I am a firm believer that humanity is not to deal or speak in the absolute. Wiser men than those alive today have, throughout human history, refused to take this mission upon themselves. History has had its share of the less wise, and we never stopped tackling the absolute or using and abusing it to further our purposes.
I disagreed with President Bush when he declared the world divided into two camps: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” This smacked of a dangerous naivety that could have been used to arm-twist friend and foe alike into following the prescribed line from Washington. He should have rephrased it into something like, “You cannot support the terrorists and be our friends.” Semantics? Perhaps, but there is subtlety in the phrasing that this space does not allow me to explain.
Two years after the fact, emotions are not as explosive as they were and knee-jerk reactions are part of the past. Enough time has passed for each one of us to look and reflect. I personally had a chance to do that as I watched Bin Laden’s latest tape. His stroll up and down the scenic hill spoke volumes. The voiceover told a different story. The idyllic scenery did not match the words. There was fire and brimstone coming from the two of them.
Unlike America, those two had a single absolute message and tactic. America is the total sum of its culture, history, politics, science, and many objectives on its agenda. You can agree or disagree with certain aspects of its total sum.
You can also support or oppose a certain policy or a given president. But it is not made up of a single idea or a specific mission. There might be those who are anti-Islamic. But there are those who are pro-Islam. Just ask the Jews. They know a thing or two about the diversity of America.
Listening to Bin Laden, it dawned on me that he has a single mission and idea. He wants to settle his grievances through bombs and planes flown into buildings. That I cannot accept, and I will fight him if I have to for doing it all in the name of my religion. This is the decision we have to make around here.
I believe America has a right to be in Afghanistan because that is where the Sept. 11 plots were hatched. They don’t have the right to be in Iraq because, even though Saddam was repulsive, the world cannot function in such unilateral ways.
President Bush’s absolutist declaration is wrong simply because he speaks for America, which is not the single, clear, and absolute man Bin Laden is. Ironically enough, the declaration becomes more coherent if put this way: “You are either with Bin Laden or against him.”
I wonder how many of us would answer this question honestly.
- Arab News Opinion 18 September 2003.
