Cold War II, America's war in the Muslim world, by Hassan El-Najjar and Charlotte Hendy

November 25, 2002 An Interactive Editorial http://www.aljazeerah.info

Cold War II: America's War in the Muslim World

An Interactive Editorial*

By Hassan A. El-Najjar** and Charlotte Henry

Charlotte Henry:

Since the onset of airline hijackings, hostage taking and killing, Olympic Village siege, etc. Americans have not seen much else from Islam. I'm not implying that there is nothing more to Islam, just that this is all we see and hear. When the Soviets were thrown out of Afghanistan there was no attempt to build infrastructure, schools and hospitals, but there was plenty of money to buy weapons, explosives, and military training camps. Instead of focusing on America, why don't Muslims focus on themselves. The truth is that individual Americans are so busy just trying to earn a living, raise our children, and build a better life, we don't have time to go around thinking about other nations or religions until our blood has been spilled and at that point we are more than willing to respond in kind.
Americans have plenty of faults, but we are not a culture that values the killing of civilians. Yes, I would like to see bin Laden dead, but at the same time I would like to see the Palestinians enjoy self determination and an end to children blowing themselves up.
I remember watching a video tape of bin Laden and top lieutenants last Dec. and one of the gentlemen was telling Osama how he learned of the WTC destruction. He said that he and friends were sitting around talking about how they don't have anything when they heard the news come over the radio. What struck me about that is that they have plenty of military things because it reflects their values.
Muslims won't be able to walk better when my leg is broken.

Hassan El-Najjar:

Any conflict has two sides or more. You just thought about one side of the conflict. What about American foreign policy, which has created the roots of the conflict. I invite you to think about this side. This will make your job easier for both understanding and hopefully finding solutions to the conflict. There should no doubt in your mind about the good nature of Muslims, who are instructed to love all people, particularly Christians, as they believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and will rejoice for his second coming, just like Christians.

But whether Muslims or non-Muslims, humans are good by nature. It's the politics of war and global dominance that pit one nation against another. The biased US foreign policy led to the 1991 Gulf War, which resulted in the US military presence in Arabia. Instead of allowing Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait without war, the Bush Sr. administration insisted on war (For more information, read The Gulf War: Overreaction & Excessiveness. ). That war resulted in the destruction of Iraq and the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The continuous US support for the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people is a major cause of anti-American sentiments around the world, not just among Muslims.

The conflict is not between Muslims and Christians or between Muslims and Jews. The problem lies in the US foreign policy that aims at global domination for the benefit of the military industry, oil industry, and Zionist Israel. Americans need to be more politically active and vote for more peaceful administrations. You need to think about the reasons these people feel that way against the US. You didn't hear about the Islamic threat before the collapse of the Soviet Union. For about half a century, Muslims were considered good people. Actually, some of them like those who were in Afghanistan helped America in its war against the Soviet Union there. After the collapse of Communist systems in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, US weapon manufacturers and those who benefit from them needed a new enemy to justify the huge American military spending. They found support from oil companies, which will be the major beneficiary from the US invasion of Iraq. They will control Iraqi oil production and marketing.

There is much more to the conflict than just "terrorism," which is a reaction to the Israeli and US policies. There is a global capitalist class headquartered in the US, which perceives itself as the heir of the imperialist European powers, namely Britain and France. During the first half of the twentieth century, Germany tried twice to enter the imperialist arena but was defeated and humiliated. The British and the French empires were also destroyed during the World War II and the United States took their place. However, the Soviet Communists were on the way. That is why Cold War I was fought in about half a century until both the Soviet Union and its Communist ideology were defeated. Now, with no rival super power, the US capitalist ruling class cannot wait any longer to reap the fruits of winning its conflict with the defeated Soviet Union.

The fruits are the raw materials and markets of the Third World, which Britain and France enjoyed for centuries. This was why the Bush Sr. administration insisted on launching war on Iraq in 1991 and this is why the Bush Jr. administration insists on launching war against Iraq right now. Iraq has nothing to do with Bin Laden. Neither the Bush administration nor any of the US government intelligence agencies, including the CIA, claimed that there is any evidence that links Iraq to September 11 attacks. Then, why does the Bush administration still insists on invading Iraq. Weapon manufacturers will sell a lot of weapons, the oil industry will acquire huge wealth, and Israel will have America fighting its conflict with Arabs so that it extends its influence on the entire region.

What are the consequences of invading Iraq? Will Arabs and Muslims, including Iraqis, be happy to see the US invading an Arab-Muslim country and taking over its resources? Absolutely not. There will be resistance. Just look at the results of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories for 35 years. Have the Palestinians accepted the Israeli domination and invasion? No, they have not. They have been resisting that Israeli aggression ever since, and there is no reason to believe that they will stop their resistance until they are free of the Israeli occupation. Likewise, Iraqis will resist the US invasion even if their government collapses. We will be in Vietnam II, decades of bloodshed and destruction.

But can we, the people, stop it? I doubt it. But we can make its impact easier on the victims. We have to be more involved in the political process. It's a shame that this year's Congressional elections represented only 36 percent of American eligible voters. This means that the ruling "Republican" Party represents only a little bit more than 18 percent of eligible voters. It's the rule of the few, it's the dictatorship of the upper class. Historically speaking, it's the same old story, the most powerful invades the weaker for resources. This was what the ancient Egyptians, Iraqis, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, and Europeans did, and what Americans are doing now. In every case, the ruling elite would invent a reason for their invasion of other nations, and in every case, the invading nation would accept the excuse.

But do you really need a reason to invade another country if you are the super power? Not really, the Bush administration could not produce any reason. Lately, they came up with the excuse of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has accepted to be inspected to clear itself of this accusation. However, Secretary Rumsfeld said that the US would attack Iraq for any "material breach," that is for any excuse. The military preparations to invade Iraq have not stopped. After Iraq, members of the Zio-servative alliance (alliance of Zionists and neo-conservatives) that rules the United States, have been calling for the invasion of other countries after Iraq. A short list includes Iran, Syria, and Libya. A longer one includes Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Whether this is going to happen or not depends on how the invasion of Iraq goes on, and on whether the American people will wake up and stop the Bush administration from creating one of the most disruptive upheavals in the human history.

* In interactive editorials, the editor of Al-Jazeerah answers questions and or responds to comments of readers, which are more general than readers' responses to specific articles or issues. It is an effective method of interaction in electronic journalism.

** Hassan A. El-Najjar is the Editor of www.aljazeerah.info.

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