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August 12, 2006
When Demons and Criminals Rule Our World
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui
NOT too long ago, in his second inauguration, January 20, 2005, President Bush hypocritically preached that his administration would stand with all the freedom-loving nations of the world, especially in the Middle East.
In that speech, he also said, "America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way." Talk is cheap and can be misleading. As I had feared in my earlier assessment, Bush delivered just the opposite of his promise. His administration did not want Dr. Ibrahim al-Jafri to become the Prime Minister, in spite of the fact that Jafri was the clear choice of the plurality of the Iraqi people. It did not matter what the Iraqi people, and its Shi'ite majority in particular, had decided or wanted; once again it had to be someone that Washington wanted. Yet the same Nouri al-Maliki, when he condemned Israel's criminal, brutal and murderous campaign in Lebanon, Washington and its Israeli ‘Amen Corner' were irate that their ‘good' Prime Minister did not quite sing the Master's voice. So when al-Maliki was to appear on Capitol Hill, many Senators and Congress members threatened not to show up during his speech unless he retracted his condemnation of Israel. What a travesty of democracy and naked demonstration of support for the pariah state!
There was also the parliament election in Hosni Mobarak's Egypt in which Ikhwan Muslimeen, the largest opposition party, was allowed to compete. We witnessed how the supporters of Ikhwan were stopped from voting in scores of polling stations. Remember Bush's inauguration speech? He said, "We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require decent treatment of their own people." Once again, the Bush administration failed to rein Mobarak from his maneuvers since it knew that, in a fair election, Ikhwan would be the sure winner. In spite of all the tricks up Mobarak's long sleeves, Ikhwan proved its grass-root support by winning 88 seats.
Then came the election in the Occupied Palestine. All efforts were made by the Bush administration and its rampart Israel to make sure that Hamas could not win the election. These backstabbing and demonical activities were in clear contrast to Bush's rhetoric in which he promised, "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you." Who can deny that Palestinians living in the Israeli Occupied Territories are the victims of one of the most brutal, oppressive, tyrannical, racist, and dehumanizing regimes on earth? Yet, far from removing oppression, the Bush administration is the very force that cultivates and sustains oppression of the Palestinian people. While all aid to Palestine is cut off, it rolls out billions of dollars to the Zionist state so that the latter could unilaterally annex more parts of Palestine and imprison the Palestinians in small Bantustans. Through its naked support of Israeli violations of human rights, the Bush administration has essentially become the aggressor and oppressor. The administration has not relieved oppression anywhere, not even in the SPDC-run Burma (Myanmar), with its own record of horrific abuses and tortures against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.
The Palestinian people had seen enough of Bush's empty promises (since 2000) and corruption within the old guards of Abu Mazen's PLO administration. So, in a vote revolt, they preferred the Hamas overwhelmingly. To Bush, the election result must have felt like an earthquake of Richter scale 7 or higher. Hamas opted to share power with the losing Fattah, in spite of the overwhelming mandate to form the government on its own. It was a well-meaning gesture rarely seen in most parts of our world. However, the losers, in a mood of defiance and short-sightedness that was welcomed by Washington, chose not to form the coalition government.
Remember again that deceitful speech of Bush when he said, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture"? When Arafat's PLO was in office, the Bush administration was highly critical, alleging lack of democracy, and preaching an overhaul of the Palestinian administration. However, when the Hamas came to power, with its train of honest legislators, every criminal effort from mass starvation to indiscriminate bombing (that has already killed some 124 Palestinian civilians) has since been practiced by the rogue Israeli government with lucid approval from the Bush Administration to forcibly bring it down. In clear violation of international laws, Israel has invaded Gaza, stopped the flow of cash and goods, and made the entire Occupied Territories a modern-day concentration camp. As if these were not enough of its crimes against humanity, lately, Olmert's government has opened another new chapter of pariah statehood by kidnapping government ministers and members of the Palestinian Parliament. No harsh rebuke for such acts of infamy has yet come from Condi and her boss. As a matter of fact, they are the most enthusiastic cheerleaders for war crimes of Israel. What a dastardly demonstration of Bush's vision for democracy and liberty!
It was also not too long ago that Lebanon experienced its ‘Cedar Revolution' that forced the Syrian forces out of Lebanon and elected the independent government of Fuad Siniora. As a legitimate political party with its broad appeal and grass-root support in southern Lebanon, Hizbullah participated in that election and consequently joined the government. One may recall that before Israel's latest invasion, Lebanon was touted as one of the success stories of Bush doctrine. Soon after becoming Prime Minister, Siniora visited Washington D.C. and pleaded with Bush to press Israel to release kidnapped Lebanese citizens and to disclose information on mine fields in the southern strip from earlier occupation. But the plea from the elected Prime Minister of the democratic nation of Lebanon met deaf ears. What a betrayal of trust by the Bush Administration!
Israel has been violating air, water, and ground sovereignty of Lebanon for decades. In any other part of the world, such routine violations would be construed as declarations of war, ushering in condemnation from the UN Security Council. But when it comes to the terrorist state Israel, the veto-wielding mother-states of the UN are absurdly cool. It is, after all, their illicit creation! To chastise it would be unthinkable!
It was not a question why, but when the pirates of Israel would be caught by Hizbullah border security forces. But when that time came on July 12 with the capture of two Israeli soldiers when they trespassed inside Lebanon, the same Bush Administration, that had hitherto kept mum during scores of violations of international laws by the pariah state, became preposterously vocal in denouncing the capture. A massive media blitzkrieg was launched by the Olmert-Bush governments, their supporters in the ‘Amen Corner' and neocon foot-soldiers to pinpoint the origin of the current crisis to this particular event and blame it all upon Hizbullah, Syria and Iran. With one stone, they want to kill all three birds, making the region subservient to Israel. After all, the latter two countries had dared not to join the Bush wagon of emasculated Middle Eastern nations! Forgotten also were the facts concerning kidnapping of thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians that have been languishing in Israeli prisons for years.
There are now ample proofs to suggest that Israeli invasion had nothing to do with those captured soldiers. It was hatched up by the Bush-Olmert administrations months before the capture. So, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commit gruesome massacre of civilians in Lebanon; destroy its infrastructure from airports to seaports, bridges and roads, hospitals, schools and orphanages; bomb Lebanese residential areas and Palestinian refugee camps (let alone Lebanese Army barracks); and the civilized world cries out foul against Israeli aggression, brutality and savagery, Condi and Bush are shamelessly all smiles and openly justify Israeli war crimes. No guilt, no sorrow! How sadistic and immoral!
In a clear display of cruelty, the USA even vetoed a UN resolution that called for condemnation of Israeli invasion. Hoping that Israel would match her 1967 (6-day) victory against the poorly armed Hizbullah resistance fighters, the USA initially vetoed all efforts to bring about a ceasefire. These unpardonable and criminal actions are sad reminders of how NATO let the genocide of unarmed Bosnians to continue for months in the 1990's before saying "enough is enough" when the tides of the war started shifting in favor of Bosnian Muslims.
And now that the war is dragging on for four weeks, with no signs of a quick IDF victory over the Hizbullah in sight, a UN Draft Resolution, scripted by Tel Aviv-Jerusalem/Washington, has been put forth by the USA and France. This sham proposal, while appearing to call for cessation of all hostilities, is blatantly one-sided in favor of Israel and against Lebanon. It does not call for withdrawal of Israeli invading forces from the Arab-cleansed occupied territories. This would once again allow the Zionist state to fulfill its expansionist dream of retaining territories all the way to the Litani River. No consideration has been given to the genuine grievances and concerns of the victims of aggression --the Lebanese people and its government-- or of the Arab League. Their rightful call for simultaneous cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of invading troops with rapid deployment of Lebanese Armed Forces to the blue line separating the Zionist state from Lebanon is simply overlooked by the modern-day warlords, masquerading as neutral arbiters. What a charade! The UN is once again exploited to further punish the victims and reward the culprits.
Through the invasion of Lebanon, Israeli warlords have shown that their hatred of Arabs is more than their love for their own children. The sheer brazenness of this operation and the American complicity to let this mayhem continue shows that the axis of evil seems to run through the administrative centers of the USA to Israel via UK.
Truly, nothing really surprises me anymore with Bush and his associates. When millions of people suffer from atrocities and brutalities of Israel inside Lebanon and Occupied Palestine, only an insane person or a criminal can take delight from such war crimes. No time in my life have I witnessed a world leader to be this inhumane and hypocritical!
My grief comes from the fact that I was one of those who wanted to believe in Bush's lies of ‘compassionate conservatism' and hoped that our world would become a better place to share. It did not take me long to see through his deception, but it was too late. I self-incriminate myself for casting my vote to elect a demon in 2000.
(Dr. Habib Siddiqui resides in Philadelphia)
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