Bush in Mecca: The Language of Dialogue and the Terminology of Provocation

Sages from the world’s religions, sects, and denominations are meeting in the Spanish capital, Madrid, under the auspices of His Majesty King Abdullah, to reach an understanding on the themes and common denominators to defuse the anxiety and tension which have exerted their control over segments of the globe, to the extent of using military confrontations for achieving political interests, under religious or ethical slogans. Those virtuous ones are trying to spare our world many of the tragedies inevitably on their way. Indeed we have neither discussed, come to terms with, nor scattered the remains of the past while we talk with transparency in the present, on the responsibility for our aspirations for the future.

And at this stage, the “Al Hurra” channel continues its inflammatory contributions in a desperate attempt to impose the agenda of change and reform from within our societies according to the prescription of America, and in this way it is no different from the state-directed broadcasts which touched off ideological and nationalistic crises, wars, and revolutions in the 1960s and 1970s.

And let us examine the critical development coming to us from the International Criminal Court in a writ to detain the Sudanese president, Omar al Bashir, to thus introduce a new age of placing the Western sword of justice on the weak Arab neck, a sword which is not drawn against anyone else. But what about the Western necks that never tire of spilling Arab and Islamic blood, and which have not hesitated for a moment to violate every sense of human dignity in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan? Will the sword of justice that this court waves be drawn? Or is it that its resolution is more to divide world, lay the foundation for hegemony, and codify double standards?

In this challenging time the U.S. State Department issued its report on international religious freedom and conveyed in about 30 pages a series of charges against the Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia) in the areas of freedom of religious practice, human rights, women’s rights, curricula, Friday sermons, and racial discrimination, to name a few from the long list of charges. The problem for the Americans is that they monitor the conduct of the world as if America has not changed its practice of human rights over the last 8 years.

I will not talk about the Guantanamo detention facility, nor the American terror watch list, which has exceeded a million people in less than seven years. Neither will I discuss the thousands of innocents killed by America in Iraq and Afghanistan, let alone the atrocities perpetrated by the Americans with respect to women and children, as well as helpless detainees unable to defend themselves as occurred in Abu Ghraib and is happening in secret American prisons. I will not talk about the fear which the US has spread throughout the world, for everyone, no matter who, is now subject to detention and abduction by the American security apparatus in the airports of the world.

I will only review a provocative American message brimming with hate and inciting terrorism, which publicly demands the assassination of the U.S. president, an unpublished proclamation by a Saudi imam, not from a teacher of Islamic education, but indeed from an American institution, and from a person America sustained and supported, on the grounds that he is a messenger to achieve justice, tolerance, and coexistence in our society according to the American vision. A proclamation written with American financing, in the American capital, the writer of which is a constant witness to congressional committees and the U.S. State Department against the Kingdom. A proclamation that slightly preceded President Bush’s visit to the Kingdom, entitled “Bush in Mecca.” I quote some paragraphs from it:

“George Bush, who invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and whose forces killed hundreds of Afghanis and then a year or so later invaded Iraq and occupied it, toppling the ruling regime, and at the hands of whose troops thousands of Iraqis and Arabs were killed and their dignity rubbed in the dirt, the president of the Imperialist USA arrives today! Colonialism! The enemy of Islam and Muslims is a guest of honor.”

Then the proclamation praised the hundreds of Saudi youth who blow themselves up “to kill the invading American soldiers in Iraq.”

The concerns of the Saudis are agitated against the American president for it asks, “Where is the manliness of the Saudi people and specifically the clerics… where is today’s protector of the State of Israel and unleasher of wars and killer of Muslim mujahideen? Where are you, O followers of Sheikh Mohammad bin Abd al Wahhab, when George Bush sets foot in the Holy Land in a few days? …. How are you content for there to be more than 5000 infidels among you? They practice every vice, sin, and evil!”

Then his message concludes by wondering: “Would you say that the Wahhabi clerics and their followers have any bit of manliness and dignity while they witness the man who fought Islam touring their countries, greeting their kings, eating their food, and drinking their drinks, while they bow in submission?”

I in turn ask this: Is this language and these booby-trapped letters coming from Washington the very same that will promote the handing over of our children to be raised at the American table while the attention of its media, legislative, and civil apparatus protects them, considering that they are the pioneers of coming change in this country in accordance with the American perspective? If the American pot overflows with this hatred, why don’t the Americans respect our intelligence and submit to logic? Isn’t it just as well that our children, who learn from the American inability to impose their personal viewpoint on their society, take heed? Don’t they know that their luck with the American administration decreased a large amountthanks to the writer of this proclamation, and that these sorts are fruitful for the American right-wing hate factory?!