Sitting in Baghdad waiting for a C130 and I found this opinion piece that I thought would be worth Blogging. So here goes as published in the Kuwait Arab Times.
By Ali Al-Baghli
Former Minister of Oil
ACCORDING to an old Arab saying Barrakish means "the Arab nation" because Arab intellectuals and politicians always promoted the idea that for decades Arab nations had been targeted by evil forces because these evil forces did not want the Arabs to hold distinguished positions or develop their nations. This assumption no longer holds true. When asked why of all the nations should the Arabs be targeted people would say it was because of their countries' prime location between the three continents. But this assumption was viable only when Megallan, Vasco da Gama and other explorers discovered new lands. Today we live in a world of airplanes and floating war cities and there is no longer any need for strategic locations - either from friend or foe.
Others say "it is all about oil." Those who have this notion are mistaken, because we don't drink oil. We sell it to the West. The West, discovered it in our lands and needs it more than us. Moreover, they buy this oil at the market rate, the market which they have failed to control for the past three-and-a-half decades, because they have not discovered any alternative source of energy. The West - which has been accused of stealing Arab oil - once refused an offer from Saddam Hussein, after the occupation of Kuwait, who promised to pump oil to the West almost free of cost. However, when the noose around Saddam Hussein's neck tightened, he tried to bribe governments, leaders, and even individuals who had backed him to commit his cold-blooded crimes. So, who is attempting to get oil wealth for free other than the Arab and Muslim nations themselves?
Getting back to the theory of Arabs and Muslims being targeted, particularly after 'Black September', it is a 100 per cent Arab responsibility to find out who targets whom. The Westerners didn't invade Afghanistan and Iraq but came to liberate these nations after they were targeted by Arabs and Muslims. For so many years we have been watching the horrible deeds of Muslims and Arabs, beginning with the attack on Manhattan and the cold-blooded killings in Casablanca, Zahran, Najaf, Al-Fallujah, Algeria, Tunis and everywhere you can name, including far away countries such as Argentina in South America. Last week I was watching on TV news about the hostage crisis in Ossetia, in Russia. I thought to myself, 'Thank God!' for the first time the Arabs are not involved in any killing for over a month. But after the Russian forces stormed the school and freed the remainder of the hostages, I was shocked to learn among the 25 hostage-takers killed, 10 were Arabs. |