The odd thing about conspiracy theories is that the stranger they sound the more likely they are to be right.
Since the Sept. 11 tragedy, conspiracy theorists have been having a field day with various explanations of what has followed. What makes the current arguments particularly interesting and credible is that they are provided from opposite directions of the political spectrum.
Is it a war on Islam? That could be the case if you listen to groups who have established “credible links” to the policies and actions of the American administration with clear anti-Islamic ideologies amongst its prominent members. Or could this war be about oil? This one seems to be very popular in the West and the rest of the world as there are again “legitimate arguments” to be made about the American interest in securing oil sources in the Gulf and the Caspian Sea.
There are various other concepts and theories that attempt to explain the reasons for the US’s aggressive unilateral policies today. What is very clear is that what is happening on the political front does not represent the will or opinion of the American public, but only of a minority in think tanks, corporate leadership and secret societies. It is quite clear that foreign policies are influenced and directed by people with dual loyalties and secret objectives like Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle.
These people’s have a hidden agenda that is an integral part of every key foreign policy decision, particularly the fantasy linking Saddam to Al-Qaeda in the name of the war on terrorism.
That is the work of dreamers who believe that a war will deter terrorism. But while disarming Iraq may delay terrorism for a short time, it will feed its causes even more. Saddam Hussein may go; terrorism will stay with us until all of its causes have been addressed. These causes include all butchers, Ariel Sharon among them.
Yes, there is appalling, fanatical hatred loose in the world. But if America were as busy with the practice of compassion as it is with the craft of war and commerce, there would not arise from among the hopeless and desperate so many who see no alternative to violence.
Europe is leading the world in listening beyond rhetoric, beyond the spin. Europeans of the World War II generation and those raised by them are repulsed by the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war. As President Dwight Eisenhower so aptly put it, “any missile launched, any shell fired, any bomb dropped is a theft from those who struggle to clothe and feed the needy.” Europeans have matured to the point where they see war as an anachronism, and now they are no longer alone. Others are joining in this vision.
Conspiracy is alive and well so long as shady figures are allowed to have a say in global politics. It’s time for ordinary American people to have a say. Only then will any American foreign policy decisions be legitimate, with or without UN approval.
Arab News Opinion 19 February 2003
