War talk fills the papers, the radio and TV. As the world moves inexorably toward conflict, President Bush always uses the same words. They are not encouraging ones and in his shadow is Blair. If we can believe what the two leaders tell us, the reason for this war is to achieve peace.
War for us who are outside the corridors of power and who live far from its killing fields is frightening enough. It’s a blend of gory TV and newspaper pictures and journalistic patter. Those who actually experience war, those who will lose their homes and family members, those who go to bed without knowing if they will wake up — they alone know what war is.
I was introduced to the idea of how being in a war zone might feel. Spending a day and a half in a Welsh country house, the landscape was beautiful but we were not there to enjoy the wonderful views. We were there to take part in a hostile environment course, how journalists might survive in war zones. Our instructor showed us video images of journalistic coverage of conflict and war. Blood, torture, destroyed houses and people with vacant looks moved through the films and pictures. The second day we experienced war simulation scenarios, machine guns, bombs, land mines and the challenge of dealing with an unpredictable situation. Running uphill on muddy paths, trying to escape the simulated danger, my eye noted in passing what is peaceful, beautiful landscape. Suddenly the contrast between how safe our world can be and how dangerous it can suddenly become became unsettling. Away from easy ways to deal with war as it approaches and for those who are threatened with it, there is no way to feel safe right now. People here hate the idea of war, at least those I have spoken to. On the way to the airport, the minibus driver turns on the radio to listen to the Sunday press conferences of Bush and Blair. As he does so, he gives his own sarcastic comments to the two leaders’ words.
Through long conversations with journalists and others, I see that nobody seems to understand how the world is being dragged into this chaos. Yet President Bush seems to see nothing else before him. How is it that he is now talking about implementing UN resolutions? What happened to all the other resolutions against Israel that were vetoed by the US and ignored by the US? A BBC correspondent in Iraq said yesterday that people in Iraq were more vulnerable today than they were 10 years ago. Yet Bush and Blair say they want prosperity for the Iraqi people! People in the Arab world are frustrated by this tragedy which will not go away and by the lack of a fair American policy toward the Middle East. Their anger and frustration, it has been made clear, do not count. Only when the American government wants to ease the tension does it offer calming words and rosy promises to consider the problems of the region. Now Bush and Blair are talking about peace in the Middle East, just as they did before the war in Afghanistan.
How does all this fit into a picture? The picture of a world in which logic and fairness are sidelined all the time? Where power is the only answer and the only justification. It’s a world divided between ordinary people and politicians.
After spending two weeks with people from such countries as India, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Brazil, Malaysia, Peru and others, I feel that we who are the ordinary people don’t see life like politicians. We can talk, argue, be friends and express opinions and yet we get along and share similar concepts and ideas of what the people of the world really want and need. Someone said: “Our gathering here proves that even though the politicians do not know much about ordinary people, we ordinary people can get along fine with each other. We do not have problems with each other and we do not need wars.”
Arab News Opinion 18 March 2003
