worldwide depression as a real possibility.
Each day that the planned invasion and destruction of Iraq proceeds, the potential long-term consequences become more dire. It is supposed that Iraq will quickly surrender, and that an invasion force will easily occupy Baghdad at the end of a short period of intensive bombing that destroys all civil engineering. This scenario is the most unlikely of all possible outcomes. Vietnam, the Russian experience in Afghanistan, along with the recent US adventure there (gratuitously joining an ongoing civil war), are more likely to suggest what the future holds than the Gulf War.
There are today over a billion Muslims. They are scattered widely over the face of the Earth. Many live in the United States, Britain, Israel, and Australia. All of them are aware of the hypocrisy of United States behaviour, not only for the present, but over the past five decades. What is being done is to alienate all of them against the present US administration. In a real sense, this alienation amounts to a "crusade" against the Islamic faithful, carried out by leaders of secular national governments. History will surely record this as a serious and unfortunate mistake, made by poorly educated and mentally impoverished leaders. By their unstatesman-like lying and deceit, they have dishonoured themselves and their country. They, in their ignorance and stupidity, are leading the world to a terrible fate.
The American population is properly considered docile and easily deceived by the planned deceptions and psychological warfare being practiced on them by their elected representatives. Patriotism forces acquiescence once the active bombing begins. Only the young will dare to openly oppose the government's policy. That is what the Bush administration is counting on, and the same strategy extends to other countries. None may oppose with impunity.
Party politics has turned Democracy into a sham. It is now a disappointment, unattractive and impossible to export in its disgrace. The capitalist ideology, the pride of America and touted as a golden opportunity for the talented entrepreneur, is seen to be basically defective, a covert means of practicing greed, fleecing the savings and pensions of those foolish enough to believe that all corporate managers are honest in handling and reporting corporate affairs.
Is there a sane path to peace still open? Yes, there is, and it is not difficult to implement. If the forces now gathered in the Middle East were directed to the return of Palestinian land and property, if the Israeli's were forced to retreat from their illegal settlements in the occupied territories, if Palestinian institutions could be re-established under UN protection, with the establishment of a Palestinian State the goal, the "war on terrorism" would disappear. It is Israel that requires disarming.
We might remove the bounty placed on Osama Bin Laden and other declared opponents. Invite them to a conference to discuss the real argument they have with the world today. It is prudent to listen early and well to the grievances of a determined foe. But there must be true immunity. There must be no perfidy, such as when the Palestinian fighters agreed to leave Sabra and Shatila camps under truce, surrendering their arms. When they were safely offshore on the ships delivering them to foreign exile, the Israeli army (under Sharon) sealed the camps while the remaining family members were lined up and shot. The memory of events like these fuel anger and resentment that seethes today. Where is the proper and expected indignation? Where is the expected condemnation? All the past American humanitarian aid to victims of earthquake, flood and other natural disaster dissolves to slippery syrup, smelling of sickening insincerity.
There will be objection that past events preclude peace, that loss of life and property must be redressed. It is too late for such protest. If it is war we are in, then a truce is in order. Past destruction, past death must be treated as acts of war, committed in the heat of battle. If there is no forgiveness in this, the destruction of civilisation, perhaps humanity itself, is the likely result.
Is it a workable resolution? Certainly a permanent accommodation is possible, if participants are of good will. There are many such people with compassion and understanding, both in Israel and the United States, who do not want a war in Iraq, and desire justice and restitution for the Palestinians. Unfortunately, these saviours-of-us-all are not in positions of political power. One day they can be. In the interim, the United Nations must exercise the necessary leadership, expressed through its statesmen, who carry on the essential diplomatic debate in its sacred halls.
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