Hypocrisy Big

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country from his government.” - Voltaire

Every university has its share of student clubs, and New York University (NYU) is no exception. A generally liberal institution, NYU still features the occasional, odd-ball hard-line conservative group, which explodes in mostly nonsensical indignation before shutting up all over again. In the most recent situation, the NYU College Republicans, the campus Republican group, came to heads with basic humans norms by running an ad campaign that plastered, all over campus, flyers reading, “Think Big: Bomb Iraq.”

Ooh, boy. The übersupporters of President George Bush II, violator of international law, constitutional law and even grammatical law, are now bringing additional limp argumentation in favor of the next phase of the War on Everything. I might pardon them for their comments; after all, our government regularly confuses accused with accuser, violated with violator, etc. Except, of course, the little fact that there are hundreds of thousands of lives at stake, the world’s stability, the economic health of our country and others throughout the world, to be worried about. A knee-jerk liberal versus trigger-happy Republicans, so here goes nothing.

I’ve noticed a fascinating trend in White House propaganda jamming the world’s airwaves. Not only do our government’s recent edicts increasingly contradict principles we, as Americans, are supposed to support; they also do so in a blatantly offensive, in-your-face manner. What ever happened to walking humbly upon the Earth? (George Bush II campaigned, in part, by arguing that Americans should carry themselves as a “humble” world power). It seems, whenever you have a Bush, you just read his lips. Liar, liar.

Saddam Hussein builds weapons of mass destruction, they scream. Well, so does America, France, England, China, Russia, India, Israel and Pakistan. Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction on his own people; but shhh! Let’s not actually admit to the fact that we armed him, sold him those weapons and barely said a thing as he used them on Kurds. Kurds don’t have oil, so they don’t matter. That and Saddam used those chemical weapons on those darned I-ranians, too (They are our enemy, too, because they took lots of Americans hostages; the fact that we overthrew their elected government, in 1953, and installed a brutal dictator in its place [Mohammad Reza Shah], trained his secret police [SAVAK] and ignored its regular use of torture, is of course entirely irrelevant).

Q: And what about the 500,000 dead Iraqi civilians, killed by the one-two punch of sanctions combined with a cruel dictator? I think the NYU College Republicans put it best: “[The liberals] are back in action with their Vietnam-era slogans of ‘War is not healthy for children and other living things.’” Surprise of all surprises, the Iraqi people, who suffered so much, are actually flesh and blood human beings – except in the College Republican universe. They’re not human until and unless they come to the New World (which gets to practice New Morality), get citizenship through naturalization – strange word, I think – they don’t actually matter. They are classified as “other living things.”

Maybe we can call them College Racists, too.

Then, of course, there is the argument that we live in a post-9/11 world. So good-bye Saddam Hussein – good riddance, if it wasn’t for the fact that Pres. Bush is waving ta-ta (difficult polysyllabic word) to international law, diplomacy and international consensus. We did not intend such a comprehensive farewell, did we?

But Saddam is a threat to America! they say. Ugh. Please don’t insult America. We’re the most powerful country in the world, by leaps and bounds. And come to think of it, there are far more threats to our peace and quiet, stability and serenity, as well as our mandatory, too large piece of the pie, than some moronic dictator who couldn’t fight a war if his life depended on it.

The Chevy Astro Assassin, the infamous DC-area sniper, has gunned down 9 people, roughly 10% the number of people killed by Saddam in the Gulf “War” – can you call a conflict that lopsided a war? Basically, this sniper is 10% as dangerous as Saddam was, except he’s right in our political capital’s backyard – I think President Bush is ignoring some serious threats, as well as some serious failures (ahem, war on terrorism) in order to go after an easier target, which Saddam, wasting away in palaces built with his people’s blood, is.

Are we supposed to forget that no one can find Bin Laden or Mullah Omar, that Al-Qaeda is alive and kicking again, and that bomb blasts are wrecking everything and everywhere, from Finland to Bali, India to Palestine? But no, Saddam is the danger, because Saddam allegedly supports one and the same brand of terrorism (by the same logic that would have to argue, in contradiction to history, that Hitler and Stalin were allies because they were brutes).

We’re creating, and contributing to, a horribly violent world, and now it’s coming back to haunt us with domestic terrorism as well. I’m sorry, but I want a peaceful, prosperous America to raise my children in, and I hope that America can serve as a catalyst for positive global development. President Bush’s War on Everything, and the brilliantly conceived “bomb first, think later” doctrine of pre-emption, stands in the way. President Bush works for me, a voter, and not the other way around. So I propose we the people vote the obstacle out.

In regards to the sniper, President Bush said, “This is not the America I know.” And I say: “Exactly, so over here, Mr. President, over here. No, not there, back here, yeah… behind you… in America – you know, that country you’re supposed to be running? We did elect you. Well, sort of.” Rather than fight terrorism, through serious, positive diplomacy, the hot-head hawks are off looking for more oil money, hiding gross corporate scandals and economic incompetence behind the war drums. This time, though, I don’t imagine people are going to buy it. We’ve been bamboozled and hoodwinked long enough. The Arab world can smell it just as much as we can: the fetid stink of a Big Brother in the making. We’re pathetic citizens if we let our country’s government turn itself into the all-powerful Ministry of International Virtue and Vice.

These days, terrorism is justice, and justice is terrorism, no matter which palace or cave the decree comes screaming out of. How many of us would have thought 1984 could so soon seem so real – and so disturbing? There’s a point to draw a line at, and we should have drawn it long ago… but there’s no time like the present for making up missed opportunities.

And a note to all of you who are Muslim, just a little something we all should remember, as our position in this conflict, and its resolution, is (to say the least) of the utmost importance: We Muslims are supposed to be a mercy to the world and thus, by inclusion, to all of humanity – regardless of race, gender, creed. Sometimes, being a mercy to humanity also entails speaking up for humanity, speaking truth to power and tyranny. We have no place in Operation Enduring Hypocrisy, and no desire for Infinite War. This struggle, for justice and peace, is the Mother of All Battles.