The United States finds itself engaged today, along with its allies, in a fierce war in Afghanistan against the Taliban. While I am against wars as a matter of principle, I do support the war against those individuals who are regressive on both the religious and the human levels, and who protect the terrorists that have brought ruin to Muslims in every country in a manner that even their own enemies could not accomplish. Granted, the above is clear... but, the United States did not end the war that it started in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of 11/9/2001, which was a justified war, and that was supported by the whole world against terrorists and against those aiding and abetting them. Furthermore, the Bush administration deliberately chose not to end the war, because had it done so and eliminated the terrorist leaders following the ousting of the Taliban movement, there would have been no justification what so ever for the invasion and destruction of Iraq. Nor would there have been justification for a permanent war on terror that would provide a perpetual license for the United States to deploy its forces in and around our countries, and to impose its Israeli-inspired dictations upon us. Meanwhile, there seems to be a tendency in America these days to try some of the high profile members of the Bush administration for torturing prisoners, but not a tendency to try George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld along with the other known Likudniks for killing a million Iraqis (which practically means that each single family in Iraq had a funeral) In any case, there is something deeply wrong with the world. However, we are the world's worst wrong, and we are the ones to blame for our problems, before blaming America or Israel or the traditional scapegoats. In fact, it was from our midst that terrorism came, spreading its evil to America, Europe, North Africa and every Arab country. It even reached Indonesia, in the island of Bali in 2002, before returning there again this month (the Marriott Hotel was also attacked in August 2003, when a suicide car bomber killed 12 people and injured 150 others). Furthermore, terrorists only kill innocent people, and if they could not find any foreigners to kill, they move onto killing Muslims. They even measure up to the crimes of the occupation, competing with the latter in killing innocent civilians in Iraq, as if the Iraqis do not already have enough on their plate from the ills of the occupation, while the terrorists are also trying to stoke civil war and thus, more murder. In the beginning, we had only one cause or the cause, but now, we have a thousand other causes. But where do we stand right now when it comes to “the cause”? What Israel failed to accomplish in 20 years, is being accomplished 40 years later on its behalf by the leaders of the same warring Palestinian factions. In fact, the cause today, thanks to its own champions, has become about stopping the settlements for a few months only, for normalization between the timid Arab states and Israel to take place. It only remains for us, now that Israel has prohibited the commemoration of the anniversary of the Nakba, to celebrate only the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine. While it is not acceptable for me to criticize a certain people or defend their governments, I simply choose Egypt as an example, since I've always thought of it as my Arab country of choice, and then because it is the largest and most important Arab country. Egypt today has a population of 81 million, and by the year 2020 or before, this figure will jump to a hundred million, while only five percent of Egypt's landmass is inhabitable, and the rest is desert land. In other words, Egypt is facing enormous economic problems, and while I do not place the responsibility on the government nor do I excuse it, there must be solutions out there for these problems. Nonetheless, I know better – not to mention that I am too modest – than to suggest any solutions as If I am better versed in what the masterminds of economics and politics have failed to achieve. In any case, I made the above introduction to get to the most important point, which is about the alternatives present today in Egypt. With the political situation being as such in Egypt, the only capable opposition bloc is the Muslim Brotherhood's, who, should they ascend to power, would establish an Islamic state, or a single-party rule. This would then affect the other Arab countries, and cause us to enter the clash of civilization head on and unarmed. There's also the possibility that a triumphant opposition would face a counter military coup in which the limited democratic gains achieved by the people in the last two decades are lost. Meanwhile, there are Arab examples that are much more difficult than Egypt. Nonetheless, the latter remains the most important example, because the Arabs usually follow Egypt whether in applying democratic principles or enforcing dictatorship, nationalization or privatization, as well as the rest of their religious and worldly matters. In fact, I sometimes feel that the opposition in this or that country was created by the government so that the people would praise God for having this ruler in power and no the opposition. However, everyone is guilty, and we are helpless but probably because of our own fault, and I feel like our nation is headed in the same course as the long gone nations of ‘Ad, Thamood, and the Dodos. This does not mean that I am pessimistic, or that I have a personal problems, or even that I am suffering from a depressive phase, but rather, I am only trying to write objectively: If one observes closely, only Arabs and Muslims are being killed in the world today. We do not own even our own decisions, and we possess no influence whatsoever in the world, and are out of the game in our very region, in particular when we've handed over our leadership to Turkey, Iran and Israel. Whoever wrote about the end of history was wrong, because history is continuing and is in a strong momentum; it is just that Arab history is over, or nearly over.
