Condolences Letter to my Democrat Friend
Dear Friend,
A few days ago Sheik Zayed El Nehyan passed away. He was the president of United Arab Emirates. Many people in that country are genuinely mourning his passing. He was a leader who cared about his people and attempted successfully to create a comfortable and privileged living for his fellow country men. I have read about people crying about his death and feeling depressed for days. In a region where corrupt dictators installed by the CIA like Saddam are the norm, Sheik Zayed was a rare exception. While I myself am not a big fan of Sheik Zayed El Nehyan, who was one of the most wealthy people in the world, can you guess where that money came from?, and who got to power by getting rid of his brother, I can sympathize with the mourning of the UAE people over their loss of a rare Arab moderate leader who actually cared about his country.
As for you my friend, I have a hard time sympathizing with your pain. You are walking around looking like somebody who got a kick in the stomach, mourning the fact that Kerry is not your president. Was Kerry really such a great man? If he was, then he will find some other way to do great deeds for his country. He is neither dead nor sitting in a jail somewhere. Just look at president Jimmy Carter he did more for his country after his presidency that during the presidency. But somehow, I doubt we will ever hear about Kerry ever again. You woke up yesterday, went to the same job, your kids went to the same school and even though you voted for the guy that didn’t win, no police showed up at your house to haul you off to some dungeon. In fact, you life didn’t change that much. In the middle east each time there is a new president or a change of power it is associates with massive bloodshed and everything in the country needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch. Thousands end up in jails and everybody’s life is disrupted.
Yes, yes, I know that you are hurt by all those French people that use George Bush as an excuse to make fun of Americans and call you a nation that lacks culture and sophistication. Well! as a part European myself I have a secret to share with you, we Europeans made fun of Americans long before George Bush arrived on the scene. And you guys are a newer country and you do have less history, but that means you are young and hip, so if I was you I wouldn’t pay much attention to what those snotty Europeans say about you. Shall I remind you of the not so distant European colonial past? …. nah! lets not talk about that.
Oh yes I know, you are upset about the thousand Americans that died during the war on Iraq. But how many Americans die in road accidents every year? How many Americans die in homicides every year? We Iraqis when we waged wars we ended up loosing hundred of thousands and even millions of deaths, really that number is not that high as far as wars go. At least now I can send money to my family in Iraq so that they could buy necessities of life without fear of imprisonment, because it was illegal for me to do so under the sanctions. This I have Bush to thank for, not Clinton, not Bush senior, not Kerry, but George W Bush. Some estimates state that about one million Iraqis died as a result of the sanctions, but no American were dieing then….but oops! I must be boring now, talking about something that you don’t care about. I will try to stay focused and talk about your feeling and not mine.
Think of all the things you have to celebrate. You just participated in democratic elections where you got to cast your vote and so did your fellow countrymen and fellow countrywomen. In the end the majority got their way. Oh! what would I give to be able to do that in my native Iraq. Even if the religious fundamentalists would win, I would still be happy about the fact that I got to have an equal and fair say in the matter. Iraq would be 100 times better off than where it has been for the last 35 years.
To the UAE people, my condolences, and to you my friend I say: Take you your wife out for dinner, have a glass of wine on me. Chill out. You have plenty to celebrate. If things get really bad you can move to Canada.
A few days ago Sheik Zayed El Nehyan passed away. He was the president of United Arab Emirates. Many people in that country are genuinely mourning his passing. He was a leader who cared about his people and attempted successfully to create a comfortable and privileged living for his fellow country men. I have read about people crying about his death and feeling depressed for days. In a region where corrupt dictators installed by the CIA like Saddam are the norm, Sheik Zayed was a rare exception. While I myself am not a big fan of Sheik Zayed El Nehyan, who was one of the most wealthy people in the world, can you guess where that money came from?, and who got to power by getting rid of his brother, I can sympathize with the mourning of the UAE people over their loss of a rare Arab moderate leader who actually cared about his country.
As for you my friend, I have a hard time sympathizing with your pain. You are walking around looking like somebody who got a kick in the stomach, mourning the fact that Kerry is not your president. Was Kerry really such a great man? If he was, then he will find some other way to do great deeds for his country. He is neither dead nor sitting in a jail somewhere. Just look at president Jimmy Carter he did more for his country after his presidency that during the presidency. But somehow, I doubt we will ever hear about Kerry ever again. You woke up yesterday, went to the same job, your kids went to the same school and even though you voted for the guy that didn’t win, no police showed up at your house to haul you off to some dungeon. In fact, you life didn’t change that much. In the middle east each time there is a new president or a change of power it is associates with massive bloodshed and everything in the country needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch. Thousands end up in jails and everybody’s life is disrupted.
Yes, yes, I know that you are hurt by all those French people that use George Bush as an excuse to make fun of Americans and call you a nation that lacks culture and sophistication. Well! as a part European myself I have a secret to share with you, we Europeans made fun of Americans long before George Bush arrived on the scene. And you guys are a newer country and you do have less history, but that means you are young and hip, so if I was you I wouldn’t pay much attention to what those snotty Europeans say about you. Shall I remind you of the not so distant European colonial past? …. nah! lets not talk about that.
Oh yes I know, you are upset about the thousand Americans that died during the war on Iraq. But how many Americans die in road accidents every year? How many Americans die in homicides every year? We Iraqis when we waged wars we ended up loosing hundred of thousands and even millions of deaths, really that number is not that high as far as wars go. At least now I can send money to my family in Iraq so that they could buy necessities of life without fear of imprisonment, because it was illegal for me to do so under the sanctions. This I have Bush to thank for, not Clinton, not Bush senior, not Kerry, but George W Bush. Some estimates state that about one million Iraqis died as a result of the sanctions, but no American were dieing then….but oops! I must be boring now, talking about something that you don’t care about. I will try to stay focused and talk about your feeling and not mine.
Think of all the things you have to celebrate. You just participated in democratic elections where you got to cast your vote and so did your fellow countrymen and fellow countrywomen. In the end the majority got their way. Oh! what would I give to be able to do that in my native Iraq. Even if the religious fundamentalists would win, I would still be happy about the fact that I got to have an equal and fair say in the matter. Iraq would be 100 times better off than where it has been for the last 35 years.
To the UAE people, my condolences, and to you my friend I say: Take you your wife out for dinner, have a glass of wine on me. Chill out. You have plenty to celebrate. If things get really bad you can move to Canada.
There is a way between voice and presence where information flows.
In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes. .... Rumi
11:54 AMihath, i think you were a little off by saying the CIA put saddam in power. that is obviously very wrong. the US gov't supported saddam after he made his coup in the late 70s, but that was because we were both fighting a common enemy...the iranians. iran and iraq were at war and those freaks had hundreds of americans hostage forever. after the US gave billions of dollars to help iran after the bam earthquake i see them on tv just days ago celebrating the anniversary of students capturing americans by burning flags and dancing like idiots. so much class.
12:10 PM
... billions in aid seems a bit of an exageration to me. so I went internet surfing ... Not sure if this represents the total figure for US aid to Bam, but here's one link that mentions about $5 million of USAID. http://www.usaid.gov/iran/
Perhaps Iranian Americans and others gave lots of private donations.
Then there is the whole question of government aid in general ... It may not be as altruistic as we like to think. Some arguments I have read conclude that aid helps the donor as much, or more, than the recipient.
Hana
12:29 PM
"freaks", "idiots", "burning flags" and celebrating hostage taking .... sounds like the generalizations, intolerance, ignorance, and disrespect goes both ways.
Hana
12:35 PM
Hate to harp on this all the time, but certain things need correcting.
First, the CIA never installed Saddam.
Second, US support of Saddam during the Gulf War was very little put into context. Where the USSR and France supplied him with ~18 - 20 billion dollars worth of the lastest armor and aircraft (lest we forget those Exocet missiles) between 1980 and 88, the US allowed the export of $300 million dollars worth of 19 civilian helicopters.
The critical aid from the US that prevented Iraqi collapse in 1984 came in the form of battlefield military intelligence and satellite imagery of Iranian formations.
And while the Pentagon turned a blind eye to Saddam's use of chemical weapons on the battlefield, we did not -- as has been repeated far too often -- "give him his chemical weapons." Most of the chemical weapons infrastructure and precursor chemicals came from European firms. Any such exports from the US were illegal (data at http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Iraq/Chemical/3884.html).
The same holds for biological weapons. Iraqi scientists wrote to a non-profit organization and received some pathogen cultures, but I don't think it was illegal at the time. Acquiring cultures is easy; weaponizing them is something entirely different.
1:14 PM
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
1:16 PM
Yes, iHath makes a very good point about who should mourn and who should not. My sincerest condolences to the people of UAE, they have lost one of their best and brightest stars. I pray that little time passes before another is shining equally as bright in his place.
This may come off as being negative, and I don't mean it to be that way, however, I think I need to point out one other slight error. It sounds as if she is saying that the US imposed the sanctions that caused so much misery for so many years, in Iraq. The sanctions were UN sanctions, and as always, the US was used as the enforcer to those sanctions. I've never agreed with that policy, why must it always be us to enforce the UNs rules? Why don't the blue hats do more in that area? But, that is the truth of the matter.
It was the UN that allowed the oil for food program to become corrupt, and it was Saddam that witheld all the food, medicine, etc., that was supposed to be helping Iraqis. The US had very little (if anything) to do with this, other than to constantly demand the UN to call Saddam to reckoning, and to which the UN always refused to do.
Reference: http://www.un.org/News/ossg/iraq.htm
BUT, with that said, I understand exactly what she is saying. We are spoiled, and do not realize how good we have it. So one side lost, another side won, our lives remain the same. Lives in which we have the freedom to change, for better or worse, unlike a very large portion of the planet. One great Arab leader is no longer helping his people, and one potentially great American leader is still free to do the things he said he would, via his Senatorial seat. Lets see what he does now, and judge his "greatness" on his actions going forward.
Did I get this close to correct, iHath?
1:17 PM
Sorry for the delete, I wish Blogger would have an "edit" option, instead of just delete.. I hate making typos and not being able to fix them :)
3:23 PM
Good reply. Well said, Ihath.
4:21 PM
No reason to bristle at the idea that CIA installed Saddam. I don't think the facts are in either way. That was before Iraqis waving red flags became cuter than Teletubbies, remember?
In any case, I think it sounds more reasonable than much of the usual Bush-bashing fair. I'm bummed he won, but largely because the man is a grave hazard to public health, especially in western Europe. The incidence of otherwise sharp people there going clinically banana as soon as they turn their thoughts to his Texan charms has left the Black Death in the dust. Not that I'm hooked on hearing USA sung o'er all the rest with trumpet sound, mind you. A simple hug would do just fine.
8:51 AM
remember:
you don't go changing horsemen in the middle of the apocalypse
well, at least it's nice to know we'll be welcomed in Canada... or Europe :)
Javier
10:40 AM
Steve in Boston,
Yes you got that right.
12:11 PM
Although your post, Ihath, was not addressed to me, since I am not a democrat, I thought that I should reply before there is a post that is addressed to me. Trepidation prevents me from saying what I am. :)
The details of the CIA's activity, whether actual installation of Saddam or various degrees of assistance to him, is beyond my personal knowlege and irrelevant to your point. I am sorry that my country caused yours and many others suffering. I truly am, and I state with equal veracity that I do not know what to do about it. Unlike Kerry, I won't say that I have a plan. Nor am I able to state that Bush's plan is right. I simply do not know.
I am sorry for my country's readily apparent inconsitencies when its actions over time are examined. I am sorry for the wrongs committed in both the past and the present, whose number is such that anyone choosing to do so may believe that every action taken is for the wrong reasons or soley for some self serving purpose.
I also appologize for our lack of perspective and for our preoccupation with ourselves. We are spoiled and we do not truly appreciate either our good fortune or how infinitesimal our petty concerns are when compared to those of other countries in the world.
As I said, I have little personal knowlege of operations or actions taken by my government, or the actual motives behind the decisions. I do, however, have personal knowlege of myself and my little territory in Western Michigan. Upon reflection, I find that what I said about my country is true about myself, and I have the facts to back it up. I am spoiled and don't even realize it. My upbringing, my birthright, my mind, my body, my soul are all gifts that I take for granted. My daily concerns are about me and my family, and those concerns are petty when compared to those faced by other families even in my own community, much less the world. Survival is not an issue, maximizing benefit in work, education and enjoyment are the issues.
When I review my conduct over the course of a little over 40 years, I find actions taken by me purely for self centered purposes. If I am honest with myself, I must admit that I have sought to advance my reputation ahead of others, that I have fought for social and economic positioning to the relative detriment of others, that I have on more than one occasion turned away from those whom I could benefit in any number of ways, just because I was busy or had some other matter to attend to. I have shoplifted (although a long, long time ago), I have driven while drunk, I have taken illegal drugs, I have hit another male individual and I am sure that any independent observer of my behavior would conclude that I enjoyed myself while doing these things.
How do I live with myself, knowing that these things were done intentionally by me? How does my wife still stay with me, even though she has been victimized by my wrongful, self centered behavior? Forgiveness. I don't pretend that I never did what I did. Nor do I take a quick count to ensure that the occasions when I have "done good" outnumber the occasions when I have "done wrong," thereby justifying to myself that on balance I am a pretty darn good guy. I strive to be good, but I recognize myself for what I am, a flawed and imperfect person capable of even intentional misconduct. But I love myself, that is, I accord to myself the same treatment given to my children (devils that they are). Nothing they could do would ever cause me not to love them, or to write them off as defective persons beyond repair, and I choose not to do that with myself. I choose to forgive myself, to accept what I have done, to strive to do better, and then to forgive myself when I fail again. Besides, the only alternative it seems to me is self deception or selective memory, and then I would not even know myself. Alternatively, I suppose that I could lower my standards, rationalize the notion of right and wrong till neither word means anything other than what I say, or I could even begin to call right what is wrong. I choose forgiveness.
I also love my country. Surely she has faults and has committed great wrongs for the wrong reasons both to her own people as well as to the rest of the world. But I forgive her because I choose to love her. I delight in what is truly good about her, I am absolutely astounded by her many accomplishments, and I am proudest when her action benefits people other than her own.
Although I surely do not know, I suspect that love and forgiveness are a part of the huge emotional wave of mourning for Sheik Zayed El Nehyan's passing, nothwithstanding the source of his personal wealth and the wrong turn in the path to his power. There is no one walking the earth who is free from mistakes, even the intentional kind. Saving our love for someone who has earned it through perfection means either that we love a fraud or will never love at all.
Oh well, time is passing and I better get busy doing the stuff that really shouldn't matter to me, like raking leaves and giving the lawn one last mow. If you don't want me clogging up your site, please tell me and I will stop. As you can see, once I start going its hard for me to cut myself off, but I am able to prevent myself from starting.
4:28 PM
Very thoughtful, AGM. Covered a lot of bases pretty well.
"The perfect is the enemy of the good."
"As ye judge, so shall ye be judged."
Etc.
6:03 AM
I dunno ihath, all funnyness aside I think some of those guys are in for real trouble over there. I'm not so sure how much they will have to celebrate in a few more years.
I mean, I'm optimistic only because I know all spells such as this pass. Meanwhile all around me I see and hear things I thought and hoped I would never live to see and hear, things my parents thought they were escaping by choosing the country for their children that they did.
10:19 PM
ihath, I have never heard truer words spoken in such a way, with such analogy.
you are my hero of the day.
10:08 AM
you said:At least now I can send money to my family in Iraq so that they could buy necessities of life without fear of imprisonment, because it was illegal for me to do so under the sanctions. This I have Bush to thank for, not Clinton, not Bush senior, not Kerry, but George W Bush.!!!!!
you won't have to send dog food to Fallujah now to assuage your conscience....they're well feed thanks to your heros....you truely are dispecable....what other nation should we destroy to faciltate your noble aspirations
1:02 PM
hej
I'm not sure but I don't think I’hath was really praising Bush so much as pointing out some sad facts. If you read her past posts she doesn't mind criticizing the Bush administration. I think the real gist is to remind us (in the US) that:
1. There are real reasons to mourn out there
2. We have it pretty good here so stop complaining
3. The real world doesn’t revolve around the US elections
4. Keep it all in perspective
No reason to get mad at her about it.
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