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Danny Dayus
After a war that is expected to have cost $150billion by mid-2004, at the expense of tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, after the economic and social infrastructure has been devastated, and after the country’s land and water have been further polluted by burning oil wells and depleted uranium weapons fragments, I hear that the USA occupiers have finally taken Saddam Hussein prisoner. Caught at last, but what does his capture signify?
Leah Tsemel
My Parents left Europe just before the Holocaust and they lost most of their family members in it. They came to that part of the world which today is called Israel, and used to be called Palestine, to promise me a better life and the security of a state of our own. After almost 60 years I cannot say that they succeeded; on the contrary. It seems that my parents and others who wanted to build the state of Israel did not understand that it is impossible to build a new future on the relics of oppression.
Helena Cobban
Fine words came recently from George W. Bush on the need for “democracy” in the countries of the Middle East. One may ask, of course, whether he is aware of the many disconnects between his rhetoric and the reality of a USA policy that is maintaining a military occupation regime in Iraq, supporting a brutal, actively colonialist military occupation regime in Palestine, and engaging in shady backroom deals with all the actively anti-democratic intelligence services of the region. But let us, for a few moments, take him at his word. Let us suppose that he really does want to see democracy grow and flourish throughout the Middle East, and that Iraq is to be the first centrepiece and exemplar of this project.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
The demonstrators converged on the provincial governor’s office on Sunday with banners, sleeping mats, cooking pots and a simple demand: Iskander Jawad Witwit should quit. After three days and nights of continuous protests, Witwit did just that. But the demonstrators have refused to budge. “Yes, yes for elections!” shouted the protesters, a collection of students, clerics and middle-aged professionals whose ranks swelled to more than 1,000 on Thursday. “No, no to appointment!”
Muzaffar Iqbal
A quick glance at the map of Iran and the surrounding region shows that Iran is now effectively a besieged land. This encircling of Islamic Iran is not a chance development. Unlike Iraq, where the recent invasion had a fast track pre-attack strategy, the USA is still moving carefully against Iran. But this must not be taken as a sign of reluctance by the USA administration to implement its overall strategy.
Tariq Ali
This week, Bush amplified USA policy by insisting on the time-honoured norm: to the victor, the spoils. Why should those countries (Germany, France, China, Russia, etc) that had refused to make the necessary blood sacrifice expect a share of the loot? The EU is screaming “foul”, and its bureaucrats are suggesting that by denying the non-belligerent states equal opportunities to exploit an occupied Iraq, the USA is withdrawing itself from the groove of capitalist legality.
Azmi Bishara
The Palestinians cannot hope for a just solution of their cause anytime soon. Sharon knows that. This is why he is calling on the Palestinians to accept a long-term transitional settlement while threatening them with unilateral moves, including the wall. Both Sharon and his deputy, Ehud Olmert, are in favour of unilateral action towards the Palestinians. Since an acceptable settlement cannot be expected under Sharon the Palestinians should focus on consolidating and maintaining national unity.
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Muslims are once again facing a wave of arrests by the British law enforcement authorities under the so called ‘war on terror’. However, although some Muslims may instinctively feel the need to lie low, remain silent and ride out the current storm, this would be a mistake for two reasons. Firstly the strategy of bunkering ourselves would not benefit the Muslim community in the long run, and secondly, silence would also be a failed opportunity to expose the militant liberal way of life that we see in the West; a system that oppresses humanity the world over. In the current emotive and caustic debate, several points need to be made.
Hani Shukrallah
The young man singing on the stage in the Geneva auditorium could easily have been Egyptian. His face would not have been out of place on the streets of Cairo, yet his name was Aviv Geffen and he was singing in Hebrew. The sound was wonderful, the song was for peace and the audience was made up of a few hundred Palestinians and Israelis, men and women of all ages gathered in this lovely Swiss city to proclaim their common commitment to peace and brotherhood. I should have been moved. I wasn’t.
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