Running out
of Bullets
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud, MN
Just
hours before the passage of the Security Council
resolution calling for cease-fire in Lebanon an
article appeared in the New York Times detailing
the Israeli request for speedy delivery of rockets
that carry cluster anti-personnel bombs. Despite
having reduced parts of Lebanon into what appeared
to be scenes from World War II the Israeli war
machine was still not satisfied.
The article made it clear that when it comes to
weapons for Israel the American arsenal is wide
open and the requested shipment is dispatched
post-haste. In this case, the lethal cargo probably
reached its destination in a matter of hours.
By delivering the deathly hardware the administration
was simply pouring fuel on fire, an action most
presidents would not likely undertake. However,
in this conflict the White House is openly on
the side of Israel.
By now the world has probably sensed the depth
of the administration’s hatred for the Arabs,
and by extension, for the Muslims. It does not
take a rocket scientist to know what George Bush
meant when he repeatedly said: “Israel has
a right to defend itself,” or “Hizbollah
was defeated,” or when he kept stalling
on cease-fire issue so as to give time to Israel
to seriously “degrade Hizbollah.”
A package of cluster bombs would inflict incalculable
death, pain and suffering on the Lebanese civilians.
The anti-personnel bombs were first used in Vietnam
and, much more recently, reportedly in Iraq, making
victims out of largely innocent civilians totally
uninvolved in combat. The explosions of cluster
bombs release hundreds of grenade-like bomblets
that explode and scatter over a broad area. Each
bomblet contains dozens of shrapnel that penetrate
the human body causing painful death.
During the Vietnam War these bombs generated considerable
controversy in the US but since then their lethality
has largely been forgotten. Some people believe
such weapons are prohibited by the terms of Geneva
Conventions.
Days into the conflict the Israeli army apparently
used so much ammunition that it began to run out
of bullets to kill Arabs. This revelation surfaced
when anti-war activists boarded a US military
transport that made a re-fueling stop in Prestwick,
an obscure airport off the beaten track in Scotland.
The plane was loaded with ammunition and was bound
for Tel Aviv while the US was calling for cease-fire.
The protesters were unable to stop the delivery
of the lethal cargo and were all arrested.
Just a few days earlier the government of Ireland
had protested the re-fueling landing of a US military
transport with a cargo of weapons on its way to
Israel. Despite the protest the plane was allowed
to taking off.
It has become an open secret that US aircrafts
fly non-stop round the clock to further one cause
or the other that may vary from rendition, to
spying, to carrying weapons to killers, to other
nefarious activities that many prefer not to know.
The ferrying of weapons in the present conflict
was reminiscent of the Arab-Israeli war of 1973
that precipitated the Arab oil embargo. In that
war OPEC refused to sell petroleum to countries
that allowed weapons carrying planes to land on
their territories. The ruler of Saudi Arabia at
that time, King Feisal together with Egypt’s
Anwar Sadat, took lead in orchestrating the collective
action that brought the industrial world to its
knees.
It is said that King Feisal was incensed when
he learned that Arab oil was keeping the planes
aloft that carried bullets to the enemy to kill
Arabs. He wanted to send a strong message that
this wont do and demonstrated to the world the
power of oil.
Unfortunately, the Arab leaders today are impotent,
cowardly and deathly afraid of Israeli army’s
invincibility. Besides, they sit on their thrones
only at the pleasure of Washington and know too
well that they have to tow the line. Even though
both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have bought billions
of dollars of military hardware they are mostly
for the purpose of keeping their own populations
in line.
Even as the weapons were being delivered not a
single Arab leader had the guts to raise his voice
while their fellow Arabs were being killed, maimed
and driven from their homes. On the contrary,
they condemned Hizbollah for its robust action
in defending Lebanon from Israeli aggression.
Most sealed their borders to make sure that volunteers
did not slip through to join the raging war.
On the subject of weapons the Prime Minister of
Malaysia openly suggested that Muslim countries
too should consider supplying arms and munitions
to the besieged defenders of Lebanon. The statement
coming from Kuala Lumpur must have rankled the
Arab rulers, and it likely aroused the ire of
Washington, although the common people were elated
when it was broadcast on Al-Jazeera.
One Muslim leader in Indonesia even went a step
further and actively began to recruit volunteers
for the war in Lebanon. However, the president
of the country was not likely to permit the volunteers
to depart.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the weapons
to Tel Aviv story is that it was hardly ever mentioned
in the US media except on the NPR. Many foreign
papers covered it in detail. The US media however
spent their time during the conflict acting as
the cheerleaders for the Israeli side.
From the stories published in the region it appears
that Arabs have finally come to realize that they
are not the favorites of Washington. For them
to have any sense of honor they have to follow
the model that Hizbollah has demonstrated.
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