By Mir Hasan Ali, TwoCircles.net
Four years, three months, and counting.
The Iraq War’s place in history is becoming significant as its length looms in on the duration of the 20th century’s Great War. This current conflict is already lengthier than the time period between the Pearl Harbor surprise attack and the Japanese capitulation. Vietnam is the next noteworthy confrontation, but the current warfare would have to persist for another eight years to meet the length of that dreaded mistake.
But never mind the computation of such numbers. It’s the other figures, the numbers of Iraqis killed, the number of them left homeless, and the number of internal refugees in Iraq and so on and so forth, that result in a helpless state-of-affairs among Muslims for their brethren. Though Muslims are well represented worldwide – close to 1.4 billion of them – their inability to have succeeded as nations halts any significant influence within this same world.
When the U.S. President George W. Bush and his allies drew up the Iraq War scheme, the protests, denunciations, and frustrations of Muslims were unaccounted for. The reason was obvious, they didn’t matter. Whether the basis for war was to remove Saddam Hussein and “free� the Iraqis, or to seize possession of an oil copious nation and strengthen U.S. presence in the Middle East, is irrelevant. The eventual captives and its global citizenry were helpless to stop it.
Iraqis saw their homeland turn into an everyday war zone and the Muslims in the rest of the world watched in horror. Between 2 and 2.2 million, or nearly one in ten, Iraqis have fled their country since 2003, as reported by The Nation’s Tom Engelhardt. Furthermore, according to independent reporter Dahr Jamail, at least 50,000 refugees are fleeing each month.
Though these war stricken people are escaping for a better and more normal existence, the chances of them achieving that hypothetical normal existence in a Muslim country is unlikely. Virtually all-Muslim countries suffer the stereotypical third world quandaries, corruption from the apex down and minimal influences of its illiterate general public. The addition of these refugees into already meager nations result in an exponential growth in frustration for its citizens as they have limited provisions and abodes and are under the helm of the societies’ elite.
Another pain stricken statistic: an estimated 12,000 of the 34,000 registered doctors have left the country since 2003, according to the Iraqi Medical Association. This leaves a war-bombarded country with a shortage of doctors in their ultimate time of need.
Statistics have been compiled since the beginning of literacy and are futile unless put into a meaningful state. Though I can’t seem to put an exact number on it, even the Muslims with the ultimate “inshallah� (God willing) approach to life are irritated and discouraged by the plight brought on by the Iraq War. The fall of Saddam has exposed the spiteful ethnic and sect divide between the populace. It has also enabled Al-Qaeda to set up a fortified camp within the country and use their irreligious slogans to confuse brother against brother, leading to the spillage of blood. Mostly, it has given Iraqis ammunition to want the conquerors to leave. After all, the reason for American troops being there is still ambiguous as it has never been appropriately addressed.
Most Muslims never wanted the invasion of Iraq to take place but could only play the role of outsiders looking in. It’s about time they became relevant as individuals and as a people. Education is a great human equalizer and potential booster, the Prophet himself stressed its significance.. Sticking to just religion, many Muslims follow Islam based on hearsay rather than the study of the Quran in a language of their comprehension. By doing this, they remain unsure of Islam’s reality and are open to unlawful influence. Hence the massive array of suicide bombing attempts in the name of religion, even though taking one’s own life and/or the life of another is considered one of Islam’s biggest sins. Perhaps, working together to indoctrinate the mass, the uninformed to the literate, will prevent another such feeling of unworthiness in the future. Maybe then Muslims can be on the inside looking out.
[photo by Elijah Nouvelage]