Eyes Wide Open

What should have happened long ago happened on this fateful Wednesday. The dictator fell and fell with humiliation. His statue was dragged in the streets by those who were the citizen of the country he ruled for almost two decades. Indeed, in this is a great lesson for all those dictators and monarchs who rule the Middle East and other parts of the world. The worth of their rule is nothing but the dust under the feet of their own people. The regime collapsed due to the overwhelming war machinery the coalition troops put together. It was not the people who brought the regime down. It was the US and UK military and political - Coalition - forces that caused Saddam regime to crumble. These forces didn't intervene on behalf of people. They intervened because they wanted to secure their own political and economic interests.

If these forces had really cared for people and democracy, they would have allowed the opposition groups in Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries to exercise their right of freedom more freely. If the "coalition" forces had really cared for justice, they would have forced the apartheid state of Israel to follow the UN resolutions demanding total withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian land. These forces represent an alliance of Multinational Conglomerates that have a corporate globalization agenda, Zionist Extremists who are keen to control the Middle East, and Radical Christians who see in Muslims a targeted community for conversion to Christianity.

This alliance is likely to play a key role in the post war Iraq. Each will help the other. The Iraqi opposition will be a willing partner in the strategy of the emerging alliance. The opposition with the exception of the Shia community is dependent on the "coalition" forces for their survival. Who ever controls Iraq in the post war period will be ruling on behalf of the alliance.

What happened in Iraq will not stop at the borders. The turmoil will spread to other parts of the Middle East and beyond, if the current rulers refuse to play the tune of the alliance. The people once again will be pawns as they have often been in this chess game of politics. The Middle East and other regions that may be on the radar of the alliance are in for a long crisis, a crisis that is capable of profoundly affecting their social, religious and political values.

The future is uncertain unless those who claim to be the ruler's look at the reality with eyes wide open and work for the social, educational, political-freedom and security of their people. The future is certainly bleak if people of conscious do not rise with eyes wide open and look beyond the worldview of corporate media to understand the world we live in and work to establish a universal system of peace and justice for all.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah, is the Editor the Minaret and the Muslim Observer