Rise Of Colonialism
Written by Sivan Muhamma
sivan@muhamma.com
The US coalition - Iraq war has almost ended, No sign of Saddam and his colleges. No sign of weapon of mass destruction. Streets are littered with dead bodies of Iraqi men, women and of children, hospitals are filled with wounded, lack of drinking water or food, mass looting of homes, business places, museums, libraries and Iraqi people are slapping their shoes on images of Saddam Hussein. Iraqi people are exercising freedom by fighting each other and grabbing whatever they could carry in their hands or in the trucks. They know that this won't last long. There is no sign of policing in Baghdad. We are picturing destruction of a country in the name of ' Liberation Iraqi Freedom'. Is this the liberation of a country ? Is this the freedom offered to Iraqi people by US? By bombing whole country and killing its own people and lead the country in to state of anarchy ? Just tearing down of a saddam's statue brings Iraqi's freedom ? I do not see any similarities to the past moments of great history such as the tearing down of the Berlin wall, the student protects at Tiananmen Square or the image of Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank bringing down the soviet union's communist government. Differences are clear, unlike the other events created by the upsurge of freedom from the Germans, the Chinese students and the the Russian people, tearing down of the Hussein's statue was not the result of Iraqi people' s uprising, but result of an unjust war. The statue was brought down by US marines, not by Iraqi people. After all, It was not long ago that we saw similar images of Iraqi civilian's on the same street celebrating Hussein's government and slapping their shoes on images of President Bush.
Making comparison to Tiananmen square, for example have we forgotten about the students who bravely confronted Chinese government tyranny ? They were arrested, jailed and many were crushed to death by military tanks. The United States watched and embraced China with international recognition and continued economic support. Ousting Saddamm Hussein, a dictator, a murderer is noble and reasonable, but the way it was done wrong. As people watched Hussein's statue tumble in the presence of cheering Iraqi people, we saw the moments marked the removal of one tyrant and the possible birth of a new one, led by the United States. Some Arab countries are glad that Hussein is gone. But we also remember him as having trained, supported and funded by prior American administration when he led the war against Iran.
I think Hussein's statue was little more than another piece of rubbish removed to make room for future of more problem. Thousands of muslim extremists might have been created from every bomb dropped in Iraq. These bombs were not intended for liberation of Iraqi's but for destruction of a country. The war on Iraq and the statue destruction don't offer any hope or freedom. Iraqi people are going to be same situation as before but under different regime with control of US.
I think situation in Iraq is sending a clear message to the rest of world that a super powered country can invade smaller countries like Iraq without a just for war ? British did same thing to India in 1800 and had been ruled for years, finally they defeated before the uprising of Indian people. Is it a birth of new era of colonialism led by America & British with silent support of UN puppet. Who is next under the attack of said US-led coalition ? Syria , North Korea ?. The list never end. Do we have enough cash to go for one more war against other countries ?
Who is going to benefit from the "reconstruction of Iraq ? I don't see any Iraqi going to get any post-war related work since there is list of American companies, who have already done home work even before start of the war. American companies with white house connections will get secret contracts for rebuilding Iraq, struggling Halliburton is one among them, where Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO.
An American victory is still assured, but winning the hearts and minds of Muslims throughout the Middle East - is not. Indeed, so far, the US is losing that battle.
.