A survey conducted in the United States named pop superstar Michael Jackson as the dumbest man on earth. Partly because he put his son’s life at risk when he dangled him out of the window from the 20th floor of a hotel in Germany, and partly because he canceled two concerts, which cost him $5 million. This kind of behavior, of course, is dumb.
But there are some people even dumber than Michael Jackson. One is US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Since the beginning of the war on Iraq he has committed a series of dumb acts that do not even serve the interests of America.
He knows perfectly well that his soldiers have no field experience. They lived their life more as citizens than as soldiers, and they were sent to the desert to meet a tough Iraqi Army with long experience of the terrain. Iraq has been fighting land wars for 30 years.
The American soldiers are fighting a war without a cause, in an environment they are not used to. The Iraqi soldiers are defending their country, which they know inside out. If Rumsfeld favored this war over all other options, he must be the dumbest man alive.
I do not mean that the US Army will lose the war. It might win in the end, but not before paying a heavy price which Rumsfeld never gambled on. Rumsfeld will rely heavily on his air power. He will bomb Iraqi cities and kill thousands on innocent civilians. The American planes and missiles will massacre more people, who will be shown daily on our television screens. There will be growing anti-war sentiment around the world. More people everywhere will be angry at America and everything American. In addition, more American soldiers will fall in the battlefield. The street war in big Iraqi cities will be a living hell for American soldiers. The American media will be angrier with Rumsfeld. He may have to resign and share the fate of other dumb people.
When Michael Jackson does something dumb, it affects only him. When Rumsfeld does something dumb, it affects the whole world, including the American people. Doesn’t that prove he is the dumbest of the dumb?
Arab News From the Local Press 6 April 2003
