Great are the hopes that have been hung on the new American President Barack Husayn Obama, now that he has gained the absolute affection of his citizenry domestically and the trust of the overwhelming majority of the almost 7 billion people of the world. The tasks and challenges set in front of him are greater than what he will be able to overcome successfully, at home or abroad but he, despite what is said about the paucity of his experience, will not be worse than President George W. Bush, who left behind a legacy replete with failures and botched wars. The largest success the new American president will be able to see through is to return the White House to the Americans and to liberate it from the lobbyists who have hijacked it, that is, specifically the Jewish lobby and the weapon manufacturing lobby, and to reallocate to serve foreign policy interests.
If President Obama wants to have his country return to lead the world and rebuild the bridges with Muslims and the Third World countries, the magical recipe for this would be to do the opposite of what his predecessor Bush did, who left the Oval Office with insults chasing him out and without apologizing to anyone.
More precisely, we mean humility, and the distancing from provocation by haphazard and illusory force and power, the respect of international law and imposing the respect for international law on others at the same time and the return of the United Nations to a respected and esteemed status; we are pointing to the values of justice, democracy and equality, all of which, (when followed), are the best models which could help win the minds and hearts of those hundreds of millions who hate the United States and its disastrous policies which have destroyed countries, killed and displaced millions, have made the world less safe and more dangerous and have led it to become bankrupt economically after having been bankrupted ethically and morally. We in both worlds, the Arab one and the Islamic one, do not want the new American president to be on our side and support us on matters; to this endeavor we cannot look forward because of our experience with the nature of American institutions and how they make decisions; we want him just to be neutral and not to stand in the other camp and to wage wars against us on a purely ideological basis.
We want the American president to listen to us as well and to deal with the facts on the ground, from an ethical viewpoint, and on the basis of international law and its rules and put an end to the crimes and violations of those who place themselves above this law and who behave according the the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak and impose their will through the power of the murderous American weapon.
President Obama needs no explanation from us about the Israeli massacres in occupied Palestine and before that in Lebanon; he only needs to have witnessed parts of it in the Gaza Strip over the last 3 weeks. And if he needs more, he only needs to call Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General and to listen to what he witnessed, since he has just returned from wandering around the region and saw with his own eyes the bloody imprints of what the Army of the only democracy in the region and its American made missiles and planes left behind.
We hope that he himself goes to the ill-fated Strip and sees the children whose tender bodies were burnt by phosphorus bombs or the houses who caved in over the heads of their owners or the schools belonging to the United Nations and whose flags were clearly raised and the way in which they were transformed into mass graves of innocents who had sought refuge in them.
President Obama promised to respect Muslims, and this is a good and encouraging thing, but this respect can only become reality through policies of action which translate on the ground; the most fundamental of these are the admission that military decisions failed to solve the crises and to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan and Iraq; to put an end to American support, militarily and diplomatically, of Israel's massacres and to force them to respect international treaties and the resolutions made by the UN.
Pledging to fight terrorism and to defeat it cannot be achieved through war and setting up failed states as Bush has done in Pakistan and Iraq and previously in Somalia; and these are all Islamic states. On the contrary, this can only be realized through calm diplomatic dialogue together with the language of welfare for all as well as putting monetary assistance to work for the benefit of political and democratic reform and peacemaking and not to support corrupt dictatorships in order to oppress its people and to turn a blind eye to the Israeli slaughters or, in the best case scenario, covering them up.
The new American president must realize that his country is no longer the single great power in the world, for it has lost its reins on power; the time is past when it would decide to wage wars and recruit allies, through persuasion, intimidation, or fleecing, and use international organizations to provide a legal cover for its wars. For there are world powers on the rise, such as China, Russia, India, and Brazil, and one goal unites them: usurping the Unites States from the throne of power while making itself the judge of the potential of the people of the world.
We do not for one second doubt the intelligence of the new American president and the power of his character, for he does not for one second hesitate to interact with his adversaries and opponents as well as powerplayers and including them in his administration, such as Hilary Clinton and Robert Gates and Joe Biden. But what he is deficient in and what we hope, is that he uses logic in dealing with the burning international issues. Among them: negotiating with Iran and other movements such as the Taliban, Hamas and the Iraqi resistance. For all previous empires have negotiated with those whom they considered terrorists; security was only achieved in the streets of London after the British government negotiated with the Irish Republican Army.
Sending additional troops to Afghanistan will not produce victory nor stability there; it may yield totally opposite results. For Afghanistan is not Iraq. Creating "Sahwat", or Awakening Councils, was a decision that proved to be a failure in the past and will not be successful in the future. More troops means more defeats and losses in the ranks of the foreign troops. And the few security successes that have been achieved in Iraq because of this strategy might be "temporary." Who believed that the Taliban and Al-Qaida would return with such force to Afghanistan 7 years after its infrastructure was destroyed and its members scattered because of the American occupation and NATO forces.
We don't want that the new American president start issuing decisions; his seat in the White House isn't even warm yet. But it can be said that he seems genuine when he speaks, and his intentions for "change" are positive indicators. We believe that the ruling American "institution" might not grant him the freedom to maneuever which would allow him to transform his intentions into actions on the ground. The one thing that pleases us is to see George Bush leave the ring with a crown of ignominy, not saying sorry to anyone, his hands stained with the blood of the children in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine; it is enough that, after eight years, he has failed to achieve the great mission he promised to achieve, to arrest or kill the leader of Al-Qaida or his second in command or ally Mullah Muhammad 'Ummar.
http://www.bariatwan.com/index.asp?fname=2009\01\01-22\21z50.htm&storytitle=ff%C7%E6%C8%C7%E3%C7%20%E6%C7%E1%CA%CD%CF%ED%C7%CA%20%C7%E1%DA%D1%C8%ED%C9%20%E6%C7%E1%C7%D3%E1%C7%E3%ED%C9fff
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment