-Caveat Lector- http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=24519 Arab News SAUDI ARABIA'S FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY
""To most Americans who have never traveled beyond their country’s shores, all of this is very hard to fathom or accept."" Exclusive: Moral Clarity, War on Iraq, and the Moment Haani Nowailaty Published on Sunday, March 30, 2003 “Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need to seize the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.” Not long ago, I forwarded an e-mail entitled “Et tu George W?” composed of the paragraph above containing the words of Julius Caesar describing his warmongering approach to government and the loss of liberty as the price paid by the citizenry of Rome. It seemed a direct historical reflection and mirror of the policy of US President George W. Bush and his administration toward an invasion of Iraq. An overwhelming number of the responses received from my American friends were in adamant, even fervent support, of these sentiments. However, I also received a solitary dissenting response from a dear friend of mine in Ohio. John, the Ohioan, stated that he was in full support of the war policy of the reigning “King of the World” and took me further to task by stating that I had made a mistake in targeting him as part of my audience with that e-mail. His closing statement was the question: “Where is your usual editorial describing the opposition’s viewpoint?” Well dear John, your wish is my command, although I don’t think this is really what you want to hear. In order to understand the level and depth of the opposition and hatred facing the current US administration around the world in general and in the Middle East and the Islamic world in particular, we must take time to examine the situation from within and without the American experience of 9/11 and also from within the context of the present and immediate post- 9/11 world. However, to do so will entail a very lengthy discourse on the history, politics, and machinations of the last century, complete with an analysis of the history and effects of the Cold War, and the Arab-Israeli conflict of the last 50 years, coupled with an exposé of the history of American political, economic and military involvement in the area, and by extension in the world outside the US, especially in the Third World, added to a further examination of the American military culture post-World War II, and the rise of the military-industrial complex, then move to touch on the domestic and international economic, social, cultural, and political repercussions of US global policy since it turned away from isolationism, the end of the Great War and finally end with an analysis of the synthesis of all these factors producing the current crisis of worldwide animosity, resentment, suspicion and general distrust toward the US in general and this administration in particular. A long list indeed! I, the author, am already confused! Naturally to do this accurately and fairly requires a lot of writing, a task which I am ill- prepared to attempt or carry out at this moment or in the foreseeable future. But being the word-slut that I am, always jumping at every opportunity to commit my thoughts to paper, then broadcasting them far and wide, I will attempt “as brief as possible” an answer. Forget the boring, inordinately long history lesson hinted at above. Forget also the airing of legitimate international grievances against post-WWII US administrations’ foreign, economic and environmental policies by a majority of the populations of the world’s other 190 nations. Forget the fact that the US with only 5 percent of the world’s population consumes over 50 percent of the world’s resources and how embittered the rest of the world feels, especially when the US takes a “prudence be damned” attitude, and has backed out of 5 critical international treaties since this administration took office. Forget the full cultural attack by the US media and marketing firms upon the much older cultures of Europe and Asia, including the export of MTV-style morality and the heavy price that comes with it for the youth of the world, and the dismay of their parents who see their traditional roles being eroded by the seductions of the mighty Madonna, or the must-be-emulated Britney Spears. Forget that every single dictatorship and tyrannical despot, including good old Saddam, and a host of other butchers and meatpackers from Chile to Indonesia were, until their fall from grace, henchmen of the US, and it was the US who supplied and trained them and conveniently failed to notice their death and rape squads. Forget that Osama and his henchmen were originally trained and supplied by the CIA when he was fighting the Soviets. Forget that all of this is but a sample of US foreign policy and is only a small fraction of the tales that could be told, each of them requiring a volume in itself. Put all of it aside despite its relevance to the subject, but know, realize and focus on this: That long before Sept. 11, 2001 — in 1996 to be precise — a study was undertaken by the Rand Corporation, a highly important and effective policy designing US conservative “think tank” that included among its major policy development outlines specific recommendations on how to change the geopolitical map of the Middle East in order to combat the perceived rising threat of politically militant Islam, to guarantee an uninterrupted long-term oil supply to the US at reasonable costs based on projected future consumption levels, and — I admit I am not sure about this one — to examine an “alternative” possible long-term solution to the nagging and ever-present Arab-Israeli conflict, which was beginning to escalate out of control, thereby threatening to destabilize the entire region by plunging it into another full- scale war, with highly undesirable effects for the US economy and the US’ world position. And while considering this, please keep in mind, first and foremost, that this was a “selfish” study aimed at the formulation of future world policy for the direct benefit of the US and the US alone. According to this study, which has been repeatedly cited by all the premier heads in the field, the starting point of the Middle Eastern geopolitical “makeover” was a military invasion of Iraq. Those of us who take a very keen and personal interest in the affairs of the region and have read what has been published by leading authorities in the field regarding the current crisis, have known this — or at least suspected it — for quite some time. Some may argue that this is all hearsay, but I think a close critical long-term observation of the progression of events in the region will prove them wrong. What the Rand study did not forecast, however, was 9/11. I have read repeatedly that the intelligence community was acutely aware of a possible, even probable, major terrorist strike against the interests of the US prior to 9/11, but no one anywhere suspected or imagined that it would take place on US soil or that it would be of such magnitude or have such overwhelming, world-altering consequences. It was commonly believed that the target would be a US military base or installation, in much the same way as the attack on the USS Cole, but to a much greater and more devastating degree. Viewed from this perspective, it can be fairly stated that what 9/11 did was accelerate the process by which the recommendations of the Rand Corporation’s study were reviewed, concurred with and put into practice. The attacks of 9/11, as abominable, hellish, and murderous as they were, nevertheless gave the powers-that-be an unprecedented window of opportunity to implement the recommendations of the study, beginning with the invasion of Iraq. However, another account had to be settled first and rightfully so. The little excursion into Afghanistan was the initial retaliatory step in the rightful campaign against terror. The world stood by the US during the tragedy of 9/11 and during the Afghan campaign and continued to support the US-led effort to combat and nullify the threat of terrorism. There is no quibble here and to use the words of the president, the war against terrorism is full of “moral clarity”, which no sane person can argue with including most Arabs. And speaking of Arabs, it is important to note that other than the actual victims of 9/11, their communities, families and loved ones, no group in the world was hurt as much as the Arabs. To world opinion, all Arabs, regardless of where they are from, regardless of their occupations or personal convictions, regardless of their societies being the most sedate and law-abiding cultures on the face of the earth, overnight became terrorists and heinous, villainous murderers. It was, and still is largely, a grave ethnic liability to be an Arab in the West, regardless of what is said to the contrary; I should know my friend. 9/11 fell upon the Arab world with the full force and deep hurt of a well-aimed and well- delivered slap in the face and we will forever bear the marks and feel the stings. And even though there were protests from certain “Arabic” quarters at the initiation of the Afghan campaign, all non-extremists in the Arab world were in their hearts overjoyed at the prospect of the removal of this evil from within their midst, neighborhood and community. Then during his State of the Union address, the man for “moral clarity” uttered the unforgettable and now infamous phrase “Axis of Evil” and the other ultimatum about choosing sides — both of which were delivered in what the world at large considered the most offensive, pompous, self- righteous and undiplomatic language possible. Having thus set the stage and perceiving a deliberate course of action, the world revolted in response. But how do you argue with the world’s only superpower? How do you argue with the directing force behind the greatest military machine the planet has ever known? How do you argue with an economy that should it sneeze the world catches cold? How do you argue with the saturation of global media coverage and the forced imposition of a particular viewpoint, even if it is merely imposed by constant repetition? How do you argue with the ideology of firmly-held beliefs, constructs, convictions and ideas concerning ascendancy, morality, faith, right and wrong, be they in themselves right or wrong? That night, sitting far removed from my memories of life in Ohio, as I viewed the commentaries of non-American news broadcasters, one could feel the bitterness and resentment toward the US starting to build in the hearts and minds of the rest of the world. No one likes an ultimatum; individuals and nations with a long history of mutual dependence and supposedly shared aims and values do not respond well to being so cornered and forced, even accused. The US administration was stating in no uncertain terms that it and it alone was capable of distinguishing good from evil, legal from illegal and right from wrong. The wave of resentment grew in direct proportion to the belligerence of the US administration in voicing this stance and opinion by the tactless Rumsfeld or the heartless tag-team of Cheney & Ashcroft and last but not least, the infinitely sophomoric Ms. Rice. These faces and what they represent were keys in fostering an atmosphere of distrust and fear of the US. Yes, fear — for it seemed to the rest of the world that a fascist regime had taken up residence in Washington and that it was ready to use its heavy artillery to pound to smithereens anybody and everybody who dared to object or criticize its views or aims and that by virtue of its unassailable might, it had appointed itself the judge, jury and executor of planetary justice and the sole arbiter of planetary morality. In some ways, and this is only noticeable to those of us who have visited the US recently, the US was the equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting of its old nemesis, the Soviet Union. As in Dali’s painting, a muddled view of reality was projected by peddling fear, anxiety and paranoia to its own people. At the same time, the US was guilty of moral hypocrisy by threatening to deal death and destruction at will and, with the slightest provocation, around the world — and then North Korea stopped that illusion dead in its tracks. Up until 9/11 the salaries of all the top Taleban officials were paid by — you guessed it — the US tax-payer. Scoff if you will but that is a documented fact. Up until 9/11, the multi- billion dollar contract for the construction of an enormous oil pipeline through Afghanistan was beginning to slip away from the hands of a certain vice president’s oil conglomerate. Up until 9/11, the Middle Eastern regimes and their other Third World cronies that aided and abetted “Al-Qaeda” were being propped up, coddled and fully supported by various US administrations, including the present one. But even more to the point, it must be firmly noted that the world outside America was, and remains, of the firm opinion and conviction that the war against terror has very little, if anything to do with the Iraqi invasion, and that the two should never, ever be confused, despite the administration’s insistence and the manipulation by the media to suggest that Iraq and 9/11 are part and parcel of the same endeavor. What “moral clarity” is this? The whole world outside the US therefore opposes this war for a good reason and that reason is that with respect to its foreign policy, American morality and justice has become what America, and America alone, deems moral and just, regardless of fact and contrary to what our eyes witness, our ears hear and our hearts and minds tell us. The world, rightly or wrongly, fears that this war is only the beginning of a much larger adventure, that the reasons given are not genuine, that the American version of the truth simply will not persuade, and that the whole endeavor is an arrogant exercise in world supremacy to the ruin of us all. To most Americans who have never traveled beyond their country’s shores, all of this is very hard to fathom or accept. I understand this fully and it pains me greatly to write these words for what I am writing about is most certainly not the America that I grew up in and fell in love with and to which I hope to return to permanently some day. It has always been and always will be my true home, and it is where my heart and soul live. And it is at this point that I must point out that I am in no way defending the monster in Baghdad, whom I thoroughly loathe along with most other regimes in the Middle East, or wherever they are, which are also guilty of shamelessly prostituting themselves and enslaving, subjugating and tyrannizing their helpless populations in the worst ways imaginable. I am merely stating the facts and embellishing them with my own observations and commentary. So, dear John, you asked for the opposition’s viewpoint, and here is one aspect of it. I sincerely hope that I am totally in error and that events will make me eat my words. I honestly do. I hope and pray that the people of Iraq will truly be liberated and that history and posterity will look at George W. not as a conquering Caesar, but as the great liberator of not just Iraq but of all those in dire and urgent need of liberation. But I am much closer to Saddam’s weapons, which I know he has, than you will ever be for I live in the immediate vicinity, and I look at my wife and children at night while they are innocently sleeping and worry for them and their futures. War has always been paid dearly for by the lives and blood of the innocent, and this one is proving no different. I saw an e-mail the other day before the beginning of hostilities in which the American author had callously and heartlessly stated “There are no innocent people in Baghdad!” I think of the countless mothers and fathers in Iraq whose babies are now living under fire from both American and Iraqi guns and can not help but wonder if they would say the same of you and yours, had the roles been reversed and if only they too had the luxury of being out of range. Take care, and God bless as always. (Haani Nowailaty is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah) Arab News Features 31 March 2003 Copyright © 2003 ArabNews All Rights Reserved. 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