Page 2 of 2 THE ROVING
EYE The second coming of
Saladin By Pepe Escobar
are nonagenarian Bernard Lewis'
pontifications on the "clash of civilizations" -
the "perhaps irrational but surely historic
reaction of an ancient rival against our
Judeo-Christian heritage". The new Saladin would
tell Lewis to get a grip on reality and admit that
the unabated political repression, tremendous
social inequality and prevailing economic disaster
all over the Middle East are direct
consequences of decades of
"divide and rule" Western imperialism plus some
extra decades of non-stop meddling coupled with
rapacious, arrogant and ignorant local elites.
The new Saladin knows how the US and
Britain initially supported the Muslim Brotherhood
- and then the Brotherhood supported the birth of
Hamas. He knows how the US and Britain initially
supported Iranian clerics - especially the late
ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - against the shah. He
knows how the US and Britain initially supported
the Taliban. The aim was always to stifle any form
of progressive, secular movement by socialists,
communists or Arab nationalists.
A
possible Saudi-Iran entente is still a dream.
There is the parallel emergence of a coalition of
top members of the "axis of fear" - Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Jordan - with Turkey and, of all players,
Israel. Common objective: the containment of Iran.
And not only Iran, but also Hezbollah and Hamas.
King Abdullah was persuaded of this strategy by
notorious Prince Bandar bin Sultan, aka "Bandar
Bush", former Saudi ambassador in the US for 22
years, a close friend of both Bush and Cheney, and
now the head of the Saudi National Security
Council.
The strategy was in fact
masterminded by a pedestrian version of the Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Cheney; Bandar; US
deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams;
and former US ambassador in Iraq and Afghan
jack-of-all-trades Zalmay Khalilzad. What the
popular masses in the Middle East think about this
is of course irrelevant. In majority-Sunni Egypt,
for instance, the most popular politicians are by
far Hezbollah's Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Khalid
Meshal from Hamas, and Ahmadinejad. Two Shi'ites
and a Sunni amply supported by Shi'ites.
About that 'war on terror' The
Bush administration is cunningly trying to spin
the theme of "Sunni solidarity" to push the dagger
of fitna (dissent) even further into the
heart of Islam, always focusing on the same
target: total, unchallenged domination of the
Middle East.
Cheney could not but have
also enlisted Pakistani President General Pervez
Musharraf (who facilitates US intelligence on
countless covert ops inside southeastern Iran
organized from Balochistan in Pakistan). Some
players are getting itchy, though. Turkey had to
announce on the record that it would not join any
"anti-Shi'ite alliance". Turkey cannot afford to
antagonize Iran - not with the coming November
referendum on the autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The new Saladin also sees that the "war on
terror" is far from over - metastasized into more
subtle forms of Islamophobia, and still directly
related to the attempted oil grab in the "big
prizes" of Iraq and Iran. The privileged strategy
to conquer fabulous natural wealth in the lands of
Islam has been predictable from the start;
building a case against the "barbarian",
"uncivilized" and "pre-modern" Muslim world;
vilifying Islam as a religion and Muslim culture
and mores; promoting de facto discrimination and
in may cases outright racism against Muslims in
the wealthy north; equating Islam with terrorism.
The new Saladin knows it as much as
virtually the whole 1.5-billion-strong
ummah knows it.
And then there's
the Shi'ite world. As long as US so-called elites
fail to understand the phenomenal power of
Shi'ism, any brilliant armchair strategy they cook
up is destined to fail miserably.
Shi'ites
in Iraq will never be co-opted by any US agenda -
no matter the Himalayas of wishful thinking
involved. They will never sacrifice their
collective consciousness - forged by oppression
and exclusion - nor their profound sense of
historic victimization to the benefit of a
made-in-America "liberal" utopia. Shi'ites will
continue to stress their tremendous hostility to
Zionism; to their society being corrupted by
Western - especially US - popular and trash
culture; and most of all to imperial designs on
Muslim lands and natural wealth. It's in the DNA
of Shi'ites to see themselves as the guardians of
true Islam.
The hour of the
wolf So where will the new Saladin come
from?
He could be Nasrallah - who forced
the formerly mighty Israeli army to back off, and
who will inevitably prevail in a majority
government in Lebanon through democratic
elections.
He could be a young Sadrist who
has never entered the Green Zone, and who before
that was a member of the "sanctions generation",
growing up in absolute marginalization. Now he
goes to al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, he
will get his diploma, and he will be better
equipped to fight for the true liberation of Iraq.
He could be Muqtada al-Sadr himself - the
legitimate popular leader of a national-liberation
movement.
He could be the son of a
Palestinian refugee who grew up in Damascus or
Beirut, got an education, emigrated to Canada to
perfect his skills, learn from the best the West
has to offer, and then one day come back and enter
politics with a vengeance.
He could be a
Muslim Brotherhood intellectual in Syria. He would
fully back the Sunni Arab resistance in Iraq. He
would fully back deposing the Hashemite monarchy
in Jordan. He would fully back Hamas. As a Muslim
Brotherhood Saladin, he would fight for a Sunni
Arab Greater Syria capable of talking some sense
into Israel.
He could be a Saudi-trained
Sunni Arab sniper in Baghdad who posts his killing
videos as manifestos on the Internet. Or he could
even not be an Arab, but a Persian - a resistance
hero in case of a tactical nuclear US strike.
The soul of Saladin may be impatient for
an heir. So are hundreds of millions in the
ummah. What rough warrior, its hour come
out at last, slouches toward Jerusalem, Damascus
or Baghdad to be born?
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