Must-Read for the Day

Doctor Mohammad Al-Rasheed has another must-read article on the Arab News today. In fact, if regular readers don't normally click the links and read what I point out, I truly urge you to break habit and read this one. It's worth your time.

Here's a taste.

So what is wrong with subscribing to Pax Americana? In other words, what is wrong with peace on American terms? Every major power in human history, including Arab and Muslim, has imposed its version of peace on the nations of the world. A decade ago, we asked them to come and help. What has changed? They have always had a tangible presence in our land: They dug the oil out of the sand, they stationed their men here, they sold us arms, they helped open up the closed deserts, they kept the Soviets at bay, and even gave our students diplomatic visas to go study in their country. Are we afraid that they might rob us of our resources? Surely you don’t need an army to get Bechtel and Halliburton fat contracts. They, and many others, are already here and have built us some rather nice edifices. If they can do the same for Iraq, why not? The Soviets, and now their heirs the Russians, are asking for debt payments from Iraq. In terms of money, they demand more than the Americans do. In achievements, they delivered nothing. It is time to wake up. The passion aroused by the sight of an invading army into an Arab land is history now. Those who face reality have a chance of affecting change and marching alongside history. Those who keep up the emotional denial will end up regressing. We as Arabs should know. Bin Laden and his ilk do not have the right to speak for us nor dictate who stays and who leaves the Arabian Peninsula. Not an inch should be conceded to that lunatic and his misguided followers. He has sent them to their deaths while he (and/or those who survive him) dictate from the caves of Afghanistan.

Good stuff from someone who is tired of seeing his nation and his culture relegating itself to insignificance.

As an American who has fully supported the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and who holds America's interests above the interests of any other body in the world, I think that Al-Rasheed is the kind of person that I'd like to sit and have coffee with. Where, in many ways, we may not have much in common, we do have this: the desire to see Arab nations at peace with the rest of the world, Islamic at their core but liberal in their thought, and growing to be something other than oil producers.

I respect Islam in the same way that I respect most religions. That is, without having to subscribe to their specific beliefs, I respect the fact that those religions do their best to instill moral and better behavior in their adherents. For this reason, I understand and support the efforts of President Bush in ensuring that our efforts in the Middle East are not anti-Muslim, but anti-extremist.

Every day, American blood is shed in an effort to ensure our future security. Not for oil or imperialism or misguided adverturism, but in hopes of changing an entire region of the world. Winning once without changing the political outlook of the region simply ensures that this is a battle that we'll fight again in a few years; truly bringing about a change for justice and peace in the region, though, would mean improved security for the world.

There are many in the Arab world that want for themselves the same thing that we would bring to them: a future without war, without religious tyranny, and with hope. The changes that we are bringing to Iraq through coercion and strength are valuable, but how much more valuable would those changes be when coming from the hands of Arabs instead of Americans.

As an American, I can say that we don't want adversaries or dependents. We want partners and friends.

A hand extended in friendship from the Arab world will not be refused.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at December 11, 2003 02:14 PM | TrackBack