An Open Letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Alawi

Today, watching you bless and take part in the massacre happening in Fallujah, however, I realize she was right. The Iraqi people saw through you before we did. How can anyone with any humanity, let alone Iraqi blood, condole what is happening in Iraq today? Sir, you have put Saddam’s cruelty to shame. How can you watch your own people die and remain motionless? How can you watch Iraqi landmarks and mosques being torn down and do nothing? What kind of leader are you? Surely, not the kind Iraqi history would be proud of. You have made history in the worst possible way a leader can.

As the Muslim world mourned the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during the last days of Ramadan, you and your American ‘friends’ tore Fallujah apart. You ignorantly thought that everyone was too busy to notice. We might have been mourning Mr. Arafat but our hearts never left Iraq. When your tanks and helicopters were blowing Fallujah to bits, we never stopped praying for our brothers and sisters in Iraq, from every mosque in the Muslim world.

Mr. Alawi, I wonder if you watched the Muslims in the Holy Mosque in Makkah as they all prayed for your country every night of Ramadan? Did you hear them on the nights you were bombing Fallujah? Did you hear the mosque shake with the roar of their "amen", when the imam prayed that Iraq be freed from its oppressors ? Did you not feel the least bit of shame then? Do you not feel the least bit of sympathy for your people when you see others weep for them? Do you not feel pain when you hear their hysterical cries for help being broadcast from various channels as they are being massacred?

I know the Americans told you that for you to succeed you must destroy all resistance; but do you honestly believe that? Sir, that resistance is the only future Iraq has. What do you want with a nation that has no soul? A nation that will bow low to any oppressor that comes? Instead, you should be embracing the resistance. You should earn their trust by being a good example of pride and dignity. You should put your foot down when Iraqi blood is spilt. It is not wrong to stand for what you believe in, even against the people who gave you power. Never trade dignity for power- or rather the pretense of power; you will end up with neither.

Mr. Alawi, no one lives forever, and the lives of leaders especially are measured by what they achieve for their people - not what they achieve for themselves. Today, we are mourning one of the greatest symbols of Palestinian resistance. Mr. Arafat could have bowed to Israel and handed them Jerusalem at any time during the forty years he stood as leader. He could have done that in return for a lot more than you are getting today when you sell your people. He, however, remained true to his cause. He did not even bend when he was imprisoned in his working quarters for months and his home for years. That is why all his people (along with the rest of the Muslim world) mourn his death. I am sure he would have been proud to see his people crowding the streets of his final resting place chanting his name and weeping for his death.

Mr. Alawi, how many Iraqis do you think will march the streets, chant your name, and cry for you when you die?

http://arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=54696&d=19&m=11&y=2004