The thread on today's Pentagon Defense Science Board report reminded me of two emails I received in 2001, just after 9/11, from a Kuwaiti acquaintance of mine. His reaction to 9/11 was that there was no moral excuse for it, but that there WERE reasons.
I believe his provocative thoughts are pretty common among educated Arabs, and they corroborate many of the points in the Pentagon report.
Some of these opinions would doubtless offend many Americans, even some open-minded Democrats. Certainly, there is much to disagree with, depending on one's interests. The point, however, is that this is the way most Arabs see the U.S., and there is great value in learning to see ourselves as others actually see us, rather than as we would like them to see us.
How else can we hope to come up with ways to change their view of us?
Dear Friend...I am glad that you are interested in knowing something about the Middle East. There are grievances and frustrations boiling in the minds of the Arabs, due mainly to the policy of the U.S.A. towards the Arabs in particular and the Muslims in general.
As a result of this policy, there are some political, economic, and social elements that occured in the Arab World.
1-Political: Broken Promises
A-The Palestinian tragedy was authored in the West. During the first world war they (the west) gave the Arabs the promise of independent states, while Lawrence of Arabia rallied the tribal hordes to support the war against the Turks.
B-The Arabs will never forget the establishment of the state of Israel by the U.S.A. Arabs didn't participate in the incineration of Jews in the gas chambers during the Holocaust? This atrocity was done by Europeans! They should have given them a piece of land in Germany!
C-The Arabs will never forget the treaty by Mr. Sykes and Monsieur Picot to carve up the Middle East into British and French colonies.
D-In 1991, the British and the Americans offered the Arabs a new deal, with Israel forced to implement International Legality (UN), if the Arabs backed the fight against Iraq. Promises made and broken with a handshake!
E-They claim that America is the champion of democracy and freedom, yet they support and protect our despotic, not democratic, and subversive regimes!!
2-Economic:
A-It's time for the U.S. to realize that people in the Arab World are fed up with the way America seeks to impose its power on others for purely selfish economic interest (oil).
B-The Gulf war was completely financed by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait until all our money reserve was dried up! As a result, 37% of male and 95% of female graduates are unemployed! The pilots who slammed into WTC couldn't find jobs in the Saudi Airlines!? I, as a Ph.D graduate, have doubts on the prospect of finding a job in S.A!!
C-Taxes have dramatically increased in S.A. to compensate for the fact that America receives huge amount of money for the services of protecting the royal family (their # 7,000).
D-GPA has plummeted from $28,000 in the 80's to $7,000 in the 90's!
E-King Fahad (whom the Americans support and protect) has a fortune exceeding $70 billion. His son the prince of the Eastern Province gets $30
million each month (his share from the oil industry). His other son receives 2% of the oil revenue, while there are millions of poor Saudis
all over the country! One American businessman told me that every Saudi citizen should become a millionaire, due to the huge amount of oil produced each year.
3-Social:
A-People in S.A. and the rest of the Arab world can't criticize their governments-newspapers and mosques are monitored and censored.
B-The West objects to the oppression of women in S.A.!! My dear friend males in S.A. don't have any rights either!
These are some of the consequences of U.S. policy towards the Middle East region.
Yours,
Aziz
Second email:
Hi,
More thoughts about the current situation:
*The US was founded by people who escaped religious, political, and social persecution.
*The US never had colonies in the old world like the UK! They even fought England to gain their independence! These two facts made the Arabs admire, respect, and like the American people and they still do!
*The downfall came when the politicians in the US became under the control of the strong influential lobby of the Jewish community who control also the financial, industrial, political, and more important the Media institutions!
*The war in Vietnam was the last straw that broke the camel's back! The image of America in the Arab mind deteriorated sharply, because it became clear to them that America is no better than the old colonial empire of the UK!
*In 1973, the US prevented the Egyptian army from destroying the Israeli military might during that daring war crossing of the Suez Canal!
*The worst foreign blunder commited by the US was when they decided to station 7,000 soldiers and five bases in SA, of course to protect the oil fields. Saudi citizens consider that an occupation of their land by foreign forces. God said in the Koran "that no foreign people (non-muslims) should be present around or close to Mecca"! The religious people in SA can't tolerate that!! Therefore, most Saudis support Osama, because to them, he is the true muslim not the royal family who allowed America in!
*Uprisings have occured in SA against the royal family...In 1958 many Saudi citizens were executed, or dropped alive from airplanes into the empty quarter, because they supported the Pan-Arab ideal of president Nasser of Egypt! In 1980 more than 400 Saudi citizens seized the grand mosque in Mecca and held it for two weeks against American, French, and governmental forces! All of them were beheaded later on!
*In order to topple the Nasser regime during the 60's the CIA supported and encouraged Islamic extremists in Egypt (Islamic Brotherhood). One member of that organization is now the second hand commander of Osama (his name is Aymen)!!
*Former president Nixon stated that "the next global threat to the west after the collapse of communism is the Islamic world". That opinion is reflected very well by Samuel P. Huntington in "The clash of civilizations" (1993).
*Remember that America has committed many atrocities around the world...they dropped nuclear bombs on Japan and killed 100,000 innocent civilian people!? America also used chemical weapons in Vietnam (agent orange)!? In Iraq, and since 1991...about 3,000 children under the age of 5 yr. old die each month, because of lack of medicine and food, due to the embargo imposed on Iraq by the US!? In Afghanistan an estimated six million poeple are dying of starvation and misery in one of the most desolate and desperate places on earth!? We live in a world where death and suffering and atrocity are common place. Why is it that when it is Americans who are killed, we can suddenly feel their grief!?? Why do you think....a superpower nation like the US would committ such drastic evil acts!? Is it because of desperation? weakness? revenge? or religious beliefs? or is it just ignorance about other peoples feelings? Life can't be as simple as portrayed by Bush stating "you are either with me or against me" !?!
Cheers,
Aziz