'We
love America, we don't, we love America ...'
[Al-Ahram,
Egypt]
Al Ittihad, United Arab Emirates
Bush Dares Speak
the 'Eye of Truth' to Arabs
"There can be no disagreement
about the fact that the American President said a just word in the face of
regimes which wouldn't hesitate for a moment to oppress their opponents and put
them in jail without a fair trial … the truth always hurts."
Dr. Ahmad Al Baghdadi
Translated By Nicolas Dagher
May 28, 2008
United
Arab Emirates - Al-Ittihad - Original Article (Arabic)
According to press reports,
at the economic summit recently held at Sharm El Sheikh during the U.S.
president's speech, when he discussed how much injustice exists in the Arab world
due to unopposed heads of state and the large number of imprisoned opposition
figures, the Egyptian president walked out of the hall. Bush's comments were
not received well by the Egyptian president, who reacted this way despite the
fact he's the leader of the host country. According to press reports, the
Egyptian president justified his behavior by saying that he wanted to show his
opposition to the American president's speech because he considered it
interference in Egypt's domestic affairs.
As usual, Egypt's government
newspaper rushed to defend the position of the Egyptian president and reject
the speech of President Bush, while those very same newspapers failed even to
mention that the conference coincided with an official corruption investigation
into Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert!! [In other words - Israeli leaders are
not above the law]. But there can be no disagreement about the fact that the
American President said a just word in the face of regimes which wouldn't
hesitate for a moment to oppress their opponents and put them in jail without a
fair trial … but the truth always hurts.
Political reality in the Arab
World undeniably proves that what the American president said is the “eye of
truth.” Indeed, the Arab reality is plain to see and it would be fruitless to
try and cover up its failings. Can anyone deny that there are regimes in the
Arab World that are oppressive - and which refuse to treat those of other
religions fairly and political opponents justly?
The issue isn't confined to
any particular regime and it relates to this painful reality: Opposition groups
find themselves completely vulnerable to oppressive rulers who can at any
moment capriciously accuse anyone who opposes the political system. For Allah's
sake, what does it mean to charge someone of insulting national identity? Or
accusing someone of prejudicing religion? Or accusing someone of betraying
national history? One accepts the right of a political system to apply the law
through fair trials where internationally accepted guarantees are applied or
international human rights organizations are able to attend. But in most Arab
countries, fair trials and guarantees are unavailable even in civil cases,
where in many instances the regime decides that an accusation concerns national
security and has it transferred to a military tribunal where terrible penalties
are meted out against opposition figures. Long years of imprisonment -
including torture and violations of human dignity - permeate the process.
All Arab countries are either
free of any political opposition or prevent one from ever taking power, even if
there are parliamentary elections. It pains the heart to see that Israel is the
only Middle East country where there is a true political opposition, where
political opponents and their families are safe and where it is eligible to
have a constitutionally-guaranteed presence in parliament. Whereas in Arab
countries there is vote-rigging, threats to the opposition and arbitrary
arrests preceding general elections to prevent the opposition from voting and
winning. Despite the existence of parliamentary systems, constitutions and so
called “rule-of-law” in the Arab world, the political opposition is strangled
by unreasonable and oppressive laws that are incompatible the most basic
principles of human rights. In the Arab world, political opponents are harmed
in the name of the law, they are arrested under emergency laws and thrown in
jail for long periods of time without a fair trial, to say nothing of the harsh
conditions in these prisons.
The American president spoke
the truth, but Arab regimes don't want to face his just words. Rather, they
wish to continue with their falsehoods and press on with their heinous acts
against the opposition. They refuse to address the disadvantages of their own
injustices and abuses of human rights, arguing that the nature of their
domestic political systems and the reasonable protection of national
sovereignty requires them not only to squelch the opposition, but to confront
the Israeli enemy.
CLICK HERE FOR ARABIC
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US June
6, 1:14am]
