IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MANIFICENT, THE MERCIFUL

THE MASSACRE OF AMERICAN VALUES

[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]

INTRODUCTION: The more I thought about American values, the more I became convinced how close they are to the values that Islam advocates, cherishes and promotes for the betterment of human society. The more these realities dawn upon my mental horizon, the more I feel encouraged that one day the world will ultimately realize as to where lies the solution of its ever-growing human problems. Equally, the more I envision as how these values are being brutally slaughtered at the cruel hands of the people occupying the White House and controlling the destiny of our nation, the more I become convinced that the world leadership is not under the control of honest hands.

The other day I was going through the Constitution of the United States. I observed that its most prominent characteristics are to establish justice, secure life and liberty and guarantee the pursuit of happiness to “ourselves and our posterity”. The spirit of our forefathers was very alive to this situation. As such, they provided a comprehensive system of “checks and balances” throughout the Constitution so that these principles are not ignored by anyone at any stage. It appears that something somewhere has gone wrong. The people at the helms of our affairs have put the cherished values of our prominence in jeopardy through raising the slogan of preemptive attack on false presumption and unproven allegations both at home and around the world.

TRAGEDY ABROAD:

The War in Iraq is the outcome of some concocted stories about Saddam and his so-called well publicized “Weapons of mass destruction”. More than four months have passed, since our armed forces occupied Iraq but in spite of hectic efforts of USA-UK, this allegation still remains simply an illusion. It has put our credibility at stake in the opinion of world assembly. No body will believe our leadership in future, if, God forbid, a real danger crops up somewhere in the world as there are still many “rogue” nations, and groups that are outside of American orbit. The safety of our people is now permanently at stake. Through our foreign policies we are producing more enemies than friends abroad.

Simultaneously, our words, promises and commitments are gradually becoming meaningless and do not hold any value. Afghanistan is bleeding daily profusely though we stand committed to deliver peace and “honey” to its poor people suffering for decades. There is no peace anywhere beyond the four walls of Kabul. We could not provide any substantial financial help as promised to that war-ravaged country, even the “peace” that could have enabled its poor people to earn their “bread and butter” through their hard labor and toiling on their land. Unfortunately, we have now forced the peasants of Afghanistan to resort to grow opium and, thus, have given chance to world renowned smugglers to flood this country with drug and spoil the health and habits of millions of young Americans at home. In fact, the Government of the USA was constitutionally bound to help Afghan people to meet its honor-bound commitment and develop its economy in order to protect its own people. Will our ever-vigilant media remind our President that he is violating the Constitution of America in his failure to fulfill the commitment made to the people of Afghanistan and thereby putting the health of his own people in jeopardy?

So is the case with Iraq. We attacked that country under false pretension in extraordinary haste without any preparation as what to do afterwards. Our armed forces entered that country with tall promises to deliver “liberty”, freedom from the slavery of dictator Saddam and a democratic set up of and by their own people. But the people of Iraq are asking every now and then: Where is it? We couldn’t meet even the basic necessities of life like water, electricity, food and peace. We could not even eliminate the remnants of Saddam regime. They are playing hell with the “occupying” forces in Iraq, pouncing upon our soldiers at will with vengeance, kill one or two and injuring many as a daily routine. But our President and his war mongering secretary of defense, Rumsfeld appear to be the least disturbed and are taking this war of retaliation in Iraq as a routine. They have been able to find some stooges of their choice and are determined to transfer the power to these people and enforce the constitution that is to be framed by this coterie.

The entire episode of Iraq is an unconstitutional syndrome of President Bush, waging a war without any justification, putting our soldiers at risk through the procrastinated process of a prolonged war, ignoring the sanctity of UN, alienating its old allies in Europe, burdening the government exchequer with the estimated cost of war, a billion dollars a week, and curtailing many facilities to poor and needy at home. There is no end to the evil consequences of undesirable and unwanted war in Iraq except to please some vested interests of oil industry and the Jewish lobby of the USA who unwittingly envision that its permanent occupation is likely to serve in formulating the concept of Greater Israel in near future. The USA and its people will have to pay a very dear price for the follies of President Bush for the manner in which he is massacring the precious values of America.

This is the sad story of Bush regime. But what havoc he has played in the USA itself with his own people is much more important than what he and his team are doing abroad. The tragic events at home in the wake of his war-mongering-preemptive-attack-philosophy and the reign of terror that he has let lose in this land of opportunities due to his undefined syndrome of terrorism must be spelled out at length for better understanding the gravity of the situation being confronted by the people at home.

TRAGEDY AT HOME:

A country is known by the values it preserves, maintains and promotes in its dealings with its own people and nations abroad. Its system of government that is wedded to policies and programs that flourish and protect those cherished values in every walk of life. Through its educational system and national policies it prepares its people to preserve and profess those ideals in their day to day activities of life. The people at the helm of its affairs do not miss any opportunity to emphasize and uphold these fundamental values of life in their foreign policies, business and trade parleys, international moots and conferences. They always feel proud of advocating these ideal principles while coming in contact with foreign dignitaries visiting their homeland or at invitation to foreign lands. These values become the barometer to judge the dignity and prestige of its people in the community of nations. Only such countries leave lasting impression on the rocks of time and history remembers them for the contributions they make in enriching human society by ennobling the character of its people.

The United States of America has been at the top of such model countries. It was the promised-land for the politically oppressed, the freedom fighters, and the religiously persecuted to come over here and seek asylum in its “free-for-all” atmosphere. Constitutionally, it upheld its guiding principle of safeguarding “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”, administering justice and offering fair play to its people, irrespective of color, cast, creed and religion. It was the government of law and no body was above the law, even the highest placed. Maintaining and preserving democratic values and practices, upholding freedom of speech, human rights and dignity of labor were the corner stones of its domestic policies and foreign engagements. The American people were respected everywhere with reverence and everyone around the world was found eager to come over here and feel proud of being called themselves as “Americans.”

But lately that dream has been shattered and those beauties of American character have been robbed by an inept President and his ill-advised “corporate” assistants. They are arrogant and see only in front of their nose with stiff neck. In the wake of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, that is yet to be judged as “who did it and for what”, they have transformed the country into a “jail”, especially for the immigrant Muslims of America as if they are “criminals” and must be kept behind bars without trial, The Attorney General, John Ashcroft is determined to enforce the provision of unconstitutional USA PATRIOT Act and its draconian provisions that are totally against the basic provisions of the American Constitution and our life pattern He is currently making a whirlwind tour of the country to convince the people of his side of the story that the security of the country lies in denying the fundamental human rights, detaining the innocents simply on whimsical grounds and unproven doubts and allegations and “obstructing” justice to detainees.

This entire regime of President Bush and his “coterie” of vested interests are bent upon to destroy the very edifice of our Constitution: by putting the innocent people in seclusion, detaining them for indefinite periods, denying their rights to file their habeas corpus petition against unlawful detention without trial in a court of law and causing them to suffer extremely inhuman treatment in the concentration camp of Guantanamo Bay so much so that the other day the protagonist of Civil Rights Movement correctly called it “the Black Hole of human rights.”

We the Americans are fast loosing our name, fame and prestige around the world especially in the Muslim countries for the massacre of human values at home and neglecting them abroad in cementing our relation with undemocratic regimes abroad. Building foreign relations has become a matter of expediency to suit our fight for “terrorism” that is yet to be defined by Mr. Bush and his coterie as what constitutes terrorism and what not? In fact, the fundamental of our foreign policy now rotates around the “security of Israel”, whether it is right or wrong, and exporting values that are unethical and emanate from the liberal attitude of life, and we know that both are foreign to our Constitution.

The promulgation of “No Evidence Act” and the UNPATRIOT Act are the bad stigmas on the fair name of the USA. The policy of denial of justice to detainees and refusal to give them a fair trial in the court of law have brought us back to barbaric age of tyrant kings and queens. The behavior of President Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft is eating away the vitals of our civil liberties. It is just outrageous, uncivilized and unconstitutional. It appears that our society is now under the control of some jungle laws and we are living in primitive age when no human rights existed and the law of the land was the whimsical thinking process of the tribal chief.

CONCLUSION: Those who have brought the country to such a ruinous state, violating the Constitution of the country so blatantly and usurped the human rights unashamedly deserve to be put to question through the process of impeachment by the Congress. If President Clinton could be impeached for just telling a lie on oath why can’t President Bush and his entire team be impeached for much greater crime of flagrating the very fundamentals of our constitution and so openly and violently; for raging preemptive wars against sovereign countries of the world on flimsy and fake grounds; for getting our armed men killed in hundreds and putting thousands more at risk in and around the world? Will the Justice System of the country take a note of this vital misuse of executive powers and initiate an Independent Inquiry without further loss of time? The American people are eager to clean their tarnished name and fame from the brutal clutches of the people sitting in the canopy of the White House. The earlier the law enforcement agents take initiative, the better it would be for the country and the American people. God bless America!

Shamim A Siddiqi

August 25, 2003