Wednesday, September 7th, 2005
Good morning...
What is happening in the Arabic and non-Arabic countries around Iraq
these days?
Yesterday, there was some news about a fight in the Saudi city of
Al-Dammam that lasted for three days, between the governmental
security forces and " some wanted armed persons", as they were called.
The fighting ended yesterday by killing 5 armed people, and about 10
deaths and some wounded from the governmental security forces.
The question is: who were those people who were killed?
Why the mystery that surrounds these stories?
Were they nationalist oppositionists against the government?
Why aren't we allowed to know the subject of the conflict between them
and the government?
Is there a Saudi parliamentary council who discusses such matters,
making the truth known to people inside Saudi Arabia and outside the
truth about what is going on?
Why would the western media, and especially the American, make such a
fuss about silly, petty subjects, exaggerating about them under the
pretext of Human Rights, like the right of Saudi women to drive cars,
opening those subjects as public issues for debate and dialogue inside
Saudi Arabia and outside, but ignores, and clearly conspires to cover
up the stories of the repeated fighting between the government and
opposition groups who get killed after armed confrontations that would
last for days, and would demolish the houses of the neighborhood
around them, their bodies would be burned to cinder, without any
useful information that declares what exactly happened?
Who controls and directs us in the Arabic countries?
Do our local governments derive the legitimacy of their survival from
their people? Or rather do they derive that legitimacy to survive and
remain from America, and its support?
The people in the west think us dumb, ignorant people who hate
democracy and freedom...
But whoever lives here sees exactly the opposite....
We are people who have been fighting the darkness and ignorance that
our governments want to let us sink in for long years, we struggle for
freedom and democracy. Our religion urges us upon freedom, inciting to
join the others in taking decisions, urging upon the spirit of unity
and collectiveness, and urges us to love justice, and die for it...
Are we backwards people, following a backwards religion, worshiping a
strange god, and our doctrines are vicious, stupid, and closed?
That is how the westerners portray us...
And we are the opposite...
We are exactly the opposite....
******************************
In Egypt, an election is taking place today, to elect a new
president...
The present president has been in office for more than twenty years...
The country suffers serious economic crises that are difficult to
solve, the poor are getting poorer, and there are some rich people who
are getting richer, as usual... there is official corruption, as
usual, and some hot, debatable topics, like the relations with Israel
and how should they be.... The freedom of the political Parties, Union
activities, and the other civil society organizations...
This is the first time a multiple-candidate presidential elections
were permitted, the government controls the media as usual, and they
did all they can to constrain matters for the new candidates, they
accepted some and rejected others under many pretexts, and there was a
conflict with the Egyptian judiciary to obtain the right to monitor
the elections by the civic society organizations.
By GOD, my respect for the Egyptians increased in these difficult
conditions as they try the impossible to improve their political life,
and to achieve freedom and democracy.
And everybody says that President Mubarak's chance to win the majority
of votes is the most likely, and the opposition announced their
suspicions about the integrity of the elections since the
beginning....
In spite of the people's tiredness, but they participated in all the
stages of the election process, to assert their serious wish in
change.... that they hadn't lost hope yet, but will keep on trying one
time after another, until their wishes would be fulfilled...
It seems that the government's existence law in our countries these
days is such: we obtain our force and existence from outside powers
who want us to remain, and not from the support or the wishes of our
people...
And this election is the game of democracy, nothing more... do not
yarn for the existence of true democracy on earth...
I think this is how we have been for tens of years, but in a hidden
way...and now, no one would feel ashamed any more...
America talks by the policy of actuality, meaning; in spite of the
people's noses, we do what we like...
Isn't this the cowboy mentality, that who doesn't acknowledge the law,
thinking himself above it?
And the same story is repeated in countries like Latin America,
Africa, and East Asia; in countries dominated by the invisible or
evident hands of the American imperialism, where the will of the
people is pushed to the margin, their wealth is stolen, and pro-
imperialism factions are put in the power seats... the story is clear,
repeated, and became boring...
They think they will always win by enforcing the "Actuality" policy on
those poor people...
But, as they say, the days will stand between us, and we shall see
....who will remain firm on the ground, and who will fly off,
away......
************************************
In Syria, Lebanon, and Iran, there are some questionable, accelerating
events. There are some strange hands messing around there too, to
change whatever can be changed politically on the ground of
reality....
*********************************
As for Iraq, the story is more complicated, but still clear...
The aim there is to fragmentize all the nationalistic powers and the
Iraqi Parties, thus pushing the country back into the ages of
sectarians, creeds, ethnics, and tribes, attempting to drown them in
side fights and conflicts, and exaggerating all these, until they
would forget their real enemy: the occupation...
As if the program in Iraq says: You fight among your selves, and we
shall help you to formulate a constitution that will achieve
dissension on the ground of reality, so you would remain busy with
endless arguments and conflicts...
As for the occupation, it will build military bases, so as to remain
in Iraq indefinitely, and the American investment companies will come
to start the real job of sucking the Iraqi wealth; the oil, and
others... Long live imperialism and its interests, and down with the
Iraqi's right in freedom and independence...
The reality of the condition says: let them fight and conflict, always
open up new problems for them, planting those who love the west among
them, to divide their ranks and destroy their unity, and the tension
will always be present, giving a justification for the occupying
forces to remain...
These are the new policies of the west towards our countries; a policy
of fragmentize and destruction from the inside, slowly, and with
continuous malice......
***************************
There are a lot of theorizers in the American administration who laid
down the idea of re-drawing the Iraqi map; geographically and
demographically, to make it the democracy model in the region!
What model is this? According to them, they imagine that Iraq can
change from a fighting country into a peaceful country, like what
happened to Japan after WW2, and would turn into an industrial
country, or a center for capitalism in the Middle East and the Arabic
region.
By GOD, I don't know how these na�ve people think? They imagine that
humans are tools in their hands, for them to program as they wish, and
to direct where they wish.
They talk freely and confidently of these notions... but for us they
are just funny, far away dreams...
Not because the Iraqis hate industry, technology, and peace...but
because no one can force the people to forget their past, principles,
and convictions in life that easily, to adopt another character,
completely different... an imported character from the west...
And where would that change come from?
From a foreign occupation force?
How would people accept such a funny idea?
Like the way the lambs would accept the idea that the wolf is their
friend, seeking their interest?
The people who produce these theories in the west are people blinded
by the pride of superiority...and the truths as they are on the ground
of reality will carry the answer for them one day....
These people think that the people's will is a silly, extinct thing...
But I believe, and a lot of people believe, like me, that the people's
will is true, and just...like GOD the Mighty... seen by the believers,
denied by the disbelievers...and that is an on going debate, until the
day of judgment.
**********************************
I go back to the Saudi model again....
I lived in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the 1980s; and I saw their
life style at that time, the people were pampered and luxurious, they
had fancy, latest model cars, women wore gold by the kilos, and used
the most expensive French perfumes. The men usually had four wives,
they had East Asian servants in almost every house, the salaries were
excellent, the income level high, water, electricity, phone lines and
services were very good, reaching every village, the public facilities
and places were clean and tidy, there were servants everywhere,
provided by foreign companies; in the airports, hotels, and public
gardens... the families travel to Europe with their servants, spending
thousands of dollars yearly in shopping and fun, the men go to casinos
and gambling places, and spend some more thousands of dollars...
At that time, I came from Iraq who used to live through the war with
Iran, entangled in it by the American government, as usual. Gandhi
used to say: If two fish had a fight in the sea, look for Britain for
involvement! And we in Iraq can say the same for America, for we saw
nothing of her pretty face...she always exposed her ugly face and
fangs for us...
Before that, I worked as a volunteer in some Palestinian camps during
the Lebanese civil war... then, I came to Saudi Arabia, it was a
different, strange environment; no national awareness, no parties, no
civil organizations, no Unions, nothing at all... people just eat,
drink, get married, and have as much fun in life as they can...
Then, I went with my relative many times to places they call: "the
base", I didn't understand what they were, we used to visit good,
respectable Saudi ladies, and we spoke about our families and
children. They were the wives of the military officials there, then I
discovered that it was the American military base in the South, in the
"Khameese Masheet" area where I used to live...
It was another world.....
Houses, streets, gardens, residential, and commercial buildings
designed evidently in the western style...
I never understood what those bases were, and why they were there...
Now, I recall the memory, and laugh at my naivety and unawareness at
the time...
Perhaps at the naivety and unawareness of us all...
Those bases were perhaps used to raid Iraq for times and times....
Now, if I were to go and live in Saudi Arabia, would I go and visit
the base, and my friends there?
Would I look at them as neutral locations populated by the families of
military personnel?
Am I the same, as I was twenty years or more before?
Or rather, am I the same as I was before Iraq was occupied?
Do I look at the west and America by the same na�ve, wondering vision
before the war serial against us started: Do they like us, or hate us?
Do they really come to our countries to help and develop, as they
claim in their media, or just to divide us, break our national unity,
then steal our wealth to finance their countries, and develop it?
As for us here, we only reap a bitter fruit from them.....
**************************************
When I was in Saudi Arabia those days, I used to tell myself: these
people couldn't rebel one day against the rule of religion and the
tribe, which are well rooted in the country for a decade or more...
They live peacefully, they eat, sleep, and think of no others... the
government gives its citizens unique distinctions, for the Saudi
citizen has the right to guarantee any non-Saudi person, (an Arab or a
foreigner), and that alone gives the Saudi citizen a comfortable way
of life, and an excellent income without much effort... any investor
must have a Saudi partner...and thus, the investor or the non-Saudi
resident lives under the mercy and the moods of the Saudi citizen,
perhaps he would turn out to be a just, honest, well-bred person, or,
alas, he might turn out to be unjust, a lier, or an opportunist, so he
would devour the rights of strangers, and kick them out of the
country, and the government is on the side of its citizens in all
conditions, applying programs like: terminating the employment of any
non-Saudi employee if a Saudi with the same specialization applied for
the job.
At that time I told everybody: By GOD I wish Iraq had such laws to
protect the Iraqis and pamper them, but the laws in Iraq don't give
the Iraqis any more rights than the others.....
**********************************************
After the Iraq-Kuwait war in 1991, things started to change in Saudi
Arabia; America forced Saudi Arabia and the other Arab countries to
accept the principle of the Coalition, and the war on Iraq...there
were a lot of the wise men in the nation who called for the necessity
of an Arabic-Arabic solution to the problem, but America pushed in the
direction of a western interference, and the nationalization of the
crises...
The war on Iraq took place, and somehow it depleted the Saudi
economy... and so, things changed...
The economic crises started; a reduction of the salaries and
privileges of the Saudi and non- Saudi employees, the poor and needy
emerged in the society, and beggars were seen in traffic light
locations in the streets...
Some criticism against the government inside Saudi Arabia and outside
started to appear, along with the opposition inside and abroad,
against some economic, social, and political issues...
Saudi Arabia is an excellent place for investment; there are factories
for food, electrical, construction materials products, and others, and
most of these factories are foreign, with a Saudi license.
The cars inside Saudi Arabia are mostly big, fancy American cars, with
custom made specifications, especially manufactured for them... so,
the country is an excellent market to sell the American products...
And in the beginning of the latest war on Iraq in 2003, America
started to pull its armies out of Saudi Arabia, considering that
country an unsafe area... so they transferred the military command
center to Qatar, Al-Aideed base, and commanded the war on Iraq from
there...
The question is: Why weren't the Saudi people controlled to accept the
concept of the American existence, even after tens of years of their
residing safely among Saudis? Why did movements that resemble a
resistance start appearing inside Saudi Arabia now?
Are they a bunch of outlaws, as the media is trying to make us
understand, or are they the beginning of a new age in the region? An
age that rejects the west, and its reckless policies against the
people's wills??
************************************
So, what did they expect from the Iraqis?
The history of the Iraqis has no luxury, and no pampering...their
history is full of confrontations and clashes with the Ottoman
occupiers, then the British occupiers, then various national
governments, but the people continued their rebellion from time to
time....
And even if they seem silent sometimes, they comprehend exactly what
is going on around them, and they are very difficult to fool... Saddam
Hussein tried to wash their brains, and they showed him obedience, but
their minds and hearts retained their convictions......
After the fall of Baghdad, the Iraqis opened their eyes again, after
the long darkness...
And they discovered that those who came now to rule were no better
than those who went away, but rather uglier, because they were unjust,
sitting under the canopy of a foreign occupation that provides
protection for them. Saddam Hussein was unjust, but at least he had
some fear of revealing his ties with the west, and he had the least
minimum sense of nationality.... he used to say: we do not like the
occupier... we won't permit him to steal our independence and national
wealth. And whether he was lying, or telling the truth, the people
were content with his patriotism and national spirit...
But those who came with the occupation are nothing more but miserable
employees who receive their orders from their masters... agreeing
publicly to the remaining of an occupation force in Iraq...
How shall we create some dignity for them in our hearts?
How shall we respect them, and acknowledge them as legal leaders for
us?
It is evident that they, along with the occupation forces, are in a
deadlock... and they are trying by all means to market the process of
being accepted in the Iraqi street...
By the daily brain washing in the media, or by enlisting agents for
them in power, in the civil society organizations... or everywhere...
***********************************
The development of people's comprehension is a fact, on the ground of
reality...
And it is a fact ignored by the theorizers of the American policy...
We have a parable that says: a cautious person is usually bit in his
lair...
Meaning; he receives the deadly stroke from the least expected
direction.....
People's comprehension is the thing that capitalism and imperialism,
who occupy the people, and are filled with the conceitedness of
superiority, do not believe in....
But I bet, as many others do...that people's awareness grow day by
day...as my own awareness grew, personally, after the occupation of
Iraq, and my eyes opened to see the picture with its true
face...without lies, without embellishments ..........
At the beginning, I ran in Baghdad to work with non-governmental
organizations, because I believed they were going to work for the
Iraqi's welfare... then I discovered these were outlets through which
the occupation policy was being spread, to infiltrate to the people...
nobody financed the honest national organizations, so they had
financial problems, then closed their doors.... As for the
organizations that were financed by the occupation, in one way or
another, they grew, and spread among the people to market the
occupational notions, and to beautify them in the eyes of the
Iraqis...
After I got back from the Red Sea to attend the Iraqi Women
Leadership's Convention, that was supervised by an American Congress
Committee, last spring, a Convention which I called the "brain washing
Convention", in which the Americans strongly outlined the ideas of the
constitution, federalism, the government's type, and the oil's fate,
but one which I found very hateful, and full of poisons, so I left it
on the second day, when I was supposed to remain for five days, but I
couldn't bear the poisons in it....
Before the Convention, I usually had my dinner or lunch at American or
Arabic restaurants, I didn't care which, for I used to say: all the
same... but after that, I found myself totally refraining from
entering any American chicken or hamburger restaurant... in my head,
an idea solidified: I shall not take part in financing capitalism from
my own pocket, however humble the expenses were, but I shall not give
it to them...
So I went back to eating in Arabic restaurants only...and I taught my
sons to do the same...
Who pushed me into this decision?
The foolishness and arrogance of the Americans in the Convention,
their attempts at treating us like we were stupid, without minds,
personalities, identities, or independent decisions of our own...
And they, by their stupid policy with us, are pushing us far away from
them....
They are pushing "us" to choose... so "they" would be the aliens.
And by GOD, I see they are pushing us to be more nationalistic, and to
belong more to our identity...
Shall we say: Thank you to them?
**********************************
And after that, they dream Iraq would become a center point for them,
a base to spread their notions among the Arabic countries....
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