Leaving a Mark
Contrary to the sunny optimism of the Emperor and Secretary of State Smashing, things are not going well in the Middle East. Afghanistan and Iraq are both dissolving into chaos, but what is getting the broader coverage is Israel's punishing attacks on Lebanon. Those who reside in the Middle East, even our putative allies, are shocked and dismayed by the lack of American concern. Saudi Arabia, for example, is less than pleased, as evidenced by this op-ed piece by Lubna Hussain published in Arab View:
The atrocities being committed in Lebanon provide us in the Arab world with another superfluous reminder of the fact that our blood is cheap. As if Iraq wasn't enough to prove our irrelevance in the global picture, further insults are being heaped upon our mounting sense of humiliation.
...As civilians in Lebanon and Palestine are murdered daily by U.S.-made and U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons, President Bush has characteristically shown more interest in the abstract phenomenon of protecting frozen embryos. One would be forced to wonder (given his total disinterest in the sanctity of Arab and Muslim life), that if these embryos were conceived in the Middle East, whether Bush would be as enthusiastic about the question of their preservation.
And what lesson is it exactly that Bush has set out to teach us? Ah yes! But of course. He wants to show us "Ayrabs" how to behave. How repugnant and downright disrespectful that we speak a queer language that he doesn't understand! And what's even worse is that we camel-herding desert-dwelling Bedouins have a whole crazy bunch of oil that would be far better suited to the gluttonous gas-guzzling consumption of his citizens than to our modest campfires.
We should be grateful to Bush. He is, after all, our self-appointed savior and wants to instill within us the etiquette of democracy. No. Not hypocrisy, democracy. Even though they the two words sound remarkably similar when he pronounces them. (The "Ayrab" definition of hypocrisy would be the United States providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon while rushing precision-guided missiles to Israel, in so doing helping to obliterate those it seeks to "help."). However, not democracy in the broad definition of the word, since when we did follow his advice and elect Hamas by a sweeping majority, we were punished for bringing in the people's choice!
No, no, no! In the Middle East, democracy, according to the new definition in the U.S. State Department Dictionary is, "a government that is not necessarily elected by the people but who we think should be elected."...
I wonder what the catchphrase used for the displacement of three-quarters of a million people from their homes in Lebanon is going to be? "Furniture removal?" I suppose that the rather conspicuously copious amount of plastic sheeting (2,000 rolls) so generously donated by the U.S. government to the Lebanese has been eagerly dispatched to wrap up the bodies of dead women and children. Or perhaps it could be used as a protective shield when the Israelis conduct one of their U.S.-sponsored "surgical strikes?" (the modern medical equivalent of the amputation of a limb to get rid of a wart). And so what if such death and destruction is completely avoidable? At least it keeps the American public entertained. Without us in the Middle East. all the American news networks would be forced to run stories inspired by Miami Vice and Starsky and Hutch. [Emphasis added]
It's not hard to discern the white hot anger below the snark, and it's not hard to understand the basis for that anger. The US has deliberately dilly-dallied on forcing Israel into a cease fire, perhaps to enable the IDF to get good use of all the high tech weaponry quickly shipped to it by Washington. In the meantime, hundreds more Lebanese civilians have been killed and thousands injuried, many of them women and children. That all of this is shrugged off as "the birth pangs of democracy" by Secretary Rice is appalling.
And the result of this kind of foreign policy is found clearly articulated by Ms. Hussain in her concluding words:
So the next time Americans ask why the world hates them, just tell them to switch on the television. The answer to their question lies under the rubble and the ever-expanding graveyards in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and now Lebanon.
Heckuva job, George.
The atrocities being committed in Lebanon provide us in the Arab world with another superfluous reminder of the fact that our blood is cheap. As if Iraq wasn't enough to prove our irrelevance in the global picture, further insults are being heaped upon our mounting sense of humiliation.
...As civilians in Lebanon and Palestine are murdered daily by U.S.-made and U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons, President Bush has characteristically shown more interest in the abstract phenomenon of protecting frozen embryos. One would be forced to wonder (given his total disinterest in the sanctity of Arab and Muslim life), that if these embryos were conceived in the Middle East, whether Bush would be as enthusiastic about the question of their preservation.
And what lesson is it exactly that Bush has set out to teach us? Ah yes! But of course. He wants to show us "Ayrabs" how to behave. How repugnant and downright disrespectful that we speak a queer language that he doesn't understand! And what's even worse is that we camel-herding desert-dwelling Bedouins have a whole crazy bunch of oil that would be far better suited to the gluttonous gas-guzzling consumption of his citizens than to our modest campfires.
We should be grateful to Bush. He is, after all, our self-appointed savior and wants to instill within us the etiquette of democracy. No. Not hypocrisy, democracy. Even though they the two words sound remarkably similar when he pronounces them. (The "Ayrab" definition of hypocrisy would be the United States providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon while rushing precision-guided missiles to Israel, in so doing helping to obliterate those it seeks to "help."). However, not democracy in the broad definition of the word, since when we did follow his advice and elect Hamas by a sweeping majority, we were punished for bringing in the people's choice!
No, no, no! In the Middle East, democracy, according to the new definition in the U.S. State Department Dictionary is, "a government that is not necessarily elected by the people but who we think should be elected."...
I wonder what the catchphrase used for the displacement of three-quarters of a million people from their homes in Lebanon is going to be? "Furniture removal?" I suppose that the rather conspicuously copious amount of plastic sheeting (2,000 rolls) so generously donated by the U.S. government to the Lebanese has been eagerly dispatched to wrap up the bodies of dead women and children. Or perhaps it could be used as a protective shield when the Israelis conduct one of their U.S.-sponsored "surgical strikes?" (the modern medical equivalent of the amputation of a limb to get rid of a wart). And so what if such death and destruction is completely avoidable? At least it keeps the American public entertained. Without us in the Middle East. all the American news networks would be forced to run stories inspired by Miami Vice and Starsky and Hutch. [Emphasis added]
It's not hard to discern the white hot anger below the snark, and it's not hard to understand the basis for that anger. The US has deliberately dilly-dallied on forcing Israel into a cease fire, perhaps to enable the IDF to get good use of all the high tech weaponry quickly shipped to it by Washington. In the meantime, hundreds more Lebanese civilians have been killed and thousands injuried, many of them women and children. That all of this is shrugged off as "the birth pangs of democracy" by Secretary Rice is appalling.
And the result of this kind of foreign policy is found clearly articulated by Ms. Hussain in her concluding words:
So the next time Americans ask why the world hates them, just tell them to switch on the television. The answer to their question lies under the rubble and the ever-expanding graveyards in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and now Lebanon.
Heckuva job, George.
posted by Diane at 9:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home