It seems that the American experiment in Iraq has failed; that at least is how one American reporter described the massacre of civilians that is under way in Fallujah and many other parts of Iraq. Another reporter thinks it is the result of a PR failure by the coalition forces.
The killing of thousands, the destruction of a nation is just an experiment. The unlawful attack on a sovereign country and the resulting criminal actions and the takeover of Iraq by the Americans is just an experiment!
This is how the US government views the Iraqis; we should assume the rest of the Arab people are laboratory rats that they can experiment on even if this results in the death and destruction of innocent lives. How else to explain the numerous vetoes of the US in the UN concerning the crimes committed by Israel, culminating in the murder of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin or the utter contempt for human life in Iraq?
They attacked Iraq saying the Iraqis would welcome them with open arms and strew rose petals in their path. When it didn’t happen the Americans were surprised. Why? Because their contempt made them disregard all the advice and analysis about Iraq they were given.
Then, they said that the attacks against coalition forces in Iraq were committed by foreigners and remnants of the former regime. Then Saddam was captured and his sons were killed but the attacks didn’t stop — neither did the blatant lie that Iraq was mostly peaceful were it not for a few disgruntled terrorists in the “Sunni Triangle”. Now, the Shiites and the Sunnis are up in arms all over the country. How will they explain this one away?
So, the carnage in Fallujah and the pursuit of Moqtada Sadr and the killing of his followers are just one more “experiment” the Americans are attempting in the Arab world.
These experiments will continue as long as the Arabs refuse to stand up and say no to America. The deafening silence with which the Arabs respond to the massacres unfolding daily in Iraq is testimony to that. One could be forgiven for thinking that maybe the Americans are right to think we are rodents.
There will come a day, and soon, when we will say, no more abuse; when we will demand that the Americans leave Iraq. And the latest declaration of Bush wiping away with one callous swoop all the hopes of the Palestinians and giving Sharon a free hand to maim and destroy helps only to confirm it in Arab eyes that America feels only contempt and disdain for us. The contempt of the Americans for the Arabs is what encouraged them to invade Iraq and it will be that same contempt which will force them out of it.
This is not bravado. This is simply the result of experience and study of history. We Arabs have faced many invading hordes and have survived them all. This is the triumph of experience over ignorance, 7,000 years of it.
— Reem Al-Faisal is a Saudi photographer. She is based in Jeddah.
