The London-based, Saudi-run al-Hayat newspaper carried an article in its July 28 edition entitled “So That the Iraqi Nakba Isn't Repeated!” Nakba - or “catastrophe” - in modern Arab discourse, refers to the foundation of the state of Israel. Or, used more generally, it is used to refer to any massive Arab defeat at the hands of non-Arabs. In the case of the al-Hayat piece, by Urfan Nizamuldin, the Iraqi defeat by the American-led coalition is likened to the 1948 defeat of the Arab armies in Israel’s War of Independence, as well as to the defeat of the Moslem Moors in Andalusia, Spain of the 1400's.
The author begins by saying, “The Arabs haven't grasped yet the tough lesson, or lessons, from what happened in Iraq. They haven't realized yet the dangerous consequences of the new disaster [nakba]....” On the one hand, he writes, “The despotic Iraqi regime is gone forever with no regrets...” but that same regime is criticized in the article for “the great shock it caused when it presented, not surrendered, the nation on a silver plate in such a humiliating way and gave up its responsibilities of protecting the citizens....” As for Saddam himself, “the one broadcasting messages to incite the people to resist,” Nizamuldin writes, “everyone knows that he and his companions didn't go through the honor of battle, while he possessed an arsenal full of weapons capable of resisting and fighting for a long time....” The Iraqis, the columnist says, “seem to answer him by saing: ‘you cry like women over a lost king you weren't able to protect like men?!’”
The swift fall of Iraq, in the mind of the al-Hayat columnist, is a suspicious event, which points to “conspiracy” and “mysteries”, “speculations, analysis, incomplete information and confused whispers.” Furthermore, the occupation of Iraq and defeat of the Iraqi regime - or the “humiliating delivery”, in Nizamuldin’s words - “was also established without a legal cover....” According to the writer, the Americans didn’t even act according to conventions observed by the Nazi regime in its occupation of France, “when the Vichy government had to sign its surrender, with all the details on how to govern the nation and the institutions and ensure the good working of the institutions.”
That said, the al-Hayat columnist continues, “I don't want to open old wounds and cry over Iraq, God forbid, as we did before over Palestine and Andalusia....” Instead, Nizamuldin calls on Iraqis and Arabs to “try to unite the troops and the stands and study the situations with wisdom and realism and courage to face the facts... and cooperate with Iraqi people to help them survive first then extricate themselves from the painful disaster that fell on them, from the oppression of the regime to the cruelty of the occupation.”
The author calls for insistence on Iraqi national unity, to counter “the policy of divide-and-rule, [which] we thought was long gone with the end of the colonization in the Arab world.” He also calls on Iraqi leaders to refuse “to excite fanatical instincts and incite turmoil and serve the objectives of the enemies, mainly the Zionists, who have been following, since the establishment of Israel, the policy of division and dismantlement inside the Arab world to create small weal nations so that Israel would be the supreme power in the region.”
Aside from the warnings against American and Zionist schemes, Nizamuldin calls for Iraqis to “be ready to work hard and sweat and make sacrifices and offer all they have, on the example of the German and the Japanese people, who succeeded in few years in erasing the defeat and the psychological and moral and financial destruction and built two modern nations, considered today among the most powerful nations economically and technologically.”
As for the American presence on Iraqi land, the al-Hayat author advises, “The resistance is necessary to make the occupation forces realize that they can't sleep tight and they won't be secure as long as their occupation is standing, and that the Iraqi people will never allow the occupation to remain no matter how many troops the Americans bring and how many weapons they use. However, this resistance will not solve the problem, it would actually make it worse if it isn't the result of the agreement of all the parties and the forces of the Iraqi people, for it frightens the Americans and sabotages some of their plans but doesn't erase the occupation.”
The opinion piece concludes: “The danger alarm is still ticking with violence calling the Arabs to move and make some efforts... so that the Iraqi disaster would not... turn into another Palestine, God forbid.”
The author begins by saying, “The Arabs haven't grasped yet the tough lesson, or lessons, from what happened in Iraq. They haven't realized yet the dangerous consequences of the new disaster [nakba]....” On the one hand, he writes, “The despotic Iraqi regime is gone forever with no regrets...” but that same regime is criticized in the article for “the great shock it caused when it presented, not surrendered, the nation on a silver plate in such a humiliating way and gave up its responsibilities of protecting the citizens....” As for Saddam himself, “the one broadcasting messages to incite the people to resist,” Nizamuldin writes, “everyone knows that he and his companions didn't go through the honor of battle, while he possessed an arsenal full of weapons capable of resisting and fighting for a long time....” The Iraqis, the columnist says, “seem to answer him by saing: ‘you cry like women over a lost king you weren't able to protect like men?!’”
The swift fall of Iraq, in the mind of the al-Hayat columnist, is a suspicious event, which points to “conspiracy” and “mysteries”, “speculations, analysis, incomplete information and confused whispers.” Furthermore, the occupation of Iraq and defeat of the Iraqi regime - or the “humiliating delivery”, in Nizamuldin’s words - “was also established without a legal cover....” According to the writer, the Americans didn’t even act according to conventions observed by the Nazi regime in its occupation of France, “when the Vichy government had to sign its surrender, with all the details on how to govern the nation and the institutions and ensure the good working of the institutions.”
That said, the al-Hayat columnist continues, “I don't want to open old wounds and cry over Iraq, God forbid, as we did before over Palestine and Andalusia....” Instead, Nizamuldin calls on Iraqis and Arabs to “try to unite the troops and the stands and study the situations with wisdom and realism and courage to face the facts... and cooperate with Iraqi people to help them survive first then extricate themselves from the painful disaster that fell on them, from the oppression of the regime to the cruelty of the occupation.”
The author calls for insistence on Iraqi national unity, to counter “the policy of divide-and-rule, [which] we thought was long gone with the end of the colonization in the Arab world.” He also calls on Iraqi leaders to refuse “to excite fanatical instincts and incite turmoil and serve the objectives of the enemies, mainly the Zionists, who have been following, since the establishment of Israel, the policy of division and dismantlement inside the Arab world to create small weal nations so that Israel would be the supreme power in the region.”
Aside from the warnings against American and Zionist schemes, Nizamuldin calls for Iraqis to “be ready to work hard and sweat and make sacrifices and offer all they have, on the example of the German and the Japanese people, who succeeded in few years in erasing the defeat and the psychological and moral and financial destruction and built two modern nations, considered today among the most powerful nations economically and technologically.”
As for the American presence on Iraqi land, the al-Hayat author advises, “The resistance is necessary to make the occupation forces realize that they can't sleep tight and they won't be secure as long as their occupation is standing, and that the Iraqi people will never allow the occupation to remain no matter how many troops the Americans bring and how many weapons they use. However, this resistance will not solve the problem, it would actually make it worse if it isn't the result of the agreement of all the parties and the forces of the Iraqi people, for it frightens the Americans and sabotages some of their plans but doesn't erase the occupation.”
The opinion piece concludes: “The danger alarm is still ticking with violence calling the Arabs to move and make some efforts... so that the Iraqi disaster would not... turn into another Palestine, God forbid.”