I am sure you have been sent quite a few letters on the following subject, and I am certain that more will follow. However, my conscience compels me to write down my thoughts, however futile. Whether these letters ever get to you is another question, and whether you have the time to read them is a moot point.
Shortly after you were elected by 50 percent of those who cast their ballots, a heinous crime took place on your shores. One committed by those promoting mayhem and destruction. A crime without precedent within your borders. A tragedy denounced by all proponents of humanity.
In your quest to stamp out terrorism, you bombed Afghanistan. And when that failed to capture the alleged mastermind of Sept. 11, you elected to scare your constituents into believing that Al-Qaeda was freely roaming Iraq. When that charge was challenged not only in your country but around the world, suddenly the people of the United States were confronted with an alarming concept: Weapons of mass destruction. They are weapons, you have publicly emphasized, capable of delivering nuclear warheads to US shores. Scenarios of blown cities and massive destruction, of germ warfare and bloated bodies, were fed daily to the already frightened public by the various organs of your government. And many believed you then. For where was the proof to the contrary?
You took your case to the United Nations. There were even some ominous-looking samples of such weaponry presented to the world to back your assertion that Iraq was preparing for a massive onslaught on your country. And you drew concessions from the UN to sanction detailed inspections of Iraq’s offensive machinery. The inspectors have been swarming all over Iraq for some months now. No smoking guns have been located yet, nothing capable of remotely striking American interests either in the US or in the regions bordering Iraq. As a matter of fact, your initial charge is today reduced to nit-picking over whether missiles with a range of fifty to eighty miles constitute a violation of UN resolutions.
In the meantime, you collared the ever-obedient Mr. Blair on this side of the Atlantic into trotting out your doomsday scenario. Amidst rising concerns around the world at your policy of aggression, you began to mobilize and dispatch troops and war machinery to the region to prepare for an attack. Your Pentagon generals, we are told, would employ the strategy of raining down 10 times the bombs on Iraq in the opening hours than were used in the entire Gulf War in 1991. A shock-and-awe punch meant to maximize damage. A showering inferno over a defenseless people who had absolutely nothing to do with that dreadful day in September. You may lead your public to believe that your God-fearing virtues are the impetus behind this determination to take war to the Iraqi people. But if you honestly believe that Saddam Hussein will be your first victim when those weapons of destruction fall, then you are sadly mistaken. If anything, Saddam has proven over time that he will willingly sacrifice his own people to save his hide.
So who would really suffer and die? People without names and faces to the media circus preparing to cover the news, but victims nonetheless, whose identities will forever be etched in the minds of their loved ones. Turn toward your family for a moment Mr. Bush. Would you welcome any acts of aggression toward your wife or your daughters, carried out under the lofty pretensions of saving humanity? Or is it your belief that while an American life is significant and worthy, all others are not?
And while Iraq’s pitiful arsenal seems to occupy so much of your aggressive rhetoric, you remain strangely silent over the threat further to the east, in a place called North Korea. The North Koreans continue to thumb their noses at you, but, in a bizarre twist of logic you choose to deal with them through Security Council resolutions, while in Iraq you have stated on countless occasions that you are prepared to “go it alone” if necessary, regardless of the UN.
Dear Mr. Bush, I understand that today you are between a rock and a hard place. You have stationed over 300,000 troops in the region. You have cemented your bellicose stance. Anything less than war may signal a quick end toward your ambiguous political career.
Set aside visions of a second term and contemplate for a moment the sad reality following a war. Your actions will create a new breed of terrorists, innocent today, who will carry the message of vengeance far into the future. Instead of making America a safer place for Americans, you will have succeeded in making the world a less safe place for all of us.
I fervently hope that deep in your soul, the prospect of this war of aggression has sown conflicting seeds of doubt. If ever there was a time to act like the righteous and God-fearing Christian you claim to be, it is now. Now is the time to take the bold step of reducing the tensions your policies have given rise to in so many regions of the world. Now is the time to prove that the United States of America is indeed a beacon of liberty and hope, not just to its own people but to the rest of the world.
Tariq A. Al-Maeena, [email protected]
Arab News Features 8 March 2003
