What if Cho was a Muslim?
23 April, 2007
By Ahmer Muzammil
Would it have changed the fact that this was a deeply disturbed not to mention chronically ill man? Would the media, neo-cons and Zionists react in the same manner? Would there be plans to attack another Muslim country even though it had nothing what so ever to do with the heinous crime? Is South Korea where CHO hailed from a clear and present danger now and hence should be the beneficiary of Daisy Cutters and other “Marvels of Science” that we have invented for the well-being of human race? If you are able to answer these questions honestly than it should become obvious, that we live in a very sad, hypocritical, prejudice and bigoted world. In addition to the international dynamic, domestically speaking all things being as they are now, only If CHO had been Muslim, even a non practicing one at that, you can rest assure that there would have been mass arrests, migrations and intimidation of Muslims thru out the country. There would have been threatening phone calls to the masajids, our sisters who wear Hijab would have been harassed. The MSA’s(Muslim Students Association) would have received threats; Muslim women on campus would have been scared because most of them are identifiable thru their head-covering. For an act of a clinically sick individual as it is an established fact now, a whole people of about 7 million or so would have suffered in one shape or another, for the mere fact that his name would have been an Arabic sounding one instead of Asian. Is it fair? No! Would most have cared? Not really! Those who would have cared, and there are millions of them as well, need to start that conversation. Why is it that as a society we are by & large people where common-sense prevail and we are swayed with facts rather than fiction but as soon as there is a hint of an Arabic sound, all hell breaks loose, rules change on its head and all of a sudden its ‘us’ against ‘them arabs’? Timing might be questionable to some but it should also bring to fore the importance of human life. For some odd reason we only treasure life and feel that immense pain that is associated with the loss of it when it’s our own. When innocent lives are lost in hundreds on daily basis in foreign lands because of our government’s follies & greed then in best case scenarios we justify it as collateral damage, worst case necessary steps to safeguard our own security, don’t ask for proof however, you are just suppose to take THEIR word for it. As human beings we need to become a little more passionate and a little less pragmatic. Not that the literal meaning of pragmatism has anything to do with our cowboy approach to everything but that’s at least how perception can be sellable as a reality and we do it in a ruthless, cunning manner that would shame wild beasts. As a nation we stand accused as the murderer of upwards of 6 million human beings just in IRAQ alone in recent times, none of whom had anything to do with 9/11. That is a recognized fact and not even neo-cons rap on that anymore. Thousands of our own men and women have perished in IRAQ fighting a war that has lost little credibility that it might have had, but still the COWBOY in White House insists that any day now IRAQIS will roll out the red carpet. I saw this documentary over the weekend, name was Ground Truth. I must tell you that I realized that even the “PRO-WAR” crowd seems to only honor those who some how are visibly hurt, hundreds upon thousands of soldiers come back to dwindling careers, broken families and on top of that they have to deal with the demons from their past. The producers of this documentary followed the story of 10 or so soldiers, all of them are suffering with severe depression and anxiety. For those of us who have never encountered this disease, can’t truly understand the hopelessness and misery of these poor-soles. If you look in their eyes you’ll see a pain that is indescribable. This one soldier explains how he shot and killed an elderly woman who was approaching his humvee, they asked her to stop but she kept on moving towards them perhaps maybe because either she couldn’t hear or really didn’t understand what they wanted from her. Once she was shot dead, they approached her dead body and found a white flag instead of explosives. You can call it an honest mistake and that’s what everyone tried to tell him but this soldier can’t get rid of the guilt, he said he killed an innocent woman in cold blood and there is nothing he can do to bring her back. He said its quite easy to put a sticker on your car that reads “SUPPORT THE TROOPS”, it’s a whole different ball-game to actually go and fight an immoral war and then live with consequences for the rest of your life as an individual. Almost all of them said that they have thought about suicide and wish that they would have died in Iraq. The producers interviewed the family of a soldier who hung himself with a garden-hose. His sister says that he received a hero’s welcome and when they came home from the rally, he said I am a monster, I killed innocent women and kids, and she says he was a different person all-together. He had to end his own life to be at peace. Can the war-proponents put a hand on their hearts and just for a minute imagine the pain that these soldiers must go thru every single day of their life? Was it worth it? Was Iraq really planning to attack USA or even had the capability? Are we really any safer than Pre-Iraq War? Did we really win hearts and minds of Iraqis for getting rid of saddam, are they any safer now? We can only imagine how all these soldiers lives with that pain, day in and day out, all the while Mr. Wolfowitz the architect of this war was busy pressuring authorities to raise his girlfriend’s already over-blown salary. How is this not outrageous enough for American people to call for the heads of these thugs, is beyond me? There is discontentment amongst people and a great majority of them DO realize that our recent ventures paints America in a not so desirable manner, but the level of outcry that is expected from the supposed flag-bearers and champions of democracy, decency and human-rights is still missing somewhere. I realize that there are militants out there that are driven by there interpretation of Islam, however my question is that is Islam the driving force behind it or is it some form of injustice somewhere that is the catalyst? For way too long we have avoided these uncomfortable questions maybe because the Zionist lobby in Washington realizes that if this conversation starts then there jig would be up. It has been said numerous times before that people resort to violent means when the corridors of civility and dialogue are no longer available or fruitful. Maoists & Sikhs in India, Tamil’s in Sri Lanka, IRA in Ireland; Kamikaze’s earlier in the history are but few examples of that non-religious phenomenon that we callously slap on Islam alone. No doubt Muslim world has its own justified share of blame, but most of that blame lies with the autocratic rulers of the Islamic World that have looted their respective countries and deprived the population at-large with prosperity that would make the lives worth living for the hordes of masses. Ironically enough most all of these rulers are recipient of seal of approval from Washington. And then we innocently wonder “Why do the Moslems hate us”. Ahh duhh! You are sleeping with their enemy. It breaks your heart when Parents with teary eyes wish their son or daughter would have skipped class. My heart goes out to all the families and friends of the victims and we the Muslims living in America must come to the forefront to console our neighbors in these tragic times. We are part of this society and since we are the beneficiary of lot of good that American society has to offer to its citizen, we must come together to console those of our country-folk that have been devastated with this atrocity.
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