Open letter to Bush from an Arab girl
BY MIRA AL HUSSEIN
2 August 2006
President Bush, It has become extremely difficult to give you the benefit
of the doubt on Lebanon, for you have left no doubt in our minds. We are now
certain like many of us have always been that your foreign policy is
completely biased towards Israel, and you have made no effort to hide this
fact. Just out of curiosity: are they also drafted in Tel Aviv?
It is your choice, Mr Bush, to support Israel, just like it is our the
entire Arab and Muslim worlds choice to support Lebanon. You insist that
Israel has the right to defend itself. Defending oneself, I believe, is a
universal right, not exclusive to Israel.
"The first Qana massacre did not quench the Israeli thirst for blood," it is
said, graphically describing yet another Israeli crime against the innocents of
Lebanon. In Qana, 57 armless, defenseless civilians died in an Israeli air
strike, 37 of them were children. Maybe these numbers dont matter to you, Mr
Bush; they are mere numbers of the nameless Lebanese dead. But they matter to
more than 200 million Arabs in the Middle East.
I quote our late president, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who in 1973
had said, "Arab oil is not dearer than Arab blood." But it seems that Iraqi oil
is dearer than American blood. I am somewhat relieved to arrive at this
conclusion. At least theres no racism against a certain group of people.
Everybody is a potential sacrifice to secure US interests, even if it means
sacrificing a whole nation.
No, Mr Bush, we will not accept, nor will we allow the sacrifice of more
Lebanese civilians. A ceasefire should have been enforced two weeks ago. Was
there a need for 37 children to die before you decided it was time for a
ceasefire? How many more, Mr Bush, should die before you decide to stop sending
those bloody weapons to Israel? Perhaps we can afford a sacrifice that will
rein in your generosity towards Israel permanently.
We have a dream for a new Middle East. Not the "New Middle East" that youve
been brainstorming in your Oval Office. It is the new Middle East that Middle
Easterners have been dreaming of; a Middle East with no violence, and no
US-made weapons to fuel that violence. It is a dream only we, Middle
Easterners, are allowed to dream and realise it.
In Arabic we have a saying that goes, "They murder the murdered and walk in
his funeral." Allow me to interpret this for you, Mr Bush: Your
precision-guided missiles shipment has arrived in Tel Aviv. These missiles will
"precisely" fall onto Lebanese villages; kill hundreds; and displace thousands
more. (Evidently, weve just witnessed the first "precise" target in Qana.)
Yet you have "compassionately" been able to send aid to Beirut, at the same
time, with supplies for the thousands of people directly and fatally affected
by your vocal, (im)moral and military support for Israel. Please include US
flags in your aid shipment to Beirut; they must have burned all the US flags in
stock.
Mr Bush, Lebanon can and will be rebuilt, but lost lives cannot be restored.
Your credibility and your governments credibility have long been lost
irretrievably lost like those lost innocent lives. People will not forget this
though. They will not turn the other cheek; they will retaliate just like you
had chosen to retaliate after 9/11. Retaliation is a value you have
successfully promoted by putting it into practice, always.
I was born too late to see how the British Empire had collapsed, but right on
time to see how the American Empire is falling apart. Mr Bush, You will surely
be remembered in history for hastening that process.
With no more respect to offer,
Mira Al Hussein
Mira Al Hussein is a UAE national writer based in Dubai who has had a brief
stint with the KT. She can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
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