Shenali D Waduge

There are 50 Muslim majority countries in the world. Since 1980 Syria has become the 14th Muslim country US has illegally bombed & invaded. At the same time there are also 5 Muslim countries that support US airstrikes on Syria – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan. However, we now come to learn that Qatar has fallen out of favor with Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Just the other day the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq was completely destroyed by ISIS. ISIS comprises Muslim militants but trained by US/West. Amnesty International says US supplied $1.3billion worth arms to ISIS in 2016 alone! So why are Sri Lanka’s Muslim leaders playing with fire by inviting the US to interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs? Have they not learnt from what eschewed when LTTE issue became internationalized and armed struggle became a geopolitically used trump card against a sovereign nation?

The 14 Muslim countries that have been victims of US aggression

1. Iran (1980, 1987-1988),
2. Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011),
3. Lebanon (1983),
4. Kuwait (1991),
5. Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-),
6. Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-),
7. Bosnia (1995),
8. Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996),
9. Afghanistan (1998, 2001-),
10. Sudan (1998),
11. Kosovo (1999),
12. Yemen (2000, 2002-),
13. Pakistan (2004-) and now
14. Syria.

The list however omits bombing of Muslim countries by US/West Muslim satellite states. Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen a fellow Muslim country leaving the nation in virtual starvation. Now Qatar is facing sanctions too.

In 2016 USA under orders of Muslim President Barak Obama dropped 26,171 Bombs on 7 Muslim-Majority Countries (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan)

Afghanistan was recipient of at least 1,337 bombs. US has been illegally occupying Afghanistan since 2002.

In 2015 under the same Muslim President, US dropped at least 23,144 bombs on six Muslim-majority countries

US & NATO have destroyed Libya and killed its leader Gaddafi. Libya was the richest country in Africa today after 5 years of ‘liberation & democracy’ delivered by the West, Libya has been declared a failed state. Libyans under Gaddafi enjoyed not only free health-care and free education, but also free electricity and interest-free loans. Now thanks to the West’s democracy healthcare is about to collapse, Libyans are fleeing their country, professionals are fleeing their country, it’s a free terrain for all types of men in arms, women are unsafe. Under Gaddafi even UNHRC praised him for women’s rights!

After attacking these countries the US has been building military bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Seychelles, Kenya, South Sudan, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Amnesty International claims that in 2016 US supplied $1.3billion worth in arms to ISIS. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) Its strength is estimated to be 80,000. Al-Nusra Front formed in 2012 is said to have 20,000 cadres. Free Syrian Army emerged in 2011 with the help of US, Turkey, Saudi and has a strength of 100,000. These are all Muslims killing Muslims at the behest of the West. That’s just one side of the story.

There are 3.5million Muslims living in the US.  Immediately after 9/11 – 481 documented hate crimes against Muslims in 2001. Muslims in Sri Lanka complaining about hate crimes must read this to realize the extent of open abuse Muslims who are living in the US are subject to on a daily basis – https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/us/politics/hate-crimes-american-muslims-rise.html

In 2016, a New York Imam and his assistant were killed in cold-blood. Between March 2015 and March 2016 – 180 reported incidents of anti-Muslim violence. 18 incidents per month during the 12-month period, including 12 murders, 34 physical assaults, 49 verbal assaults or threats against individuals and institutions, 56 acts of vandalism or destruction of property, nine arsons, and eight shootings and bombings. (Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR))

The Huffington Post’s Islamophobia tracker recorded 87 acts of aggression

No statistics will admit the open racism and hate speech Muslims in US are subject to. But over in Sri Lanka, the Muslims appear to be playing a double game and courting the very country that is on a witch hunt against the Muslims, knowing that the West is eyeing Sri Lanka for geopolitical reasons and knowing that the West is using the minority card as its trump card to arm-twist Sri Lanka. This is totally unprincipled and against the very norms that the Muslims claim to practice.

We saw the first of these practices in the manner that the Chief Minister in the East openly ridiculed a naval officer just to score brownie points from the same US ambassador who was grinning sheepishly from a side.

When EU nations, UK & US are attacking Muslim citizens living in their countries while also dropping bombs galore upon Muslim nations, the US envoy in Sri Lanka is issuing demarches to Sri Lanka asking us to protect places of religious worship. We are compelled to wonder whether these attacks have some scheme and whether the culprits are even known for the news propaganda is of religious places being attacked and shop-a-day attacks. Unless it is planned, whoever attacks shops on a daily basis!!! That gave the scheme away!

We cannot understand what this chemistry between the Islamic world and the west is all about. From ancient times they had been killing each other and then they cannot do without the other and together they end up making a nightmare to the rest of the inhabitants in the world. They bomb Muslim countries to the stone age, destroy their ancient cities, mosques etc but then insist that non-Muslim majority countries allow them to proliferate mosques, madrassas and encourage all types of extremism especially in the countries that the West eye for geopolitical/trade/resource advantage.

It cannot be that the Muslim community is unaware of these dynamics. Leaving aside the opportunism of Muslim politicians at least the learnd Muslims general public should understand what the US & West are upto the neoliberal agenda clearly establishes their desire to return to Asia and loot what they could not do under colonial rule.

Shenali D Waduge

http://www.globalo.com/the-9-groups-fighting-in-syria/

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-23/secret-pentagon-report-reveals-us-created-isis-tool-overthrow-syrias-president-assad