JEDDAH — Three weeks of war in Afghanistan (is it really war if one country constantly attacks another and the attacked country is unable to strike back at its attacker?) have passed with no signs of Bin Laden and Co. being captured or even sighted. Yet the American attacks on Afghanistan go on, destroying the little that remained after years of civil war.
The unfortunate Afghans seem to have been returned to the Stone Age by the Americans; the Taleban had already introduced them to a backward medieval era. And as we wait for those guilty of the Sept. 11 attacks to be caught and punished, ordinary people — as ordinary as those killed in the attacks — are having to experience the double standard of the Americans. It is happening now and the whole Islamic world, and much of the rest as well, is horrified and upset by it, but little notice is taken.
In every Palestinian street, Israeli forces are wreaking havoc and the world looks on, merely asking the occupiers to show more “restraint”.
Crowds of Arabs who are glued to their TVs to see what is happening in Afghanistan are also forced to watch similar scenes in Palestine. Questions are inevitably asked in every house and on every street corner. They are questions that may never be answered but they are nonetheless floating around the Muslim and non-Muslim world.
Following are some samples.
* How many more have to die, starve or be wounded before the United States finds a better way of “smoking out” the terrorists allegedly in Afghanistan?
* How much attention does the American government pay to the UN and international aid agencies? A UN official called the US drops of food rations “catastrophe for humanitarian aid” and warned that the “US is effectively feeding Taleban fighters.” A spokesman for Doctors without Borders said, “Besides being a drop in the bucket, airdrops are problematic for many reasons. Without aid workers on the ground, we have no way of ensuring that the food gets to the needy... also airdrops could pause danger to the intended recipients as Afghanistan is the most heavily mined country in the world.”
* Why does the US use harsh language about countries whose opinions differ from its own with the mildest language reserved for Israel which regularly jeopardizes the peace and security of the entire Middle East?
* Why is the whole world required to join in retaliation for the crimes against humanity in NY and Washington when no similar approach is required for Palestinians who are regularly killed by Israeli forces?
* Why try to win the public with such a naive approach as not bombing on Fridays? People need to be given intelligent and honest reasons for bombing, if there are any. Or are Afghanis given a chance to pray just before they are killed? The British journalist, Robert Fisk, made a valid point “I wonder how many Afghans will be left alive in 10 years to appreciate the respect we showed them by not bombing on Fridays.”
* Why the effort to beautify the ugly face of war? Sending peanut butter, jelly and crackers to starving people? Are we not capable of a more humane approach to the tragedies in Afghanistan? The vast majority of Arabs sympathize with the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. At the same time, we must take a more serious approach to the tragedies in Afghanistan or else people will forget what happened in the US and begin to mourn their own people exclusively.
*Why were we flooded with propaganda before the beginning of the war? We were led to believe that operations would be measured and assurances were given that satellite and modern technology would make it easy to target Taleban military bases and supplies.
If that was so, why are civilian casualties increasing, with homes and villages being destroyed?
What about the Red Cross compound hit twice in two weeks? If the Americans know what they are targeting, then go ahead and hit it. If they are striking indiscriminately, they should stop their talk of technological precision and calculated operations.
Did Mr. Bush consider when he said that this war would be “unlike any other” that the tragedies resulting from it might push the atrocities of Sept. 11 into the shade?
