Sold for a Few Dollars

By: Charles Jalkh (Freedom Fighter)

During his current visit to China, President Clinton affirmed that "the United States does not dispute China’s claim to the Tibet…" This is a very sad day for Free Tibet and an ominous sign regarding US policies towards injustice and brutality worldwide. The immorality of such policy is obvious to all; the sell out of a whole people and the reward of aggression, in exchange of material gain. It is shameful to do business as usual with a dictatorship, who in violation the UN charter and all international laws, attacked and occupied a neighboring country and massacred over a million of its inhabitants. There is no decency in China’s occupation of the Tibet. Thousands of temples were destroyed, and millions of Chinese settled the country imposing new demographics. How can the US and the civilized world accept such a crime. This is equivalent to making peace with Hitler after knowing about the Holocaust.

The reason we are concerned about the US policy towards the Tibet is that a similar case is occurring right now in the Middle East. After years of saturation bombardment and direct assaults, Syria invaded and occupied all of Lebanon in Oct 13, 1990. It installed a puppet regime that signed away Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty to the Syrian occupiers. The US blessed the Syrian action and permitted it as a reward for Syria’s participation in the Gulf war and the blockade of Iraq. In both cases, the US has supported and done business with a dictatorship who invaded a smaller, but much more civilized neighbor. The US stood with the forces of darkness in violation of all laws and principles. In both cases the weaker neighbor is being annihilated culturally, economically, demographically, and physically.

These crimes should not be rewarded and need to be acknowledged as such. If the excuse in China’s case is its tremendous size and weight in international affairs, then what is the excuse in permitting Syria to get away with its occupation and annihilation of Lebanon. Syria is a backward and bloody dictatorship based on murder and brutality. It oppresses its own people, attacks and occupies its neighbor, and terrorizes the world. What US interests are served by doing business as usual with the Syrian dictatorship? How can peace be achieved for the people of the Middle East when they continue to live under dictatorships of one form or another. When their human rights are violated daily. When they can be arrested without due process of law, thrown in jails and tortured simply for wanting a change in their living conditions. True peace is not only between nations, but also between a state and its people. Peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved as long as the Syrian dictatorship continues to occupy Lebanon in violation of UN resolution 520, the Arab league and UN charters, and international laws.

Today, the US foreign policy is still void of any moral core. It is exclusively based on interests and lacks humanism and righteousness. It is a shame to enter the twentieth century with democracies cajoling to dictatorships. With aggression rewarded. With international laws violated. With human rights and human lives sold for a few dollars. What better world has the US taken us into? What if by an act of God, the US ceases to be the dominant force in the world. It would have left a world governed by the laws of the jungle and may not escape itself from its wrath. What examples are we setting for the future generations? How can we enter the 21st century with slavery still applied to many nations and Caesar’s money still ruling the world? How can the US State department officials sleep in peace at night, when lives are being wasted just to make a radio/cassette cheaper for an American consumer.

The world deserves better. Earth deserves peace. Humans deserve dignity and freedom. Tibet and Lebanon deserve their freedom and their right to live in peace under the sun.

Long Live Lebanon