Hypocrisy

Mohammed, at Iraq the Model (by the way, dons my winning banner : -), writes about the hypocracy of the Muslim & Arab world.

What many in this world fail to comprehend:

And What About Those Uighurs?

After days of deadly ethnic clashes in China more than 180 individuals from the minority Muslim Uighur community located in the northwest region of Xinjiang China have been killed and thousands more injured or arrested. Rebiya Kadeer, representative of Uighur Muslims, in an interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat pleaded with Muslims across the world to support the Uighur people.

Rebiya Kadeer, whose plea was sincere, was misguided to believe that given the gravity of the situation the Muslim world would come to the rescue. Perhaps Rebiya Kadeer expected the plea for support would be answered with angry protests, mobs setting embassies on fire, a fatwa from the Mullahs, or even a declaration of Jihad against China from Bin Laden. The “war”, after all is between Islam and its enemies, or so would the radicals and dictators in the Muslim world like people to believe.

A week or so ago, Egyptian Marwa Shirbini was killed in Germany by an individual representing rightwing extremists. The killer supposedly targeted Marwa because she was veiled. This story dominated headlines and comment forums in most Arab media outlets. This solitary case received unprecedented attention that overshadowed the death of hundreds of Muslims in China at the hands of “communist infidels”. Saudi Arabia did not summon the Chinese ambassador, nor did Iran lift a finger or utter a word to support those fellow Muslims in China. Nor even when Chinese authorities shut down mosques for Friday prayers did anyone representing the Muslim world condemn the order. By contrast, I have no doubt that if the United States banned Friday prayers in one mosque there would be shockwaves of anger and condemnation throughout the world, just like when Sarkozy said the chador is unwelcome in France.

The conflicting reactions (to act or not to act) within the Muslim to these cases demonstrate the issue is not between a religion and its rivals but between systems; freedom and human rights on one side and totalitarian oppression actors on the other. The Uighrs are at a disadvantage because in their case the oppressive enemy, Government of China, happen to be an aligned with oppressive state and non-state actors in the Muslim world. This is why the regimes and media in Muslim countries have largely turned a blind eye to the Uighurs’ plight.

The Government of China is similar to those in the Middle East in their oppression of their people and human rights violations that are in defiance of international laws and norms. No wonder then that the Chinese are supportive of similar regimes such as those in North Korea, Saddam’s Iraq and Iran.

The conflicting differences in Muslim reactions to the two cases I mentioned above demonstrate that the issue is not the act itself (i.e. cartoons, veil) but the using of the situation to enable the accomplishment of the greater political and/or military goal. The angry mobs we see in the streets are the tools created by political state and non-state actors with supporting media becoming the delivery mechanism. The reactions are not guided by a moral cause, the number of victims, or the type of atrocity.

And Omar answers the question, Was it (the war) worth it?

If we examine the question from an American, British or Australian perspective, then it would be difficult to present an answer that could convince all critics. For the coalition members this was a war of opportunity, not a war of necessity. Going to war or not was never an issue that could affect the existence of a coalition member, nor was winning or losing.

For Iraq and its people however, this war was the beginning of a struggle for rebirth, a very difficult but necessary one, for sure.
People of my generation who were born in democracies may take the freedom they enjoy for granted. This is certainly not the case for me or my people. I was born a decade after the murderous Ba'ath Party grabbed power in Baghdad in the sinister coup of July 1968. To us, the war brought an end to that 35-year-long nightmare and the beginning of an era of freedom, thanks to our friends in the coalition.

For me and many Iraqis, it was certainly worth it. Life is better today than it was before 2003. That is even though we were on the receiving end of this war in all its phases, from initial invasion through the bloody sectarian violence and terror that paralysed the country for years. Despite the high price in blood, today is brighter than yesterday. Above all, we have hope - something we did not have under Saddam's dictatorship - that tomorrow will be even brighter.


The rest here.