A Message to President Clinton
By Abd al-Wahhab Badrakhan
Dear President Clinton,
It is regrettable that your Middle Eastern guardianship is coming to such a bloody and shameful end after all you have done and all you have called for on behalf of the cause of peace in this region. I had not realized how much of a "lame duck" you were until you found yourself this dark week deaf and dumb and blind, stumbling back and forth between your fake neutrality and your actual bias. Savagery did not move you from throwing your bias toward them [Israel] with all of your strength. Your heart remained unmoved in the face of the deaths of those who cried out to you for justice on their behalf. You have not spoken because if you were to do so, your bias would drive you to condemn the killed and support the killers. However, this has not prevented you from paralyzing the Security Council and exploiting every avenue to prevent the international community from censuring the killing.
You and others in your administration say it is crucial that a cease-fire be brought about, most importantly that the peace process continue on the basis of the resumption of negotiations. Clearly no one has informed you that the killing has all been one-sided – against the Palestinians – and that the ones who are doing the killing are your Israeli allies. If your Secretary of State is not succeeding in stopping the killing it is because, based on her favoritism, she is supporting the Israeli killers and condemning the Palestinian protesters, even though it is a case of rockets against rocks. This is a dubious application of the principle of "human rights" you are constantly blaming Arabs for violating. One cannot prohibit Palestinians for demonstrating and protesting against Israeli occupation. This is no way to make peace…to put it gently.
The reality, Mr. President, is that no one can compete with you in making peace or in searching for it. Nor can anyone fault you for bringing about any agreement, including all the agreements the Israelis have made none of which has been implemented. Perhaps you now know, although you aren’t acknowledging it, that the agreements that have slipped from your hands were thwarted due to the stupidity of the Israelis and their tribalism and slander while the occupation goes on and on…in the name of a crooked peace. The Israelis sold you out in Geneva and then again at Camp David, in addition to more advantageous attempts on the part of your Jewish aides, your competitors in the pursuit of failure. But you, having failed, are busy transferring the blame for the fiasco from your fortresses of experts to the shoulders of Arab governments. They for their part have not cheated you but rather have abstained, relative to your allies, from being dragged into Israeli deceitfulness.
Mr. President, you have demonstrated historical sensitivity to the responsibility, unique among those of your era, for seeking peace in the Middle East. But, you have piled up a heap of stumblings and missteps, the latest one at Camp David where you set the stage for this bloodbath which regrettably will become the awful "crown" of your era. Your abstention from any awareness of Israeli deceitfulness appears suspicious when you fall all over yourself lavishing praise upon the Israeli Prime Minister for his "efforts" among whose methods is killing.
You see, Mr. President, you never miss an opportunity to rush into deposing a tyrant like Milosovic after which you pause to savor the fruits of your policy. But, your vision is far from comprehensive because you have been confused and duped by something far more difficult than Milosovic: Israel. However, the blood is not dry or cold, nor can it be concealed from the television cameras. Peaceful demonstrations have brought down the tyrant of Belgrade. As for the funerals of the victims of the tyranny of Israel, not one tear has fallen from your eyes. You are right to demand a war crimes trial for Milosovic and his bookkeepers, but so far demanding war crimes trials for Israelis has failed to enter your field of vision. Is it any wonder that no Arab trusts in the impartial "righteousness" of America?
Translated by Ted Thornton