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ALHABTOOR
INFORMATION AND RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
Once
again, we see an American administration
accepting the task of defending the
indefensible by flouting its power and
showing its contempt for the rest of the
world community; Its blatant disregard for
the concerns over human rights and
justice; its support for Israel, and the
turning of a blind-eye to the State’s
violations of the human rights of the
Palestinian people. This includes the
crimes and atrocities inflicted upon the
Arab community as a whole by the Israeli
army on settlers, which has alienated the
major part of humanity across all the
continents on the planet.
Ordinary, decent,
fair-minded people everywhere can see
clearly that attacking a civilian
population in their homes, taking their
lives and destroying their property are
manifestly cruel and unjust. They know
that this is a denial of human rights that
stands on a par with the civil war
atrocities committed by the various ethnic
factions in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia
that now make up what was once Yugoslavia.
It is that instance, to a fanfare of
sanctimonious rhetoric about human rights,
democracy and the rule of law that
Americans, along with the Europeans,
decided that they should step in to stop
the aggressive ethnic cleansing being
carried out by all sides in the conflict.
Ironically, it was mainly to protect the
Muslims of Bosnia from their Serbian
neighbours that was the greatest spur for
this intervention. The horror, ferocity
and scale of this ethnic violence had not
been seen in Europe since the fall of the
Nazi’s regime in Germany.
So why is America, who has often lauded
its efforts to maintain peace and
democracy all over the world, so blatantly
ignoring the plight of the people of
Palestine? The really simple answer is
that it still sees its interests best
served in the Middle East by
wholeheartedly supporting its ally,
Israel, even as it served its own best
interests by its intervention in Europe.
America has a long history of serving only
its own best interests first, even at the
expense of surrendering the nations’
principles of democracy, freedom, justice
and the rule of law, on the alter of
expediency. It is quite prepared to face
the condemnation of the rest of the
international community if they do not
agree with them.
For more than half a century since the end
of the Second World War, Americans have
been taught that their country is the
leader of the “ free world”. However,
if this is so, who are the followers?
Where is the evidence that Washington’s
worldview convinces the rest of the
world’s governments and leaders to
follow its lead?
Often it is the fact that the American
economic weight, which can be compared to
a 10,000-pound gorilla with billions to
spend, enables it to twist the arms of
most of the poorer and weaker nations of
the world. They depend on their trade with
America or American aid to survive and are
easy targets for a monster the size of
America. Where is the loyalty and
admiration engendered by intellectual or
moral leadership? In reality, to enlist
support for its wars in Korea, Vietnam,
Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf and
Yugoslavia, the United States had to
resort to bribery threats and chicanery.
With noteworthy regularity, Washington has
found itself often alone or joined by just
one or two countries standing in
opposition to General Assembly resolutions
aimed at furthering human rights, peace,
nuclear disarmament, economic justice, the
apartheid regimes of South Africa and most
notably, Israeli lawlessness and
inhumanity towards the Palestinian people.
America has consistently failed the
international community - it alone has,
since 1982, voted against a declaration
that education, work, health care, proper
nourishment and national development are
human rights. It has baulked at signing
the Kyoto agreement on global warming, it
will not support a total ban on nuclear
weapons, and has even vetoed a resolution
that sought to recognise that every one
has the right to safe and nutritious food.
The United States in its statement
insisted that it did not recognise a
“right to food”. By this they were
expressing the views of the American free
trade lobby that feared that poor nations
could press lawsuits on the United States
seeking aid and special trade provisions.
Tellingly, again in 1983, when the United
Nations wanted to move their headquarters
out of the United States, the American
Deputy UN Ambassador told them that the
American Administration would do nothing
to stop them. He said: “We will put no
impediments in your way. The members of
the US mission to the UN will be down on
the docks waving you farewell as you sail
into the sunset.” Nothing demonstrates more clearly Washington’s
disregard for the rest of the world
community, and its lack of concern for
humanity generally.
Another aspect of America’s disregard of
the rule of law, when it gets in the way
of American self interest is, how America
has decided over the last five decades the
criteria for labelling war crimes and
terrorists. Of course, these definitions
vary according to what America wants to
achieve at any given moment in time.
America has supplied and trained some of
the worst terrorist groups in the world.
It has supported violent and repressive
regimes in the face of the suffering of
their people. It has sponsored the
overthrow of democracy in many countries,
most famously the overthrow of the Chilean
government of President Alliende. It uses
torture and fear as political weapons,
most recently demonstrated by the
blatantly preferential treatment given to
the captured Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters
born in America, over those from other
parts of the world, who were not. The
Americans get a civil trial in front of a
jury and are not allowed to be
interrogated under duress, whereas, all
others who are charged are likely to
appear before a military tribunal and face
the prospect of harsh interrogation and a
waiving of their human rights. Yet another
demonstration of this ‘America first,
last and always’ policy is that its
served by every American Administration.
Not even Britain, at the height of its
power, when its empire covered a quarter
of the globe, has been as arrogant, self
serving or insensitive to the welfare of
humanity as a whole.
Americans are always
amazed that anyone could possibly dislike
them. Their belief in ”what is good for
America must be good for the rest of the
world,” blinds them to the reality of
their government’s ruthlessness in
serving their national interest. It has
crippled many countries, and maimed and
killed many innocent people in pursuit of
its global ambitions.
This
single-mindedness has lead people to hate
America. They see the world’s most
powerful nation ignoring its own values,
causing or condoning violence and
destruction and damaging our planet
through its failure to support
environmental action designed to preserve
global resources and prevent harmful
pollution. America has also torn up
treaties designed to stop the development
of nuclear and biological weapons. It is
little wonder that the rest of the world
gasps in amazement when America cries that
it is unloved.
Just
look at the angst and amazement in
American media reports on Arab attitudes
to America after 9/11, when the entire
nation woke up to the fact that over 250
million people disliked and feared their
government and held it responsible for all
the bloodshed in their region.
This dislike turned into hatred for
a handful of people, who, tired of being
ignored had resorted to committing
violence on an unprecedented scale on
mainland America. Even this wake-up call
has not galvanised America into fixing the
underlying cause of its problems with the
nations of the Arab and Muslim world. It
continues to ignore the pleading of the
International Community, and is set to
cause more instability, death and
destruction with its plans to act
unilaterally to destroy other leaders,
governments and groups, who, it and it
alone has labelled as ‘terrorist’.
When is it going to realise that as long
as it continues to ignore its own values
of freedom and justice and the rights of
man enshrined in its constitution, the
problems it faces around the world will
continue to exist? By failing to accord to
others the same rights they will remain
disliked and despised by the rest of the
world community.
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