Disclaimer, this opinion piece is not a religion bashing in disguise, when it comes to respecting others’ choice of religion, from the Abrahamic, Dharmic and Taoic religions all the way to animism and rat-worshipping must be respected and respected alike. The aim here is not celestial rather as earthly as it gets.
The 21st Arab League summit has begun its annual session in Doha. Among the menagerie of 22 lifetime Presidents, at least one through hereditary rights, potentates, mostly of absolute variety and other Arab leaders who cannot be accused of achieving their leadership status through democratic devices, there is one supra special attendee. Were it not for his newly acquired distinction the presence of the president of Sudan, General Omar Al-Bashir would’ve not warranted any particular attention. The Sudanese head of state is wanted for alleged crimes against his own Muslim people in Darfur. Therefore, foreign travels of the General as the first sitting head of state that the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest, cries out for attention.
Prior to arriving at Doha Summit the general made a brief stop in Eretria and then Egypt. At Cairo airport Hosni Mubarak, the lifetime president of Egypt, personally welcomed the general and published pictures of the general’s attendance at the summit is festooned with warm embraces by his fellow Arab leaders.
When it comes to the General’s outstanding arrest warrant, reality fortified with experience and prudence necessitates low expectation, more so when he is among fellow leaders themselves more or less long overdue for an appearance at the docket. This lack of interest in enforcement of international law by the Arab leaders who potentially could be a target of the same process is perfectly understandable. Hence the following communiqué read out by Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general was fully expected: "We emphasis our solidarity to the Sudan and our dismissal and rejection of the decision handed down by the International Criminal Court [ICC],”
It is also perfectly understandable and expected of Arabs and Muslims at large to condemn wrongs done to their coreligionists and celebrate cases where justice has prevailed. For instance when the non-Muslim Slobodan Milosevic was massacring European Muslims in the former Yugoslavia the “Muslim world” was rightfully enraged. As it was when the plight of Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay became known Muslims at large and individual Muslim celebrities including the lone Iranian noble Laureate made it their mission to raise the issue at every chance they got. And when Milosevic was arrested and transferred to the Hague to be prosecuted for his alleged crimes (he died before the completion of his trial, ergo alleged crime) there was visible jubilation by the Muslims. The same applies to Guantanamo, when the newly elected American President signed the executive order to close the prison compound a collective sigh of relief by Muslims was audible. There are many other examples, but for the sake of brevity these two should suffice.
The curious phenomenon is when the religious beliefs of the oppressor/oppressed in relation to the outcry by Muslims are examined a startling constant reveals itself. Mind you this is no a disguised attack on any belief but a simple observation based on demonstrable examples.
Whenever the victim(s) is Muslim and the aggressor not, the probability of Muslim outrage is exponentially far greater than when both are Muslims. When there is a role reversal that is the aggressor is Muslim and victim is not this observation does not hold. For example lets take the case of the eight year war the late Saddam Hussein started and imposed on Iran. Although no reliable statistics exists, the number of victims are put at anywhere between one to two million. That is one to two million victims with zest for life, beloved families and unfulfilled dreams who overwhelmingly were Muslim. The outcry by “the Muslim world” against the aggressor was a deafening silence. And when Saddam was convicted in a court of law by Iraqi citizens who had endured his decades long torturous tyranny, the same “Muslim world” condemned it and bestowed the endearing title of martyred on him. What is even more astounding is the segment of “Muslim world” that has been a direct beneficiary of Iranian largess for many years not only never condemned Saddam for his crimes against their Muslim Iranian benefactors and send volunteers to fight alongside Saddam’s troops, they did not even admonish him in words for his crimes against their own fellow Arab Iraqis.
This brings us back to the lavish treatment the indicted General Omar Al-Bashir has been receiving from his Muslim brethrens, Arab and otherwise. It ‘s not as though there is not irrefutable documentary evidence showing the mass killings, raping and pillaging of Sudanese Darfurians by the General’s Janjaweed militia backed by his attack helicopters and occasional bombing sorties by his jets. There are ample satellite photos of the burned out villages and rotting corpses, hundreds of thousands of fleeing refugees in camps along the Chadian border have horror stories along with flesh wounds to back up their claims. The Arab leaders’ silence and lack of cooperation aside whatever happened to the vocal “Muslim World”? Where is the outrage, the demand for justice? Is it something in the water of the region that causes this hypocrisy? Are we programmed to forgive our own tormentors and only raise our voices against “outsiders”? What is happening to us?
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Darfur
by smhb on Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:13 PM PDTGet your facts staright first before you fall prey to the massive zionist / imperialist propaganda machinary at work.
If you, for a second are under the illusion that all the loud noise coming out of zionist circles in America and Europe is an indication of their generosity and caring about Sudan and thei well being of the Sudanese people then I do have a bridge on Mars that I would like to sell to someone like you for a hefty profit.
Its all about colonization and the return of the empire and the exploitation of Sudan's OIL and natural resources and its geo-strategic location and value.
Imperialist and colonial history has always shown that the west under the pretext of democracy and human rights exploits tribalism, sectarianism and skin color to create and feed war, which leads to backwardness and social / political / economical / cultural disintegration and the subsequent justification of western intervention in order to restore peace and tranquility.
All the conflicts in Africa and other parts of the 3rd world and developing world are caused by colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and zionism.
WAKE UP.
//www.sudan.net/news/press/postedr/316.shtml
Disclaimer was not needed
by rabbani (not verified) on Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:02 PM PDTMr Zangeneh you did not need worry about falling out of favor with Sadri twins, hence the ridiculous disclaimer. You will continue to be their opponent of choice.
what happened !, not much...
by delldaar on Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:59 AM PDTWhat you see is a result of degenenerated ideology, creating degenerate regimes..thats all.