The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 161
The Gulf Crisis & The New World Order known how much havoc an Israeli retaliation would wreak upon the citizens of Iraq: it would exceed the damage done to them by the allied forces so far. Also, a selfish-interest seems to be at work, behind this reaction: if Israeli reaction to these attacks causes a rift among the Muslim countries currently siding with the allies, and some of them started supporting Iraq's action, in consequence, then it would add complications to the allied plan regarding Iraq. Now, if the people of Iraq are going to be brutalized and punished for the wrong steps taken by President Saddam, then which decent citi:um of this world, whether Muslim or not can be happy over this misery? Nobody who loves humanity and Islam can, in any case, be happy over this. But one is shocked to watch on the T. V. , the lazy-rich Kuwaitis and Saudis, with their vaults full of money, listening to the radio bulletins of Iraq's destruction, and gloating over it and laughing at it aloud. Such scenes cause indescribable horror in one's mind. It amazes one to observe that there i s a bunch of Muslims who have been orchestrating their piety in front of the world and posing as the front line soldiers of Islam - those who called themselves the caretakers of the holiest places of Islam, and the key-holders of Kaaba, and never tired of reminding us of the great honour and responsibility bestowed upon them by God - the true face of their values can be seen in the fact that they are the silent spectators of the terrible atrocities being committed against their neighbourly Muslim country. When the misery of their condition would be documented and assessed in the post-war period, humanity would mourn this tragedy for a long time to come. Halaku Khan's tyranny is passe now: the havoc of World War II reduced his legend to an anachronism. Even the allies are admitting that their bombardment of Iraq has now far exceeded what they did in World War II or Vietnam. To laugh and express delight at the destruction wrought by such dreadful means, is a very cheap display of meanness. I have seen this kind of display for the first time. It shocked me to think that these are the people who have been made the custodians of such enormous piles of wealth. Is this their dignity, their wisdom and their understanding of life. None of them thought of 161