An Open Letter to Bush

“You’re with us or without us,” bellowed George W. Bush, president of the United States of America. “This is a crusade” was the rhetoric that followed soon after. He went on to promise “infinite justice”, language that somehow disrupted my moment of solace and sorrow. And then he started with the assault on Afghanistan.
More deaths followed, far greater in number and innocence then those who perished at the World Trade Center. Proponents of America’s war on terrorism dismissed these innocent lives as ‘collateral damage’ in the words of none other than Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defense. I really wonder now? Could anyone have rationally explained that term to any of the surviving members of these victims? And while the American media seized upon America’s war on terrorism in cleverly marketable labels, it was slowly becoming apparent to many of us that this was more like America’s war OF terrorism.
And as aggressive policies were pursued abroad, in the USA itself there were constant reminders of daily threats that manifested themselves in the form of the anthrax affair, bridges being blown up, water supply being contaminated, and so on. In shades not unlike the era of the Cold War when the “Reds were everywhere” and underground bomb shelters were springing up in every neighborhood, this time the Al-Qaeda was everywhere, the Americans were told. The constant reminder drummed up so many times across television screens or front pages of printed media soon enabled the government to pass several bills in the formulation of the Homeland Security Act.
And soon after, we were not surprised to hear from junior assistants within the various secretariats of the US government that the Al-Qaeda network was active across the globe. Their singular aim? The promotion of terrorism and the destruction of America. And just as suddenly Iraq came into the picture. Iraq, according to Bush, stood out as the biggest danger to America and world peace. Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, Scuds that could barely find their targets during the Gulf War, now posed imminent danger to America’s existence.
And thus began a campaign to drum up support for bombing Iraq. For blood thirsty minds actively promoting such a campaign, the thought of 1,000 pound bombs being dropped from B-52’s 40,000 feet high in the sky and killing indiscriminately somehow does not seem to cross their minds. Either that or a conviction that the innocent people of Iraq deserve to die could be the only rational explanation. In defiance of worldwide reservations, Bush has begun to display a bizarre obsession with carrying on the destruction of Iraq. You were either with him or against him, remember?
Does anyone in the US government pause to ponder on whether the death of innocent adults and children of Iraq that would surely come with indiscriminate bombings would have purged the atrocities of Sept. 11? Or whether those who would lose lives, or limbs or loved family members had anything to do with Sept. 11? Or is it not more like another atrocity in the making, all in the name of homeland defense?
Or far worse, is it perhaps a portent of more evil to come, one contrived among select groups within the US government. North Korea has recently announced that they were attempting to develop a nuclear arsenal capable of delivering mass destruction. Would they be next on Bush’s list of targets? Or is their topography too barren of oil reserves or strategic interests? The on-going diatribes of Bush on the threat to world peace are causing me to reflect. Just who possesses weapons of mass destruction and has shown a propensity to display his mighty arsenal?
I do not wish ill upon America. I do not hate America or resent America. Nor am I jealous of America or the ideals this once great country stood upon. And I do not wish upon America any further destruction or acts of violence. I have long admired America, its peoples and its varied culture. And I abhor violence and terrorism in any form. But Mr. Bush, I shall not cross over that line to your side or to your belligerent and politically distorted principles. And if that makes me the Al-Qaeda, the Red Brigade or the IRA or any other terrorist group you would like to conveniently label up, then so be it!
While the sorrowful memories of Sept. 11 have long been overshadowed by acts of mayhem elsewhere around the globe, at least I shall go to sleep tonight with a clear conscience and a prayer to innocent victims everywhere.

Editor-in-Chief Arab News.