Dirty political games [Archives:2003/650/Viewpoint]

Editor
Looking at the situation in the Middle East, Iraq, and many other countries throughout the globe, one can easily see that dirty political games are being played with biased rules, and sometimes outrageous violations.
For example, the Middle East peace process has been revived in a way to show the world a commitment of the USA to bring freedom and peace to Palestinians, while hundreds of kilometers to the east, we can see an occupation of an independent land by US forces, with a basis -Iraqi WMDs- that proved to be weak and is getting weaker by the day.
Our own Arab regimes have also made very good strides in learning dirty political games to work out on schemes that would guarantee them a longer period in office and at the same time good terms with friends and enemies alike. There is no way to deny that Arab leaders have been involved in a cat and mouse chase with the USA and their own people during the war and in pre and post war periods. They maneuvered cleverly but nastily around everything and found out a way to escape anger of their people and that of the USA. Deals were stricken, agreements reached, and payments probably made behind closed doors on behalf of us, the Arab people, to abandon any resistance to US desires in a war on Iraq.
Americans are questioning now the legality of the war, which they were told was launched to protect them from eminent danger and threat of deadly weapons of mass destruction. Months have passed with no bit of clue about where those weapons are. They are increasingly feeling betrayed and deceived. This is the same to many lower politicians who followed their bosses blindly in support of an unjust war.
As for Arabs however, time has come when Iraqis themselves blasted Arab leaders for their passiveness and for being “traitors” as they said in many banners lifted in protest of the war, which seems to be, as expected ongoing for a long time.
Politicians can sometimes be quite nasty. Any person can take certain decisions for his own benefit or protection. But when it comes to representing millions of people who give him trust and votes to act honestly, it becomes a grave sin to act deceitfully on behalf of the people.
Today, we are living in quite bizarre political conditions where the weak becomes the aggressor and the strong becomes a victim in an upside down world where people have many questions for their leaders, but receive no or sometimes misleading answers about the future, the past, and recorded history. There are many politicians who played dirty games on their own people and the world. This time seems to lack transparency despite all this globalization movement throughout the world. We can see more on TV, hear more on radio, and read more on the Internet, but lies have been mixed with the truth and people seem to be lost in a world that they think has deceived them.
I remain glad I never got into politics and never wanted to. I just feel sympathy for those who are thrown in this dirty mud whole where most seems to be working on perfection, not in carrying out good deeds, but in playing dirty political games, when laws and judges and players are all the same people, and guess who are the winners? No one!
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