March 19, 2003 The Liberation Of Iraq, Iraq War - Website by Q Madp

Tuesday April 15, 2003

Hussein Shobokshi

As the statues of Saddam Hussein were falling in Iraq, it became clear that the rule of the Baathist regime was over. Iraqis were divided between euphoria over Saddam’s departure and agony over the enormous loss of innocent lives due to the bombing by the Americans.

One group in Washington, the neocons, was ecstatic; they were rejoicing and celebrating after act one in their grand drama was complete. Immediately after the US troops rolled into Baghdad, Rumsfeld and, of course, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, began spreading messages that Syria and Iran will be the next targets in the American campaign to politically reform the Middle East. Like mad dogs of war hunting for their prey, they go from one victim to the next.

Yet Wolfowitz and Perle are “good boys” protecting their Jewish motherland Israel. I wish there was a more honorable explanation for it. Their plan, which has been talked about in journals, discussed by think tanks and intellectuals and been called a conspiracy theory, is no longer merely a theory.

The biggest problem with the “campaign” pursued by the American administration is that it lacks the moral values, which are the core of the American constitution. “All men are created equal” is the basis of the Bill of Rights, but that concept of equality does not apply in America’s foreign policy any more.

A case in point is Americas complete refusal to address the horrific track record of Ariel Sharon and the gangsters that rule Israel. They have taken advantage of America’s campaign in Iraq to murder dozens of innocent Palestinians, destroy their property and expand its settlements on a daily basis. So long as America refuses to accept that the Israeli-Arab conflict is the root cause of all problems in the Middle East, the solutions it proposes will be short-lived and incomplete.

I used to have a dream that the political values of America would be the salvation for the third world countries. But something odd has happened.

The US constitution now has an editor in John Ashcroft. Foreign policy has been taken over by madmen like Wolfowitz, Perle and the like. What America needs to do is to re-examine its priorities, regain its moral code and find its political and social equilibrium. Till that happens, the “dream” is a living nightmare that must come to an end.

Liberty for the Iraqi people came at a high price, but in order for America to achieve political reform in the entire Middle East, it must be willing to shoulder the cost. The cost in this case is a fair and balanced policy that addresses all the issues in all the countries of the Middle East equally.

The Arabs are in great doubt that America “sincerely” means to reform the region, because it has been unwilling to criticize Israel. Only America can change that impression.

Arab News Features 15 April 2003