The myth of hatred is dead
Fall of Baghdad should usher new era of common respect of all nations

April 16, 2003
The Iranian

Human beings were born free. Why did you make them slaves? -- Caliph Umar

Political freedom within Iraq and ability of the populace to demonstrate for their choices will shake the foundations of the political systems from Damascus, Tripoli to every Arab and Islamic capital. Idols of Saddam, which have been toppled in fists of emotion, have a very sensitive message for has ensured that Iraqis are born again and are free of enforced idolatry.

Abraham's tradition of Pilgrimage to Mecca was distorted into a pagan pilgrimage, where pilgrims used to pray to 360 idols of Mecca. The destruction of nearly hundreds of idols of Saddam is a very poignant moment. It is the usurpation of false idols that has pointed significance for the Islamic Crescent for the first thing Muhammad did when he returned from Medina to Kabba after conquest was to cleanse the holy place from 360 idols and restore the "religion of Abraham", the worship of one true God.

The cleansing of Baghdad from idols will be a very defining moment for Islamic conscience! It is paradoxical and indicative of the malign influences amongst the Islamic street that when the ancient 3000-year-old statues of Buddha, a global heritage, were destroyed, by the provincial Taliban, it failed to elicit a condemnation from Muslims worth mentioning in the global media.

Whereas when Saddam's false idol was toppled the Muslim street, outside of Baghdad, decried and mourned the event. Saddam's statues erected throughout Iraq countered Islam's values of venerating human beings and it must be a joyous event for the Islamic world that idolatry is once again being disestablished in Mesopotamia.

Saddam, amongst his many sins, was to portray himself as a false idol and ranking in that league is his denial of freedom to the Iraqis. The denial of legitimate expression and avenues of dissent is anathema to Islamic thought, which enshrines spiritual and personal freedom as the foundation for any society.

Indeed Caliph Umar once heard that one of his fellows Arabs had hurt the feelings of a native Egyptian, by analogising non-believer status as that of servitude, and replied in the way of a rebuke, "Human beings were born free. Why did you make them slaves?"

America's actions are allowing for the reintroduction of Islamic values, such as freedom and dissent which will allow for the renewal of Muslim civilisation. This liberation campaign will be a new opening of the U.S. to the Middle East, with significant opportunities to effect reconciliation with the 250 million Arabs of the Middle East.

The hatred of the Arab street with US is the normal beat that Arab rulers churn out to the Washington pundits. With the fall of Baghdad that myth is dead and if things are handled to the letter in Baghdad, then the Americans will be able to establish an effective platform of dialogue with the Muslims of the foremost Islamic capital of the world.

The idea that the Arab street want Jihad is proven wrong, by the fall of Baghdad, for it has shown that the people are as innocent as other populations of the world and it is the regimes, which encourage deviancy. The people of Baghdad rejoiced at their liberations and remain grateful to the Americans a reaction that will be echoed by the populaces of Damascus, Tehran and Riyadh should the tyrannies collapse.

Freedom is not an abstract concept that is applicable only in the Western world for it is the gift that distinguishes mankind. It is as applicable to the Arab and a permanent basis for successful human societies for it negates jungle law and ensures the establishment of framework for future prosperity, progression and human development. Without this effervescent quality all societies are doomed to perpetual decline, obscurity and lawlessness.

Newly acquired freedoms by nature can be chaotic and out of such habitual chaos emerges continuous dialogues that help nations to address the key issues that face them. Iraq's new tryst with freedom look chaotic and disorganised but nothing was more heart warming than to see the first demonstration of Iraqis today in front of Palestine Hotel demanding their rights. Some wanted an Islamic state, others an end to looting and most for a restoration of civil order.

When dissent is allowed, society takes a life of its own and makes a quantum leap towards maturity and self discovery. At these cross roads we need to ask why should we limit the right of dissent to limited segments of society and leave the other divide of mankind to lament under duress. In this connected world we cannot afford pockets of huge uncertainties, freedom around the global cannot be ensured if pockets of massive instability and sub-human conditions are left to prosper!

Intelligent human beings can be programmed to appreciate life and its gifts in a society free of duress. An enslaved human being can be equally programmed to become a suicide bomber. In a free world we cannot obstruct the free flow of information and connectivity by closing the frontiers of an open world. The challenge is huge and the price is steep. The price mankind has paid in this present conflict may look very steep and not worth the while. But the freedom of 27 million people is a great leap forward and will have a domino effect on the Middle East.

Taste of freedom will just not be limited to Iraq, it may be chaotic but it is part of the progressive evolution through which most of these civilised states have passed. Bonapartism of France was callous but the French values of egalitarianism and fraternity are rooted in mistakes, disorder and bloodshed of centuries.

What we are seeing today will sow the change of attitude. For the fall of Baghdad will be a catalyst more significant than the fall of Tehran to mullahs, for the reverberations of this new "revolution of freedom" may lead to freedom of 250 million Arabs in the middle east.

These events, although delayed and apparently shabby, are part of evolutionary cycle of the Middle East. Ba'ath Iraq was the lynch pin, which had assured the continual political instability of the region and its replacement with a society, which encourages pluralism and respect of the rights of the minorities, will be a catharsis for change in the Middle East.

Politics is not about instant gratification and live news; the small steps taken today in Baghdad will ensure major developments in sorting out dire straits that the Middle East has found itself in. The sea change of attitude that we have missed is that Arab Street does not hate America. The welcoming of the troops after such a bombing campaign could have led to a show of indifference, as I saw in Kuwait. When Iraqi occupiers came, no one -- no one -- came on the streets and they all fled as refugees, the souks and bazaars remained closed until liberation.

The fall of Baghdad historically is a very big event and psychologically is at the centre of the Muslim and the Arab world, the welcome that US has received will and must have send jitters down the spines of the Arab rulers in their palaces. The rejectionist Arab Iraqi regime that showed the indecent face of militancy was at variance with the common man, who is more interested in a open world and wants to enjoy the freedom of man. Baghdad will now recapture the glory of the past by adopting a society based on pluralist, inclusive and altruistic values.

The myth is broken, for it is rulers like Saddam and OBL rather than the Arab street who encourage the collision course between US and Middle East. I see that Arab street and Palestinians under Abu Mazen should take this opportunity in Baghdad to develop on this new found freedom and take the lead by joining the civil societies of the world, the rejection of terror and institution of democracy will ensure Iraqi future as jewel of the Middle Eastern crown.

Our children should live with a dream to develop to their full potential. Let's resist those who encourage children to be used as cannon fodder to kill and maim other innocents. We are all connected. Our destinies on this beautiful planet are common. Our mother earth shrieks with the pain we inflict on her. The fall of Baghdad should be is an occasion for a road map of peace and ushering of new era of common respect of all nations.

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