IS
AMERICA BLIND OR LESS MORAL?
Viewpoint: For publication and distribution
without permission
By Nassir M. Al-Ajmi
Former: Executive Vice President, Saudi Aramco and
Former President, Saudi Railway Organization
The Middle East, home of
honored human cultures, intellectual thought and monolithic faiths, has become the battle
ground of evil forces. The air is infected
with the smell of corpses, burning homes, debris, US depleted uranium weapons and thick
dust caused by Israeli bulldozers tearing down Palestinian homes and refugee camps. These evil actions and reactions have altered
lives, displaced families in huge numbers and created tremendous fear, sadness and
despair.
The
American/Israeli atrocities are viewed in the region and most of the world as
complementary strategies intended to humiliate and subjugate the Middle East landscape. These oppressive American/Israeli actions have
dominated the region since World War II and have hatched the perverted child named
terrorism. It is very sad to witness the
cradle of civilization crumble down in smoke under the cruel and shameful boots of those
who claim the guardianship of liberty and civilization. America, the most powerful nation on earth still practices western style
to settle differences only with bigger guns and weapons of mass destruction.
Although
the world over knew for quite sometime that the current US administration had a pre-set
contemptuous attitude and hostile policies towards the Middle East, no one in the world
could have contemplated that American armed forces were capable of such contemptible
atrocities! Most of us in the Middle East never gave much
credence to the American Mission in Iraq, because the current US administration has been less truthful, flagrantly unjust and
perhaps less moral in its handling of Middle East issues.
The unfolding of the Abu Ghraib scandal has turned ‘Operation Freedom’
into a futile exercise of contrition and damage control as the world watches in shock and America is in a painful
state of self-denial.
As a result
of their war blunders and Abu Ghraib prison criminal scandal, the guardians of freedom and
democracy have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time indeed. In the eyes of the World, President Bush and his
clique have managed to humiliate themselves politically and morally through their war
blunders, diplomatic arrogance and, as a result have damaged America’s
international posture. The following quotation
from an article published by the ‘Mirror.co.uk’ depicts the world view of the
current US
administration:
‘Unelected in 2000,
the Washington regime of George W.
Bush is now totalitarian, captured by a clique whose fanaticism and ambitions of
‘endless war’ and ‘full spectrum dominance’ are a matter of record. The entire world knows their names: Bush, Rumsfeld,
Rice, Wolfowitz, Cheney and Perle, and Powell, the false liberal. Bush’s State of the Union speech last night
was reminiscent of that other great moment in 1938 when Hitler called his generals
together and told them: ‘I must have war’ He
then had it. The current American elite is the
Third Reich of our times, although this distinction ought not to let us forget that they
have merely accelerated more than half a century of unrelenting American state terrorism:
from the atomic bombs dropped cynically on Japan as a signal for their new power to the
dozens of countries invaded, directly or by proxy, to destroy democracy wherever it
collided with American ‘interests’, such as a voracious appetite for the
world’s resources, like oil.’
Source:
http:/www.mirror.co.uk/printable_version.cfm?objectid=12581179&siteid=50143
Embarrassed
by its dismal performance on the war front, shameful war crime scandals and pressured by
re-election schedules, the Bush administration is in a state of disarray to say the least. The order of the day is damage control by any and
all means. President Bush and his Secretary of
Defence, Mr. Rumsfeld have told the world, including Americans, that the extent of the
American war crimes in Iraq is not yet fully known, but they insisted that such war crimes
are isolated and involve a very small number of misguided individuals. How do they know that these war crimes, which
include homicides, rapes and torture, were small and isolated if they did not know the
extent of these criminal scandals?
I watched
and listened to President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and Senator James Inhofe
minify barbaric American treatment and torture of Iraqi prisoners (in American custody)
and describing such actions as un-American, isolated and committed by a few low ranking
soldiers. As I listened to their highly
defensive explanations, it sounded as if they expected the Arabs, Muslims and the World
over to believe and accept their point of view and move on.
I was amazed and disappointed to listen to the President of the United
States of America and his colleagues comparing American interrogation standards and
treatment of war prisoners to those of Saddam Hussein and to the standards of mobs and
terrorists. How low can they go?
The words
un-American, isolated and small struck a sensitive and doubting nerve in my brain. So, I decided to open Yahoo search and look up the
history of American war crimes and found a long official roster of the rich history of
American war crimes going as far back as the American Revolutionary War (1776). The Yahoo search roster includes American State
Terrorism and war crimes in almost all wars fought by American Armed Forces. Are all these war crimes un-American, isolated and
small? Listening to President Bush and
Secretary Rumsfeld, one might think that the Abu Ghraib scandal is the first war crime
committed by US Armed Forces.
Unfortunately
the Abu Ghraib criminal and moral tragedy is turning into a political football between
democrats and republicans in a highly publicized election year. It is therefore difficult to judge, how much does
this moral tragedy truly weigh on the American conscience?
Should Christianity, Western/American culture, American democratic
principles and the American way of life be accused, tried and convicted on the basis of
these war crimes? I raise this question
because I believe in the American expression ‘what is good for the goose is good for
the gander’. To pretend that these war
crimes are un-American, isolated and small is simply not true and not enough. The people who committed these immoral and criminal
atrocities are in the chain of command of the American Armed Forces and wear the military
uniform. They are not mobs, outlaws or terrorists.
In order to
put important events in perspective, allow me to go back to the aftermath of September 11,
when it became known that nineteen (19) misguided Arab terrorists were found to be
responsible for that evil and deplorable tragedy. Official
American attitude was turned into a vindictive campaign of unparalleled proportions
against Islam, Muslims and Arabs. The American
campaign fury against Arabs and Muslims before and after September 11 took different
shapes and forms and was downright ugly and shameful:
Before September 11
·
The Arab World is an
Anti-Christ world – Webber & Hutchings, Is this the Last Century?
·
If the US ever turns
its back on Israel, we will no longer exist as a nation – Writer-Lecturer Hal Lindsey
·
Theologically any
Christian has to support Israel… if we fail to protect Israel, we will cease to be
important to God – Jerry Falwell
·
Dispensational beliefs
reduce ‘the complex and diverse societies of Africa, Asia and the Middle East to
walk-on roles as allies of Gog in God’s great end-time drama…the consensus was
clear: prophetic imperatives required the elimination of Arabs not only from (Jerusalem)
but from most of the Middle East…they stood in the way of God’s promises to the
Jews.’ – Paul Boyer, When Time shall be no More.
My
suggested response to those who define Arabs and Muslims as Anti-Christ Gogs, is to read
and study the Holy Koran and to see how Arabs and Muslims dignify and glorify Jesus, Mary
and all God’s prophets and messengers.
After September 11
·
‘We should invade
(Muslim) countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity’, columnist
Ann Coulter.
·
‘Just turn (the
sheriff) loose and have him arrest every Muslim that crosses the State line’, Rep. C.
Saxby Chamlilies (R-GA).
·
‘Islam is a
religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith where God sent his son to
die for you.’ Attorney General John
Ashcroft.
·
‘(Islam) is a
very evil and wicked religion, wicked, violent and not of the same God (as
Christianity).’ Rev. Franklin Graham.
Although I
have been a devoted student and supporter of Arab/American rocky relations for many years,
I have never observed them in such a state of deterioration.
The goodwill of the majority of Arabs and Americans is being held hostage by
arrogantly unjust American foreign policy/occupation and vicious Arab terrorism. The more I dig into the history of these two
apposing forces (American Middle East policy/occupation and Arab terrorism), the closer I
come to the logical conclusion of cause and effect relationship. Again, as I try to establish which force is the
cause and which force is the effect, I come to the factual conclusion that American Middle
East one-sided policy, in favor of Israel, preceded Arab terrorism by more than thirty (30) years of
deprivation and injustice.
The
ceaseless usurpation of Arab land,, constant displacement of Arab people and the perpetual
American support of Israel have been the source, the Mother and the Father of the
unwelcome Arab terrorism and regional upheavals. In
this regard, the United States has used the veto more than seventy (70) times nearly half of
these Security Council vetoes were in support of Israel against the will of the World over. What is happening in Iraq and Palestine today is American
foreign policy in action on the ground and in prisons.
President
Bush is not likely to win his war on terrorism unilaterally or by employing American
weapons of mass destruction. Yes, Mr. Bush
will likely waste billions of dollars, kill thousands of Americans and innocent civilians,
change governments, decimate civil societies but will never gain the hearts and minds,
wipe out terrorism or win the peace unless the underlying causes of terrorism are
acknowledged and justly addressed. As a result
of his unilateral and ‘rush to judgment’ approach, the international coalition
against terrorism has stumbled; international opinion provoked worldwide anti-American
sentiment and increased war costs with comparatively modest outcomes. President Bush must recognize that the distance
between success and failure is the American international credibility which has been
freefalling to unprecedented levels.
Does this
mean we should not fight terrorism or submit to the law of the jungle? Absolutely not.
The question is not whether we should or should not fight terrorism. It is how should the world fight terrorism? The answer to the question will become obvious when
the World recognizes that terrorism is a conveniently misnomered phenomenon of complex
social, political and criminal issues. The
intentionally and erroneously coined simplification (terrorism) made it impossible to
develop appropriate solutions to these intricate issues, within the civilized codes,
democratic principles and the due process of law. The
answer is not the American/Israeli marching armies, tanks, bulldozers and weapons of mass
destruction – the answer is plain and simple – justice. The World must recognize that terrorism is not
faith related, it is not culture related, it is not race related but atrocious hegemony
related and it is political and socio-economic related.
Having said
all that, I wish to add that America is a great nation with many wonderful and
compassionate people and it has a similar proportion of bad apples (people) as do other
human societies on planet earth. I say this, not as an adversary, but as a student
of truth, wisdom and human understanding. Many good Americans and Arabs have tried,
for many years, to bridge the cultural gap and further Arab/American understanding and
mutual co-operation only to find their efforts repeatedly frustrated and destroyed by
arrogant and hostile American Middle East Policies. American submission and
perpetually unlimited and unfair support of Israeli occupation and atrocities over the
years has become the bedrock of Middle East terrorism and instability.
I guess the
Arabs, Americans and the rest of the World are now living the prediction/prophecy of the
great American – Benjamin Franklin!
Courtesy of and © 2004 by Nassir M.
Al-Ajmi. The writer is a former Executive Vice President of the Saudi
Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), and Former President of Saudi Railway
Organization.
Other
Published Articles by Nassir M. Al-Ajmi:
Terrorism,
Inherent or Acquired? – August 11, 2002
The
Apathy and the Arrogance of American Foreign Policy – August 25, 2002
The Social Economic &
Political Aspects of the Saudi Privatization Plans – November 24, 2002
The
Tyranny of Anglo-American Democracy – February
16, 2003
A Heart
to Heart Talk – A Friend to Friend Discussion – October 27, 2003
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