In an article on the liberal website www.elaph.com, 'Omran Salman, a Bahraini journalist living in the U.S., criticizes the Sunni silence over the extermination of the Shi'ites in Iraq.
The following are excerpts: [1]
"Aren't the Arabs Ashamed When Some of Them Massacre Iraqi Citizens?"
"When the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke, there was not a single Arab who did not express the opinion that it was a despicable, mean [act] contrary to humanist values. They are right about this. But these people swiftly forgot their humanism and sealed their lips when the Jordanian terrorist Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi declared war against the Shi'ites in Iraq, and began to dispatch his booby-trapped soldiers to blow themselves up among children, women, and the elderly. None of those [who denounced the Abu Ghraib scandal] uttered a word and none shed a tear for the hundreds and thousands of Iraqis being murdered and whose bodies are being mutilated.
"The first to denounce [the Abu Ghraib scandal] were the Americans themselves, who thought that the acts of some of their soldiers distorted the image of the U.S. and served as a mark of shame...
"But don't the Arabs feel an even greater sense of shame when some of them kill and massacre Iraqi citizens? Don't the rest [of the people] feel pangs of conscience when they try to come up with excuses and justifications for the murderers and criminals whom they call the 'resistance?' How can someone outraged at the torture of or disrespect for another person be silent and ignore [Al-Zarqawi's] declaration of the [program of] extermination of millions of people because of their sectarian affiliation?
"How is one to [describe] the Arab silence [in general] and the Sunni [silence] in particular in light of the murder of Shi'ite Iraqis and their intimidation in the most despicable and base of ways?... After all, the murderers declare their positions publicly, brag about them, and consider them Jihad for the sake of Allah. [Even] if what has happened does not stir up the regular Arab citizen – who has been brainwashed, and whose will has been totally eroded – how is one to explain [this same position when it is adopted by] politicians and members of the media?"
Al-Qaeda is Waging a War of Collective Extermination Against the Shi'ites in Iraq
"What can we say in light of the attitude of the Arab media [in general] and the Arab satellite channels in particular, which report the killings, the slaughters, and the suicide bombings among Iraqi citizens coolly, treating them as routine events [and] as part of what has been termed 'the series of [acts of] violence in Iraq?'
"The war being waged by the Al-Qaeda organization and the terrorists against the Shi'ites in Iraq is among the acts of collective extermination, which is rare in modern history. There has been no case in the past in which somebody has declared a similar war against a race or a group as a whole, except [for the case of] Nazi Germany against the Jews...
"The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq and similar [bodies] in Arab countries have issued dozens of fatwas about current political issues, but have not issued even a single fatwa declaring bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri, or Al-Zarqawi to be infidels because of their killing of the Shi'ites.
"The entire world is witness to [the fact] that the Arabs and the Sunnis are [remaining] silent and standing idly by – and some are even welcoming – the cold-blooded murder of the Shi'ites in Iraq. They will bear this mark of shame for all eternity..."
"The Sunnis Have Persecuted the Shi'ites [And] Declared Them Infidels, and Treat Them as Second-Class Citizens"
" America, at least, has always had the courage to acknowledge its mistakes. It admitted [its] crime of slavery against the blacks, and it took action, and continues to take action, to make amends for that historical crime. But the Sunnis have persecuted the Shi'ites, declared them infidels, and continue to treat them in their countries as second-class citizens. It seems that they are not making do with that, and have returned today to complete what they started in previous centuries.
"In the past they did not acknowledge their persecution of the Shi'ites – and here they are, in the 21st century, continuing their massacres and crimes against them, in full view of the world. Do these people not feel the shame and disgrace that shroud them?"
Endnote:
[1] www.elaph.com, October 15, 2005.
