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Posted on 04/08/2003 8:45:04 PM PDT by B4Ranch
Arab News
SAUDI ARABIA'S FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY
JEDDAH, 9 April 2003 — Now it’s obvious that the Iraqis aren’t going to put up a credible fight, and it’s equally clear that as a result the world has changed into pretty much what the Americans wanted it to be. The pride the Arabs felt in the initial stages of the invasion, before those legendary “pockets of resistance” halting the advance of the world’s only superpower were revealed as a myth, has been replaced by immense shame and humiliation. The images of US soldiers taking a picnic in the heart of Baghdad will haunt the Arab psyche for generations to come.
Yesterday I heard a young Saudi mockingly shout at a friend he had a minor disagreement with: “You’re an Arab.” I asked him what that was supposed to mean, and he told me that the shabab (youth) are now throwing that word about as though it were an insult. He left me with the feeling that it was meant to be taken only as half a joke.
Everyone has betrayed everyone. America led the way, abandoning its Jeffersonian democratic foundations in favor of crude economic exploitation and colonial expansion. The Arabs quickly followed suit, abandoning their brothers. Britain turned its back on Europe, while Europe chose lip-service over action when push came to shove. Saddam long ago betrayed his people and so the Iraqi people, in turn, predictably betrayed him. Less predictable, but equally devastating, was the passive betrayal of the Republican Guard. They betrayed their honor and dignity, which we are supposed to believe are the most important things to any Arab man, let alone an Arab fighter.
America has triumphed, and it would not be an overstatement to say that the whole world — formerly represented by the United Nations, the greatest betrayer of them all in this mess — feels betrayed by the ease with which America has managed to pull this off. The junta in the US were right: Don’t listen to all the talk about resistance and anger. The Iraqi Army is a joke, and the demonstrations will soon pass — just as they did over the boy martyr, Mohammed Al-Durra.
The message has been clearly sent: No country, certainly no country in the Middle East, can ever withstand even a half-baked military campaign against it led by the United States. America now rules the world, either directly or by proxy; and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Nothing, that is, but wait for history to take its course, for Fortune’s wheel to turn as it inexorably does, crushing underneath those who once danced on top of it. But not in our lifetime. Yes, there will be more terrorism, and Osama Bin Laden — or at least his infamous voice — was heard once more yesterday, calling for suicide attacks and thus giving more easy justification, as he did on Sept. 11, to America’s imperial ambition. Thanks, Osama, you’ve done us all about as much good as George W. Bush. Both are two sides of the same coin.
So what of the immediate future? Some things can surely now be taken for granted. The hastily concocted “road map” for Middle East peace will be implemented, creating a still-born Palestinian state completely dependent politically and economically on Israel. A democracy of sorts will come to Iraq, and sooner or later to much of the Middle East — just enough to give the people a sense of freedom while allowing America to justify at home a continued “partnership” with the rulers of the region. As in the 1990s, when those on the Left suddenly found themselves disenfranchised after the Berlin Wall came down and Stalinism was replaced in Eastern Europe with that cruder system of exploitation, undiluted capitalism, so now those on the side of basic justice and human rights know that the international, independent judges have been bought off, and there is no longer any recourse to moral argument.
Morality, in a word, has been thrown out the window. The only hope now is that the US will somehow be kept in check by those ordinary Americans who, like the vast majority of the world’s people, feel betrayed and abused by what the Bush “regime” has done — all the more so for being carried out under their very noses.
—bradley@arabnews.com
With the influx of diversity I don't think we are going to be able to build up the internal strength to continue fighting the horrors of the world much longer.
Our current population has so many recent foreigners and illegal aliens who are voting and demeaning the well known American culture. Refusing to assimilate into the communities they live in, we are seeing small foreign communities building up within our larger cities.
These small Saudi Arabian, Iraqi, Russian, Mexican, Cuban, Haitian, African, Somali, etc., communities are jammed full of refugees, legal immigrants, and illegals who are not of the American culture. They do not have our sense of values, pride and patriotism, respect for the flag, etc,.
Some days being proud of our government officials is just very difficult. How many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are going to be invited and welcomed to come to America at the end of the fighting in Iraq for whatever reasons available?
Guess what? Our national sovereignty is melting from within. Wait for the next term when the Democrats or a RINO Republican is in the White House. Some big changes are coming to our country. Are you ready for them?
YES!
Shows where the writer's sympathies lie !
America is not going to occupy Iraq. An Iraqi government is going to be established by the Iraqi people. Unfortunately they're probably going to set up an Ayatollah government like Iran and be in bad shape all over again, but it seems that will be their choice.
Look at Japan and Germany, countries soundly defeated. They have their own government. Heck, we even let France have a government of their choice and they're practially communists.
So don't worry. Take another hit on your hash pipe or whatever they call that thing they smoke over there.
What a crock! You haven't a clue.
American "sovereignty" is at 50-year high-water mark.
Our diversity is our strength. In case you hadn't noticed, there's a cross-section of America (indeed, including illegal immigrants) in the armed services liberating Iraq.
You're a xenophobe. America is still the land of hope. Just look into the eyes of those Iraqis, dancing in the streets.
Hells bells, we have survived Democrats and Rinos in the White House already.
Winning Iraqi FreedomWe are at a fulcrum, an apex. As a society we can use this opportunity to complete the obvious and undo the UN and embark back towards our own soveriegnty and a foreign policy that begins to make sense ... or we can cave, and fall back further down than we were before.
http://www.winningiraqifreedom.com
But who among us, just three years ago, would have predicted this ... the humilitation, negation and revelation of the UN for what it is and the liberation of Iraq?
Oh we have a lot of ground to make up ... a whole lot internally and internationally ... but at least we are doing some things that are pushing/pulling us in the right direction ... and that is a cause for hope.
Best Fregards my friend.
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