Osama, Obama and Israel, Change the Gameplan
I have been planning on writing about how the majority of the world views America and how Muslims view America in particular. And to explain how America can change this, IF it wanted to. So given that Osama Bin Laden just made a statement to America today, this is a good time to make my post. Ok, did you ever think the day would come when Osama Bin Laden would make a good point? Now, to be clear, I am NO supporter of Bin Laden, don't like him or his politics, he actually has no real politics or agenda, he likes to capitalise on situations and use them, and he harms his own people. He is not a true revolutionary or freedom fighter. Having said that, even people like Bin Laden get it right once in a while. Today he's told the truth, albeit for his own recruitment agenda, in this recent statement regarding America's relationship with Israel. Let’s break it down and understand:
Yes, America's blind support of anything Israel does is truly causing much Anti-American sentiment in the world. After all, America cannot claim to be the world's greatest "Democracy" if they don't lead by example. By that I am referring to actually supporting Democracy in all countries. But America does not do this, instead, America is selective. By supporting some democratic elections and not others. Additionally, America attempts to covertly overthrow Governments it does not like, tamper with elections and most of all refuses to recognise democratically elected governments such as Hamas and others. America will not treat the Afghan elections the same as the Iranian elections which they “claim” were rigged. Where’s the outrage, where’s the threats, where’s the diplomatic boycott of Afghanistan? Where’s the “sanctions”??? Nowhere, because both candidates were American puppets, one just cheated the other, so that’s alright, either way America wins. As opposed to Iran’s elections where America covertly infiltrated and controlled the opposition which ended up causing innocent people to die in the streets. But who cares, it’s only dead Iranians that were used by America. When you combine this with America’s total blind support for Israel in all areas including the building of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, and illegal use of American supplied weapons to murder civilians. Then what view of America do you think the majority of Arabas/Muslims in this world have? I am not talking about the “Uncle Tom” Americanized Muslims that Obama likes to parade across your television screens ad nauseam. I am talking about the regular rank and file Arab/Muslims of this world. They see America as being an Anti-Muslim, Anti-Islamic country with racial and ethnically religious overtones.
So here’s what America needs to learn if it is EVER to change anything. Understand this: Truth is that most Muslims in the world would NOT support Osama Bin Laden, nor would they “join” Al Qaeda”, nor would they want “Al Qaeda” to govern them or control them or take over their towns, cities and countries. However, that is completely different than turning a blind eye to Bin Laden when he slams America or attacks an American compound or American soldiers on Arab land. The reason for this is simple, what do Muslims see? They see the web filled with really vile neo-con websites spouting hatred, calling all Muslims terrorists, calling their religion a terrorist religion. They see American boots on Arab land; they see Israel acting with impunity over and over again. They see America coming down hard on Arab countries that may not be adhering to one or two UN resolutions, whilst totally ignoring the 62 resolutions Israel has broken and continues to break for years on end. They see Israel being allowed to have Nuclear weapons and Iran being told it cannot, this when Iran has signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and guess what? Israel has NOT! They never see Israel punished for its aggression, its war crimes, its murders, its apartheid actions, it’s burning of Palestinian land, and it’s stealing of land, its military raids into Palestine and Lebanon again and again. In short they see America’s duplicity!!!
Instead, when Lebanon or Palestine manages to get a tiny little rocket off, America supports the annihilation of Lebanese and Palestinians using the most cutting edge weapons of mass destruction, usually delivered by un-manned drones. They see Arabs fighting with Stone Age weapons against a nuclear armed Religious state (Israel) with endless state of the art weaponry. Just who is occupying whose land? Why, Israel is occupying Palestinian land and Lebanese land it stole! Yet those under attack from Israel, who are occupied by Israel illegally, are expected to just sit there and welcome Israel to take more? Is this equal, is this a fair fight? Using this Israeli/American logic, should someone throw a stone at me, I should be able to then shoot him with a tank.
So how can America stop the downward spiral? Simple answer? “Equality” Treat Arabs equal to Israelis. Bring sanctions on ALL countries who do not obey UN resolutions that includes Israel, not just Iran! Begin to show Muslims that they are respected and seen as vibrant multi faceted human beings, with conservative Muslims and Liberal Muslims and all in between Muslims, just like everyone else and that they are not hated. Treat Islam as a religion, which it is, instead of continually sending the Bush message of combining Islam with terrorism. I find it quite funny that America has no problems with supporting “Zionism” which is not a religion but a nationalist neo-con racist movement, whereas Judaism and Islamism are religions, yet America demonises Islam and praises Zionism, go figure………
Lastly, to put this into a simple perspective. In Ireland, during the height of our conflict or war, which ever you want to call it. You could compare much with the Palestinian/Israel conflict/war. Irish Catholic people, the rank and file everyday people, saw over and over again the British Government oppressing, murdering and interning the Irish with impunity. Forcing at gunpoint, our people to live like 2nd class citizens on our own soil. Funding terrorist groups to seek us out and murder our political leaders. Shooting us when we had peaceful marches. Stealing our land and giving it to planters, creating great Irish slum areas that were tantamount to giant refugee camps instead of neighbourhoods. Burning our churches and attacking our religion. Even Irish-Catholics who had long left the religion suddenly became proud of being a Catholic, the religion became important, it became a sign, a banner. If you attempt to attack a religion then people close ranks around it and become more extreme in protecting it. In Ireland being a Catholic ceased to be a religion and then become a Nationalist rallying cause for equality. Which in turn then united ALL Catholics, even the ones who never before were religious. It became about our “identity” If that makes sense. This is exactly what America is creating now with Muslims.
So, when the IRA began to fight back against the British on our soil, the regular folks turned a blind eye. Maybe they did not actually join the IRA, maybe they would never take up the fight by hand, but they certainly looked the other way because someone was fighting against the oppressors of equality and freedom. We have an expression here, it goes like this; “Even the dogs on the street knew” but they never told……….This is what America can change with regards to Al Qaeda and the So called “War On Terror” (I HATE that phrase) but until America proves by its actions that it is truly the greatest Democracy in the world, and that it truly supports equality by treating Israel the same as Iran or any other country. Only then will America start to win the battle of the Hearts and Minds of the everyday rank and file of this world. Until then, people like Bin Laden will continue to use America’s biggest weakness, its world view and double standards, to recruit young people who have witnessed the horrors of what America and Israel can do in this world. Al Qaeda cannot function if America changes the opinions of the Majority of Arabs/Muslims and others in this world, it is the only way to kill off Bin Laden, take away his power, and his power is American Double Standards!
