As I was packing up to go home on the 11th of September, I scanned through the news on the www.iafrica.com. It was then that I saw the initial reports of a commercial airliner slamming into one of the World Trade Centre Towers. I cannot describe the feeling I experienced in the pit of my stomach. It felt like my entire stomach had knotted up into a ball. I could not investigate further as I had to leave, but I made sure that I listened to the breaking events on the radio in the car on my way home. Indeed when I reached home, I barely had time to greet the wife properly so overcome was I with emotion at what I was witnessing. I promptly turned on CNN and watched the unfolding events with the same feeling I had experienced earlier, a mixture of horror, of awe, of fascination, and yes, even of satisfaction. When I think back now, I realise that at the time I felt no pity for the American people.
And so the days became weeks, and the initial “possible suspect” the West’s great bogeyman Osama Bin Ladin became the West’s only suspect in a dramatic reflection of the great legal system that “civilised countries” throughout the world wish to force down the throats of the many “uncivilised”, “barbaric”, and third world countries that exist today. Indeed, a great system that tries, convicts and issues sentence on the basis of zero evidence and a 70-odd point memo drawn up by some CIA official who probably downloaded the theories straight of some obscure internet site.
And of course the whole world heard your infamous foot-in-mouth speech about “hunting down the folks that did this” and “smoking them out of their holes”. What the world also heard was your intention to launch a crusade against these barbarians. How very Christian of you. But of course I was not too worried, for you assured us that this was a war against fundamentalists and extremists and not against “moderate Muslims” like myself. No, this was not a war against Islam! (so you said). And so we had to endure your endless droning on about hunting down the culprits and had to put up with your unceasing references to the old Wild West and those Wanted Dead or Alive posters. Well Mr Bush, I believe in the old Wild West there was another saying: “WHITE MAN SPEAK WITH FORKED TONGUE”. And how true!
On the 11th of October the world’s only remaining superpower launched its crusade against the worlds poorest nation. You wanted to “smoke” out Bin Ladin and Al-Qaieda you said. So of course the right thing to do is to drop tons of bombs on innocent civilians, because that’s the American way. Just ask the Vietnamese. But you didn’t stop there! No, conventional bombs dropped from incredibly high altitude, carpet-bombing villages, and blowing up refugee convoys on the road was not enough. You just had to test your chemical arsenal as well. I shudder when I hear the stories of victims of your crusade: about corpses found with their skin burnt off, about corpses unmarked except for the blood gushing out of their mouths, ears and nostrils. About the Daisy Cutter that creates a vacuum that kills even ants in its kill zone; that causes the eyeballs and eardrums of God-created human beings to explode whilst the person is alive; that causes the internal organs of beings who according to Christianity have been created in the image of God to rupture and collapse. I almost cried when I read about the mother who rushed her seven children out of her mud home when American fighter jets bombed it. I did cry when I read that the fighter jet circled back and blew up that family as they huddled together in the courtyard of their destroyed home. But we all know that American cowboys are the good guys, so those three, four and five year old children must have been terribly evil and deserved to be destroyed. Maybe they planned the World Trade Centre attacks?
Day after day we hear about more atrocities that your forces are perpetrating against innocent people. If your concern was Al-Qaieda then you would have sent your ground forces in to apprehend them. You haven’t. And we all know it’s not because the mighty U.S of A is afraid of a bunch of “middle east rag-heads”. We have seen the movies, your special forces are invincible. So it must be that your concern is something other than Al-Qaieda. And so you have backed the Northern Alliance in this crusade. Yes, that same Northern Alliance that killed of 50 000 civilians in four years of civil war, that raped women and children, that was the sole grower of poppy in Afghanistan when the Taliban had control of 95% of the territory, that crammed their enemies into steel containers and left them to suffocate to death. But perhaps that is not surprising. For the American Military Machine had done no less in Vietnam. Rapist unto Rapist. Murderer unto Murderer. Indeed birds of a feather do flock together!
And so I ponder on that feeling of satisfaction that I spoke of earlier. And I realise that it is not satisfaction at the loss of life. No, satisfaction at justice being served. What goes around comes around.
I cannot grieve with the American people for the American people did not grieve when your forces buried Iraqi soldiers alive. They did not grieve at the death of a million Iraqi babies because they had no access to water purification chemicals and baby food due to American led sanctions. They did not grieve at the killing of the 4 month old Palestinian baby Iman Hajju by M16 wielding Israeli soldiers. They did not grieve at the killing of thousands of Palestinian women and children by their favourite nephew Israel.
At this point I change my earlier assessment. Yes, now I do feel pity for the American people. Because your actions have created a whole new generation of angry souls. What answer will you have for your people when America is attacked on her soil again? I have my answers ready. The next time thousands of Americans die in a “terrorist attack” I know what I will say. When they point their accusing fingers at my Muslim beard and condemn the attack I will answer in the American way and say, “this is just collateral damage. Every war produces collateral damage” When they cry about the unnecessary deaths of civilians I will respond in the words of Ariel Sharon every time his American built Apache helicopters blow apart some Palestinian child’s body and say, “the Americans are using civilians as human shields”. When they cry about the deaths of innocent children and babies I will respond with the words of Madeline Albright when questioned about the deaths of a million Iraqi babies and say, " it is worth the price"
I tremble with fear now that I might be considered a “moderate Muslim”. For America and the “civilised world” loves “moderate Muslims”. I am afraid to be associated with terrorists and thugs like you. So I say now that I shrug off that American illusionary mantle of “moderate Islam” and embrace my Deen in totality. Hey! Maybe that means I am now a fundamentalist. I will wear my beard with pride. I will wear my kurta and turban at every opportunity I can. Look America, a “middle east rag head” in the foot of Africa.
You are nothing but a schoolyard bully with a big stick. You have drawn a line in the dirt and arrogantly proclaimed that we are either with you or against you. Well, don’t be comforted by those who have crossed the line to join you. There are many who have stepped away from that line. Stepped away so that we might better see the faces of those who have arrayed themselves against Islam. So, here we are Mr President. All of us fundamentalists and terrorists because we refuse to join you in your crusade. Refuse to assist you in the genocide of our people. I live in South Africa. It doesn’t matter where. Just send your B-52’s to carpet bomb the country at random. I am sure one of them will kill me. You can’t let a country get away with harbouring fundamentalists like myself.
May the Almighty have mercy on your soul and the people of your nation.
04/12/2001
Abu Hamzah bin Sulaiman
South Africa