Behind the Veil: Outrage at More Aggression

by Baseera Al-Saraha

Rumors of the United States increasing the war against terrorism to include and punish other countries in the region has been wafting through the Middle East. If the US is intent on doing so, it is not without a price to pay. Mistrust, outrage, and hidden animosity may well gather from previously unantagonistic allies to the cause.

It amuses many of us here to see how Islam is often equated with terrorism. Yet when Christians perform the same acts to gain recognition for their causes(such as the IRA) the media terms them "freedom fighters."

It would be interesting to see who is most irritated if for one week the Palestinians and Kashmiris and Chechens were called "freedom fighters."

For the United States to have been a country founded on the principle of freedom of beliefs, the government has become amazingly narrow minded when it comes to tolerating freedom of speech in the media reflecting veiws other than their own.

If indeed the United States intends to expand its "war against terrorism" elsewhere, it is more than likely it will create more animosity towards America and expand problems already simmering in the Middle East.Already the normal Arab citizens are purchasing less American fast food and products due to their irritation at American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Iraq is seen by the United Sates to be a stubborn sleeping monster in the region, a quiet threat, while America is seen by others in this region to be the aggressive neighborhood bully that doesn't know when to stop picking fights. We have seen more wars and problems between countries provoked by outside meddling, that many of the citizens of the region are becoming tired of outsiders altogether.

If Iraq is indeed a sleeping monster, many people would rather just leave it to slumber, instead of waking it to irritate it again with fresh suffering at the cost of thousands more innocent lives lost, and increasing the Iraqi peoples hatred against the big bully.

The toll of lost Palestinian lives has reached approximately one thousand since last September (with Israeli lives lost at about two hundred). With the Afghanistan toll, it is many thousands more. If we include approximately half a million Iraqi's (who are mostly young children) since the strict sanctions were imposed (which haven't really accomplished their goals) then the Middle East is full of murdered and dying due to the Superpower and it's best friend in the region imposing their will in the area.

Ramadan should be a month of worship and forgiveness, but the death of innocents is fresh in everyone’s minds. Our question is how long will everyone be willing to let this continue without a strong backlash.

ENDS

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