So far I have not come across a single article in the Arabic press supporting the Iraqi scientists who contributed to their country’s programs of weapon development and who continue to be subjected to a sustained campaign of intimidation. The same goes for the English speaking press which has also observed a long silence in the matter. Not only that but some articles have mocked the scientists with one writer sarcastically referring to an Iraqi female scientist as “Dr. Germs.”
Non-governmental organizations as well as scientific, technological, educational and cultural bodies in the Arab world have failed miserably to utter even a single word about the plight of the Iraqi scientists. Can their failure to honor their responsibilities be attributed to a weak commitment to a national cause or is it their poor performance and inability to correctly read and interpret the situation that led to this?
Arab bodies without exception, whether government sponsored or privately run, have failed to express a clear position about the plight of Iraqi scientists who are targeted and hunted like Mafia gangsters, drug traffickers or other criminals.
If these organizations cannot take a position that is sympathetic or supportive to the scientists themselves, the least they could do is show sympathy with their families and relatives who live under constant fear of the future. How can we expect a scientist to survive if his livelihood is threatened and his career put on hold? How can we expect their children to live if their parents don’t know if they were going to live or die? The very Arab organizations that keep crying for freedom of thought and scientific research are nowhere to be seen when it comes to the very scientists they claim to support and protect.
It is genuinely painful to note that even the Arab League, the pan-Arab body working to promote cooperation and unity among its members, remains tight-lipped and helpless. The league could compensate for its inability to manage the Iraqi crisis politically and diplomatically by trying to perform on the scientific, humanitarian and cultural fronts. It may not be able to stop the military machine now being massed to attack Iraq, but could nevertheless work to stop the assault on innovative and productive Arab brains.
All over the world, countries are proud of their scientists who develop weapons programs and they receive the protection and respect they deserve. Their scientists are not hunted like criminals and forced like rats to go into hiding. What crime was committed by Iraqi scientists that they should deserve such humiliating treatment? It is sad to note that all this is being done under the very nose of the so-called “Arab Organization for Human Rights,” a body claiming to be independent. How can any Arab citizen trust and respect organizations that feel no shame in asking people to join them as members and pay for the privilege?
It is unfortunate that the Arab world has let down those scientists whose only fault is that they happened to be scholars dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of scientific research. They are not military or political strategists and planners. The plight of Iraqi scientists is proof of the intellectual backwardness of the Arab countries. We must realize that the goal pursued by the lone superpower is clear — ensuring complete domination by American military industries and reshaping the minds of Arab intellectuals to suit its objectives.
Arab News From the Local Press 2 March 2003
