Sikhs must not support US: Next attack on Iran & Pakistan
Here in the United States, everywhere you look, yellow ribbons and American flags decorate homes and businesses. The atmosphere is one of victory. Bumper stickers and signs proclaim pride in American military might.
“We went to war”, we are told by our censored press, “because we had to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.” We are not told, however, that we are restoring an unelected tyrannical ruler; a high spender at the cost of the Kuwaitis themselves. We begin to wonder why, if the US is so intent on “liberating” countries, that we have ignored so many other occupied countries and oppressed peoples.
Why has the US been assisting Israel in the occupation of Palestinian territories for almost a quarter of a century? Nearly two million Palestinians suffer under an oppressive occupation, even though the UN Security Council has condemned this occupation year after year. Why does the US insist only on Iraqi compliance with UN Security Council resolutions while ignoring those resolutions against Israel? The US claims to have had reason to destroy Iraq in order to force Iraqi compliance with UN resolutions. Meanwhile the US continually supports Israel’s defiance of the UN. Not only does the US bolster Israeli defiance but supports it at a cost of 3.5 billion dollars a year. We wonder how we can afford to support this lawlessness on the part of Israel while the homeless accumulate on the streets of America.
President Bush has convinced most Americans that he is in the process of establishing “The New World Order”, yet it seems to me that he is simply bringing back the old colonial world order.
Despite independent human rights groups who report Israel’s policies of house arrest, deportations, “administrative detention”, and extrajudicial executions of Palestinians, the US remains silent. Where is the big commitment to human rights?
Crimes against Sikhs, Kashmiris: Congressman Dan Burton has disclosed similar atrocities by the ‘Indian Government against the Sikhs of Punjab and. the Muslims of Kashmir. Congressman Burton has proposed cutting US aid to India if India continues to – bar human rights groups from investigating these atrocities. Yet, the US continues to support these oppressive regimes. Obviously, the US foreign policies are manipulated by political and financial pressures and not based on honest promotion of human rights, self-determination, and democracy for all. In fact, US foreign policies are self-serving and hypocritical.
We Americans, who are against the brutal policies of Bush, are appalled at the carnage which took place in Iraq. Army General Schwarzkopf, however, was quoted as having urged further fighting to “rap great destruction upon them,” he said. “We could have completely closed the door and made it, in fact, a battle of annihiliation”.
Although the Iraqi troops were fleeing the US attack, they were destroyed, along with thousands of innocent people. Surrender of the troops, or retreat from Kuwait was not the issue for the US. It became clear that the US Generals were reverting to the old-world order wherein empires would destroy all the men and boys in conquered territories for prevent future revolts. US Army General Schwarzkopf says that a “ball-park” figure of 100,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed; “I would estimate that we easily Killed more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers,” Schwarzkopf told a group of about 35 lawmakers. It is probable that many more civilians were Killed in the bombings, perhaps up to two times the number of soldiers, by the estimates of some analysis. It is interesting to note in connection with the “ball-park” figures, that the entire coverage of the war took on a “Super Bowl” atmosphere, as if it were a game. What a grim game it turned out to be.
Attack on Iran: A UN survey of civilian damage £A]) caused by the allied bombing of Iraq calls the results “near apocalyptic.” in fact, UN observers say that Iraq is now reduced to “a pre-industrial stage.” The UN is warning that Iraq could face “epidemic and famine if massive life support needs are not rapidly met.”
Iraq is now destroyed; what is next on the agenda of the US? Other Third World powers, after seeing the punishment meted out to Iraq, are bound to be frightened. So, is this the “New World Order’ an Order 3 built around the domination other world by the US? The US is demanding the destruction of all facilities in Iraq which could contribute to a future defiance. Some Americans, elated with our fabulous success, have even suggested that now is a good time to knock out other future threats in the Islamic world, such as Pakistan and Iran. We ‘might wonder, however, why Israel manages to continue to produce nuclear bombs with the blessings and cash of the US. Perhaps this “New World Order” may only serve to create greater hostilities in the Third World, and the US will have to wipe out more countries who are considered a threat.
Muslims most hated: Another effect of the war has been the open hostility of the American people against Muslims, (or anyone perceived to be a Muslims), in the US. Before the war it was considered socially – unacceptable to show hatred and prejudice towards a racial or religious group. Now there is no such stigma. June 16-30, 1991 The government leads the way with FBI agents harassing “Arabs” in the US, even Arab-American. citizens were not spared. Some Americans are so. culturally isolated that they vent their self-righteous anger on the Sikhs, sensing that they must be turban clad Iraqis or “Arabs” Sikhs have been abused physically and verbally by the racist Americans. Muslims have had their mosques defaced and threats have been made against them by the “patriotic” Americans. Americans have yet to reap the fruit of the hatred that these acts will bring against them.
Isn’t it amazing that Americans are thanking God, (who must be American), for our destruction of a nation. Does Bush think that God, (even if He is American), shares his disdain for human lives?
We, as Sikhs, and Americans, are firmly against this “New World Order”. We are not so foolish as to think that the US will look with sympathy upon the Sikh struggle in Punjab, or at the freedom struggle of our Muslim sisters and brothers in Kashmir. The US would not have been involved in “liberating™ Kuwait if the Kuwaiti national product was cauliflower or wheat. Has the US shown any interest in liberating the poor Tibetans who are being slaughtered in their own country and being replaced by Chinese? Is Bush concerned about the violations of human rights in South Africa, where a minority of white rule the downtrodden black race? The answer is NO, and you can be sure that the US will never show any interest in saving the oppressed Indians from destruction at the hands of the Indian Government. If anything, the US will be glad to help the Indian Government by the suppression and censorship all news from the area. All Americans hear in the news is that the Muslims and Sikhs are terrorists, and that they must be stopped. Let us show our commitment and demand the opposition of all foreign occupations, and let us champion human rights and self-determination for all. Let us fight for a US policy which would be free of self-serving economic and political interests. If we support such US policies as selective attack of countries, based on our security or economic interests, we will soon meet our own destruction.
