A Letter of Love and Reflection to Saddam in His Grave
Dear
Sir,
I
do believe that you are alive and you can hear me. Yes, you are alive in the hearts and conscience of all
free men and women.
This
is a letter of love and also a friendly critique. I do beg your pardon for disturbing you in your new world,
to which you journeyed with steady steps, a head held high, a peaceful heart and a content soul that made your executioners
tremble with fear.
Iraq,
Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia bleed. Lebanon is on its way to bleed again. The
entire Arab and Muslim world bleeds.
Three
million Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of wars and sanctions. Three million women have become
widows. Five million children have turned into orphans. Six million individuals have
fled their homes and become refugees to escape death squads. Ten million men, women and children go to
bed hungry. Iraqi infra-structure has been totally destroyed. Iraq as a whole is in
ruins.
Who
primarily are responsible for the present and tragic Arab state of affairs? Who mainly are to be blamed
for the enormous death and destruction inflicted and continuing to be inflicted on the Arab and Muslim people?
The
answer is clear!
They
are those who “invited” and aided Bush, the father, to destroy Arab culture, civilization, history and geography.
They are those who made it possible for the former U.S. President to mobilize 33 nations, including four super powers,
to destroy the only Arab state that had developed the potential to enable the Palestinians to return to the lands from which
they were forcefully evicted.
They
are those who hailed Bush, the son, as a great guest and hero, and received him with smiles, embraces, kisses and songs; those
who invited the world’s number one mass murderer to join them in their sword dance, and held his hand that drips with
blood of his victims; those who entertained him with lavish parties and exhibits, and showered him with gifts and flowers
in appreciation for the crimes that he committed and still commits in Arab and Muslim lands.
They
are those who waste tens of billions of dollars on arms, and yet openly and cowardly call for an American-Israeli nuclear
umbrella for their protection, in order to guarantee their continued survival as corrupt and oppressive dictators. They are
those who allow Arab enemies to prolong their theft of Arab resources and curtail Arab unity, development and progress.
They
are those who put forth justification and rationalization for foreign enemies to interfere in internal Arab affairs and to
have control over Arab destiny. They are those who align themselves with the enemies, and stand in
the same trench with Hezbul-Shaitan (the party of Satan) who are against Hezbul-Allah (the party of God), the Islamic Resistance
Movement, Islamic Jehad and other Arab and Muslim liberation groups that are fighting for liberty and justice.
They
are those who distort the image of Arab and Muslim martyrs who fell while fighting to liberate occupied Arab and Muslim lands
and free their people. They are those who, recently, after learning of his assassination
by the Israeli Mossad, dared to label Imad Mughneyah as a “terrorist” and “criminal” who received
a divine punishment that they allege he had deserved. Mughneyeh, 48 years old, courageously and honorably
served the Palestinian and Lebanese causes all his adult life. The U.S. government allocated 25 million dollars as a reward
for his death or capture, and expressed jubilation and satisfaction for his departure. Mughneyah is credited
for his role in forcing the U.S. and French marines to withdraw from Lebanese shores in 1982, forcing the pullout of Israeli
troops from Southern Lebanon under the cover of darkness in 2000, and bringing defeat and disgrace for the Israeli army, the
fourth most powerful military in the world, in the summer of 2006, after 34 days of fighting.
They
are those who haven’t reacted to the daily bombing, massacre, arrest, humiliation and starvation of Palestinian men,
women and children; those who have completely turned their backs on the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the
West Bank; those who have ignored the siege of one and a half million people who are denied food, clean water, electricity
and fuel in Israeli occupied Gaza.
They
are those who allege that Jerusalem is the “bride of their Arabism”, while they permit Zionist rapists into her
room, force her to remain silent to preserve their Arab dignity and “honor”, and stand by her door listening to
her screams caused by her fight to protect and preserve her “virginity”.
They
are those who conspire against the last bastion of Arab and Muslim resistance.
They
are those who stack billions of dollars of their countries’ oil wealth under their white dangling robes and squander
their peoples’ money on gambling and prostitution, while, a few days ago, one of their unfortunate subjects, a young
man, marketed his kidney on the Internet to pay for his college.
They
are those who have not experienced the beauty and ecstasy of true love; who have outlawed Valentine’s Day as a festival
of love, confiscated gifts lovers exchange in celebration of love, and trampled red roses given in remembrance of love.
They are those whose “clergy” consider the commemoration of love to be a heresy; that every heresy leads
one to go astray, away from the straight path of God; and that that is a great sin which leads to hell. They
are those who seem to be ignorant of Arab history; ignorant of the love folklore that enriches Arab culture; ignorant of “Antara
and Ablah”, “Qais and Laila”, and “Jamil and Bouthaynah” and other ancient love tales that continue
to charm Arab readers and listeners from generation to generation. They are ignorant of the fact that,
in the pre-Islamic era which is described in Muslim history as “Asr al-Jaheliyyah”, the Age of Ignorance,
a poet always began his poem with mentioning his lover and weeping over the old ruins where she had lived before her tribe
moved away.
Dear
Sir,
The
overwhelming majority of Arab masses have stood against the Iraqi-Iranian eight year war fueled by the West. The
Iranian Islamic revolution was a triumph for all freedom loving people, particularly Arabs. The settling
of differences between two Muslim neighbors targeted by Muslims’ enemies should have been avoided at all cost.
However, Arabs blessed the August 2, 1990 march of Iraqi troops into Kuwait. But
Iraqi forces should not have been ordered to stop. They should have been given the green light to head
south until all the Arab oil fields and the strait of Hormuz fell under their control, and the entire Arabian Peninsula was
liberated, long before the mobilization and arrival of foreign troops. Iraqi liberators would have been
received with cheers and flowers. The corrupt rulers of the Gulf should have been captured and brought
to justice for treason, slavery, corruption, oppression and theft.
Arabs
and Muslims cannot successfully defeat their foreign enemy and realize their dream of unity and progress until the Arab “house”
is cleansed and sanitized. Arabs and Muslims have repeatedly seen that they have not been permitted to
bring an end to tyranny and repression through peaceful and democratic means. Over and over again, Third
World countries have witnessed that they are not allowed to realize liberty and progress through the polls. “Burn,
baby burn” becomes the only remedy.
Dear
Sir,
In
your fight to preserve the sovereignty and independence of Iraq and in your struggle to fulfill the Arab dream of “unity,
freedom and socialism”, you have paid the utmost price and given the greatest sacrifice. You,
your two children and your grandson have been murdered. Take pleasure in your present new world, a world
that traitors cannot come near, not even in their dreams, a world of serenity, tranquility and eternity. Enjoy
its beauty, majesty and splendor. Rest in peace in the company of great martyrs.
Ali
Baghdadi
(arabjournl@aol.com)
