Bush’s Vision for Mideast
16, June 2007
by Tariq A. Al-Maeena
In his State of the Union address back in 1993, President Bush told of how “Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.”
And following the invasion and occupation of Iraq under deceptive circumstances, Bush appeared before the UN General Assembly in September 2004 and had this to say: “For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom, and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.”
Had George Bush studied history and understood it, he would have learned how hollow were these words coming from him. In 1953 Iran was enjoying their form of democracy until the US, with assistance from the British, overthrew the popular prime minister of the time, Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq, a fierce nationalist who had nationalized the Iranian oil industry.
In a maneuver coded Operation Ajax, CIA and British intelligence funded and led a covert operation to get rid of Mossadeq with the help of military generals loyal to the puppet Shah.
This was quickly followed by the overwhelming support of their pawn Mohammed Reza who then was the ruler and the Shah of Iran. The Western forces felt that the young ruler would better serve their interests. What was dictated by the US was something the Shah learned to rapidly adopt and live by, even at the expense of his people. Under US prodding, the Shah was quick to recognize Israel in spite of strong opposition from within.
And when resentment and dissatisfaction from the public became increasingly vocal, the Shah was quick to respond with his hated Savak, a Gestapo-like outfit that quickly clamped down on dissenters and wiped off any trace of democracy in that country.
An individual more obsessed with the pomp and pageantry of the position, the Shah adopted various grandiose titles such as His Imperial Majesty, and Shahanshah (King of Kings), while his people watched their daily sustenance shrink and wither away. Eventually, his much-hated extravagant lifestyle reached such heights that the Iranians could no longer stomach his undemocratic rule and he was booted out in 1979 and forced to leave Iran.
As the US administration led by Bush continues to beat the war drum against Iran, one wonders where was the policy of freedom and democracy then? In Iraq, we witnessed how quickly the US sought to install their puppets to run the government, and when that failed, the violence against the various sects increased, leading to the continuing disruption of regional stability.
Lebanon has fared no better since Bush took office. Last summer’s brutal and murderous assault on Lebanon by the Israelis should be seen in the context of Bush’s increasingly bellicose stance against some of the Lebanese factions. And the assault on Lebanon was mounted with generously supplied US armaments including cluster bombs that claimed the lives of so many innocent Lebanese.
When the Palestinians, fed up with the inaction of their Fatah government in the face of continuous Israeli intrusion and usurping of their land, democratically elected Hamas as their representative government, Bush was the first to go on record along with the Israelis to dismiss the new government formed under due process of democratic discipline. Palestinians rejected the Fatah because under the Fatah rule their lives got shorter and their land smaller.
So when Bush grandly announces his vision for democracy in the region his words ring hollow indeed. After their unjustified invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US administration and its band of merry neocons are trying to convince Arab governments that the greatest threat to them comes from a nuclear-armed Iran. Again, Israel’s nuclear arsenal is conveniently omitted from all White House statements regarding the need for nonproliferation.
The Arabs on the street however know better, and shall not be deceived. Increasingly many in the region are turning a deaf ear to theses saber rattlings coming from a government that has lost most of its credibility worldwide.
Iran before and Iraq today are but a glaring example of America’s vision of a “democratized” Middle East.
by Tariq A. Al-Maeena
In his State of the Union address back in 1993, President Bush told of how “Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.”
And following the invasion and occupation of Iraq under deceptive circumstances, Bush appeared before the UN General Assembly in September 2004 and had this to say: “For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom, and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.”
Had George Bush studied history and understood it, he would have learned how hollow were these words coming from him. In 1953 Iran was enjoying their form of democracy until the US, with assistance from the British, overthrew the popular prime minister of the time, Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq, a fierce nationalist who had nationalized the Iranian oil industry.
In a maneuver coded Operation Ajax, CIA and British intelligence funded and led a covert operation to get rid of Mossadeq with the help of military generals loyal to the puppet Shah.
This was quickly followed by the overwhelming support of their pawn Mohammed Reza who then was the ruler and the Shah of Iran. The Western forces felt that the young ruler would better serve their interests. What was dictated by the US was something the Shah learned to rapidly adopt and live by, even at the expense of his people. Under US prodding, the Shah was quick to recognize Israel in spite of strong opposition from within.
And when resentment and dissatisfaction from the public became increasingly vocal, the Shah was quick to respond with his hated Savak, a Gestapo-like outfit that quickly clamped down on dissenters and wiped off any trace of democracy in that country.
An individual more obsessed with the pomp and pageantry of the position, the Shah adopted various grandiose titles such as His Imperial Majesty, and Shahanshah (King of Kings), while his people watched their daily sustenance shrink and wither away. Eventually, his much-hated extravagant lifestyle reached such heights that the Iranians could no longer stomach his undemocratic rule and he was booted out in 1979 and forced to leave Iran.
As the US administration led by Bush continues to beat the war drum against Iran, one wonders where was the policy of freedom and democracy then? In Iraq, we witnessed how quickly the US sought to install their puppets to run the government, and when that failed, the violence against the various sects increased, leading to the continuing disruption of regional stability.
Lebanon has fared no better since Bush took office. Last summer’s brutal and murderous assault on Lebanon by the Israelis should be seen in the context of Bush’s increasingly bellicose stance against some of the Lebanese factions. And the assault on Lebanon was mounted with generously supplied US armaments including cluster bombs that claimed the lives of so many innocent Lebanese.
When the Palestinians, fed up with the inaction of their Fatah government in the face of continuous Israeli intrusion and usurping of their land, democratically elected Hamas as their representative government, Bush was the first to go on record along with the Israelis to dismiss the new government formed under due process of democratic discipline. Palestinians rejected the Fatah because under the Fatah rule their lives got shorter and their land smaller.
So when Bush grandly announces his vision for democracy in the region his words ring hollow indeed. After their unjustified invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US administration and its band of merry neocons are trying to convince Arab governments that the greatest threat to them comes from a nuclear-armed Iran. Again, Israel’s nuclear arsenal is conveniently omitted from all White House statements regarding the need for nonproliferation.
The Arabs on the street however know better, and shall not be deceived. Increasingly many in the region are turning a deaf ear to theses saber rattlings coming from a government that has lost most of its credibility worldwide.
Iran before and Iraq today are but a glaring example of America’s vision of a “democratized” Middle East.
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Labels: Bush
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 4:54 PM
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