http://www.payvand.com/news/06/aug/1004.htmlThose that know the "real" history of the Middle East are not shocked with the recent tragic deaths of so many innocent people. They know that this episode, along with so many other atrocities will soon be forgotten. It is the nature of things that it is always the winners and the powerful that write the history. The weak and the conquered are always the ones that are blamed for all the misfortune that has befallen them.
Looking back, we see that these atrocities have been happening for a long time and with some regularity. Those involved then are indirectly involved now. They cheer, the slaughter of the innocent and the defenceless, now as they did then. Iraq in 1920s (as she is today) was occupied by a western power, namely Britain. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) a colonel in the British army seeing the atrocities committed by British army questioned the morality of what the British government was doing in Iraq. In an article that was published on 8 August 1920, he wrote the following:
"These risings take a regular course. There is a preliminary Arab success, then British reinforcements go out as a punitive force. They fight their way (our losses are slight, the Arab losses heavy) to their objective, which is meanwhile bombarded by artillery, aeroplanes, or gunboats. Finally, perhaps, a village is burnt and the district pacified. It is odd that we do not use poison gas on these occasions. Bombing the houses is a patchy way of getting the women and children, and our infantry always incur losses in shooting down the Arab men. By gas attacks the whole population of offending districts could be wiped out neatly; and as a method of government it would be no more immoral than the present system."As you see, things haven't changed much. The Arabs are still being killed and the leading Western leaders still cheer on the slaughter. snip
But let us be honest, who really cares if 10, 20 or even 100 kids are blown to pieces? How many Iraqi children were killed during the invasion of Iraq or for that matter how many died as the result of US sanctions? Do you know? When Madeline Allbright was asked in 60 Minutes of CBS in 1996 whether it was worth to kill over 500,000 children in Iraq, she said that it was worth it. But it is unfair to blame you in Belgium or Sweden for not caring. After all, if the governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt keep silent and indeed help Israel, why should you care? snip
As for us, well, as long as we don't see these children's faces or their mangled bodies on the TV, everything is fine. We must thank the "embedded" journalists for keeping these horrors out of our living rooms. They did a good job in Iraq, but unfortunately since US and British troops are not present in Lebanon, Journalists are allowed to film and take pictures. Although in all fairness, I have to mention that a lot of really horrible stuff is kindly censured, ooops sorry, sanitised before being published.
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