JEDDAH, 30 May 2004 — Helga Harris’s letter (May 5) to the New York Times, presumably in response to the revelations of the torture inflicted in Saddam Hussein’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison by the United States military on ordinary Iraqis, was simple and short: “What happened to our once highly respected country? I cry for what we once had.”
I wish to reply as an Arab who attended your schools in the 50s, and as someone who learned from his time at the University of California at Berkeley the true values and traditions of America.
My fondest memories of my education at this great university were of the freshness — imagine that now — of the reality that America was a beacon of democracy. It was a nation that after WWII could be justifiably proud of its dominant position and of its heroic deeds in helping Britain and its allies overcome repellent dictators and reinstall civilization, democracy and optimism in the defeated nations.
I am reminded of the beautiful American people I met, of all classes, my friends, who were willing to meet with foreigners, to listen to their ideas, and to offer solutions to their problems. I am also reminded of the beautiful American woman that I married and took back home to my own country. She enriched not only my life, but also that of her family, my family and all of our friends’ families too, both in the US and Saudi Arabia.
These are great memories that will always be in my mind and heart. And so I owe it to my friends in America — a country I as an Arab, and many of us Arabs, respect and love — that I must come forward to express some thoughts about the tragedy of the American intervention in the Middle East and the machinery of war that has been chosen to impose American values and American control.
What we have seen in the photographs of the abhorrent treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib is merely a glimpse of what, to some, appears to be an attempt to ensure the total humiliation of the people of the Middle East. It is unacceptable. To use force, rather than diplomacy, to convince the Arab people to accept Western values (regardless of the good that may lie in them), is to use the tools of force rather than persuasion.
The Arabs have a long history, most of which is admirable, and some of which — like most others’ — is not. But, overall, the Arabs are rightly a proud people, and a people who have made tremendous contributions to the human civilization. Your readers will not need reminding what all those contributions have been.
Everybody, and in particular every American, knows what 19 suicidal Arabs did on 9/11 in the US. We ordinary innocent Arabs, despite our genuine expressions of shame and horror at what happened, have suffered countless humiliations and recriminations for that offense of those few against humanity. But we, in common with so many others, have also learned since then that we are all now victims of the same evil elements still engaging in their ruthless goal of subjecting us to their constant terrorist atrocities to achieve their as yet unknown ends. So what must we do? It is simple: Together we have to find ways to fight this new phenomenon. But we will not succeed only through war. We must also attempt the effort of understanding. We must know the causes of the horror enacted against us all, and I repeat: Us all, in order to be able to render just judgment and to effect a cure. Little or no effort seems to have been made in this area recently.
To return to the issue of Abu Ghraib. The Iraqis in particular, and Arabs in general, are justifiably shocked, hurt and angry about the obscenity of what happened to the prisoners there in the supposed name of freedom, democracy and the American way. Equally we are shocked at the beheading of this innocent American at the hand of his captor. How can America possibly convince Iraqis of the benefits of their systems if they treat Iraqis as evilly as Saddam did? We should all, all humanity, be ashamed of what happened. But we must find a way also to atone for those evil deeds and, in humanity’s name, we must share it together.
Therefore I propose that on June 29, 2004 — this is one day before the US will transfer sovereignty to an Iraqi authority — at 7 p.m. EST each of us will give 15 seconds of silence and meditation and prayer to remember those who were made the victims of brutality so as to show our repentance and to offer our regrets to the families of those who were so obscenely abused.
Whatever, I will do so with my family, my friends and others who I will rally, to share in those few seconds an honest pledge to communicate our heartfelt desire for peace around the world, to ask forgiveness for those who have done unforgivable harm to others, and to show our sympathy for those to whom harm was done.
Like Ms. Harris, I want the same thing for all of us, which is to remember the goodness within America that surely, I hope, has not died. I hope too that America’s decision-makers will realize that the policies they have been pursuing in the Middle East recently is counterproductive, both to America’ interests and to those of their supporters in the Middle East.
Finally, I hope that America returns to the America of integrity, of capacity and of idealism that we all loved, so that the recently idle but incredibly rich reservoir of fresh ideas, hope and compassion flows free freely once more. Recent events have portrayed Americans as sinful, evil occupiers of another land. I hope it will soon become in Arab eyes, American eyes, and the world’s eyes, the America it once was. That is, a country that has the integrity, the capacity, and the desire to save the world from the darkness — to which it has contributed — that we are in today.
— Hassan Yassin is a Saudi businessman. He is based in Jeddah.
