An Open Letter To President George W. Bush

Amin Hwaidi     Al-Hayat     2003/08/29

I send this letter to your personal address, to avoid having it go through your aides first, as some of them might decide to play with the words, taking some out, or adding some others, changing the entire meaning, even though this would be against the interest of the presidency they work for; they are more Likudist than the Likud itself, and the names are well-known, so you can just add them to the list. Tampering with documents is a hobby practiced by some of those who work at the White House. At this time, there is talk that some members of your "group" exaggerated the CIA's reports so as to give you an alibi to declare war on Iraq. This is the situation Prime Minister Tony Blair is in today, namely rewriting official reports to achieve personal goals.   

I hereby write you as an Arab citizen concerned by U.S.-Arab relations. I played in the open and secret games of these relations for a while, and I know fully well that just as it is said for personal relations "look for the woman," in international relations, it is said: "look for the Yankee," especially since the U.S. became the greatest country, as a sun around which all the other planets revolve.         

I will start by denouncing the event that darkened the year 2003, pitting for a number of seconds the North and East regions of your country into total darkness, and reminding people of the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The world noticed two strange things: the first is when, a few minutes after the strange incident, you denied this power failure was the result of a terrorist action, whereas the power companies and other concerned parties were cautious on saying that the reasons remained unknown. In parallel, Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the failure while the President of the U.S. denied it was the action of that organization, thus putting the American presidency in a pitiful situation: Al Qaeda admits it is its crime, and the American President strongly denies it in order to keep terrorism away from him! The second phenomenon is the fear of the American people, who took to the streets and sidewalks and started acting rashly, out of fear that the action might be a terrorist one. This means that the American people are living in a state of insecurity, even though they enjoy the strongest military arsenal that ever existed throughout history! This confirms the principle of "the force of weakness and the weakness of force," and that "dwarfs can beat giants," or "force does not bring security but security brings force."

Force only - as President Theodore Roosevelt maintained in the early 20^th century - does not ensure security. On the contrary, it can become like a toy in the hands of its owner, who does not know how to use it. Did it bring security to Afghanistan? Did it bring security to Iraq? Did it bring security inside the U.S.? Did Ariel Sharon bring security to Israel? Not at all. We know it, you know it, and the whole word knows it. Force makes the forceful become arrogant, and blinds him from the right path.  

As I was writing this letter, I watched on television screens and heard on radio stations all the terrible things that have been happening on this crazy planet of ours: the UN headquarters in Baghdad blows up in a terrible terrorist attack, killing 25 people and injuring a hundred. Among the victims is Sergio De Mello, the UN envoy to Iraq - a good and respectable man. A huge blast in two Israeli buses in Jerusalem killing and injuring 120 Israelis, in revenge for Mohamad Sadr, one of the Islamic Jihad leaders, whom Israel killed in spite of the truce. An explosion in the house of the youngest brother of Afghani President Karzai, in Kandahar and the murder of ten Afghanis in separate attacks perpetrated by remnants of the Taliban regime. Who is responsible for spreading terrorism to this extent? Your policy is; you put the house on fire, but are you able to put it out, now that you've become the chief of all firemen across the world? Can you put it out now that you've appointed yourself Field Marshall of the 'Fighting Terror forces' in the planet we live in? Your rough methods that lack wisdom will only complicate the situation further. Why don't you learn from your foster child Israel, which 50 years after using force as the only means in politics and after you turned it into the strongest regional power confronting us, is still lacking security and is afraid of the future. Every time its fear increases, its savagery increases as well, and it starts attacking randomly here and there, building walls and lines hoping to achieve the lacking security.

I was surprised by the reaction of a President such as you towards what happened. Your remarks on the UN headquarters' catastrophe in Iraq, as you were relaxing in your ranch at Crawford, Texas, when you expressed your deep sorrow for the death of De Mello, clearly translates the labyrinth you have locked yourself in. Also your responses about the Jerusalem incident, which recognized Israel's right to retaliate and called the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the terrorist organizations without forcing Sharon to implement his Roadmap commitments and without blaming him for the assassinations and the continuation of the wall construction, and attacking citizens, were as if you were putting oil on fire to kindle it even further. It seems that the latest events have heightened your confusion, and have stripped your true self from the lion's coat you had been using, thus revealing your true weakness and recklessness; recklessness is one thing and pretending to be strong is another. We are now even more worried, after these events revealed your true personality, which gives no weight to promises and makes you defend the evil against the good.

There is one question that is always being repeated in the Arab street: why does President Bush junior hate us? You are asking the same question: why do these people hate us? A hundred reasons can be given for that question, but I can't find even one for your hatred towards us. Politics does not know love and hate; it only knows mutual interests. So where does the interest of your country lie Mr. President? It is here, in our land. We have the oil and the pipelines; we don't drink it but we want to sell it and this is happening without any problems. The strategic position surrounding Federal Russia is ours, through air and sea, and you are controlling it with the approval of some and over and above others' wishes. When I was a student at the military school in Kansas, I was asked what I liked most in the U.S., and I used to answer without hesitation "the American people," and what I hated most, and my answer would invariably be U.S. policy and American politicians. What is the reason for this Colonel? I used to answer without hesitation "because of their fanaticism against us and their hatred towards us and their biasness to Israel." What is the cure then Colonel? I used to answer without hesitation "the White House on Pennsylvania Street and the State Department at Foggy Bottom need to change the foreign policy rules of the U.S., to make them become based on right and justice, and only then would everything be fine."

Is it Israel that looks over your interests in the region? Is this possible? Israel, which threatens all the countries in the region, becomes the regional guardian of your interests as a deterrent stick, thus putting oil on the water, and provoking all the owners and thereby threatening American interests. I want you to judge your conscience, on your weird behavior whereby your feelings replace your mind: Israel is not implementing the Roadmap and you know that, and what is your reaction to this? The Congress decides to grant it a billion dollars in aid to compensate for its losses from the Intifada, in addition to 9 billion dollars in loans guarantees, and a donation of 50 million dollars in the 2004 budget to resettle the Russian immigrants in Israel, in addition to the yearly aid estimated at two billion dollars in military aid, 600 million dollars in economic aid and 60 million dollars to resettle Jewish immigrants.

We are implementing the Roadmap and accepting the truce, while Israel is still building the wall, thereby destroying 83,000 olive and fruit trees, hundreds of square kilometers of agricultural land and 37 Km of water networks, etc., then, it kills the leaders of those very movements that accepted the truce, all this while you remain locked in a terrible silence. But when the victims retaliate, you accuse them of terrorism and demand the dismantlement of the organizations and you freeze the assets of individuals and organizations. Israel is pushing you into a vicious circle and this is not right. You should, Mr. President, consider your country's interests and not allow politics to tamper with your feelings, because this is dangerous to you and to us. While you have the strongest military power, we find you creating a huge security vacuum inside and outside, and then you jeopardize your credibility when you promise but fail to carry out. You are waging war after war and you don't know how to get out of them, and then you announce that you are going to turn Iraq into a role model. Then the world see the U.S. embroiled in the swamp, you isolate Arafat while your Secretary of State asks for his help to put out the fires you kindle! Confusion after confusion, and labyrinths you recklessly get into, dragging the world with you while you keep repeating "whoever is not with us is against us."

I will conclude with a last advice I give about your relations with the Arabs: it is about the congressional report published on July 24, 2003 about the September 11 attacks, which accused Saudi Arabia without bringing forth any evidence. Saudi Arabia is participating in terrorist attacks against the U.S.?! Saudi Arabia has been fighting terrorism for years; it has deployed all the necessary efforts, taking decisive measures before the U.S. even announced its war on terror. But despite the accusation, the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs traveled to Washington and met the president, and demanded that the 28 pages that accuse Saudi Arabia be declassified. You listened carefully, but the pages were deleted from the report to remain a pending accusation that could be used at any time.

You made up reasons to wage war against Iraq, and you made up reasons against Saudi Arabia, which you have kept in the archives to use them at the right time. In doing this, you have lost all your friends in the region, except for Israel, which is nothing more than a "biting" state, biting at whomever is good to it. This is what it did to the presidents who came before you, and it will do this with you too, and we are awaiting the moment when we will hear you wail.

This is some of what I have been feeling lately, and I've said it. Will you read the letter? If a miracle happens and you do, I hope you will reflect on it and reassess your policy. But I have no doubt that you won't read it, simply because it is written in Arabic.

*Mr. Hwaidi is a writer and a former Egyptian minister of defense.