Articles Index Reality… In Their Own Words
Sunday, 07 October 2012 21:31
The question “when will the West wake up to the truth” has been asked by me and numerous others over the past decades. I never thought that it would be asked by a high ranking retired Royal Saudi Navy Commodore, let alone during the height ‘Arab Spring’.
Abdulateef Al-Mulhim
“The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel, which they considered is their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they never recognized. The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for the human lives and finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people.”
I did not write these words, I have said the same things many times before in different ways, but these words are not mine.
What is shocking is not the paragraph itself, but rather who wrote it and where it was published. This comes from an article titled “Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy” by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim and it was published October 7th, 2012 by the Arab News.
The ‘Arab News’ was Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It gets hundreds of thousands of hits every day and its printed version can be found on newsstands throughout the Middle East.
But what I found to be most surprising is its author; Abdulateef Al-Mulhim is a retired Commodore in the Royal Saudi Navy.
His article of only 1015 words speaks volumes. Although short by comparison of most op-eds, certainly my own, it was concise, to the point, covered a multitude of areas, was well written and most of all, it was factual.
He explains that he,
decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about a starving child in Yemen, a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria, the under developed Sinai in Egypt, car bombs in Iraq and the destroyed buildings in Libya. The photos and the reports were shown on the Al-Arabiya network, which is the most watched and respected news outlet in the Middle East.
Al-Mulhim, asks some real honest pressing questions in his article that cuts through the political B.S.,
The questions now are: What was the real cost of these wars to the Arab world and its people. And the harder question that no Arab national wants to ask is: What was the real cost for not recognizing Israel in 1948 and why didn’t the Arab states spend their assets on education, health care and the infrastructures instead of wars? But, the hardest question that no Arab national wants to hear is whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and the Arab people.
But again, what’s more than the questions he asks are the straight forward answers that he gives,
The common thing among all what I saw is that the destruction and the atrocities are not done by an outside enemy. The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries are done by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard the people of these countries. So, the question now is that who is the real enemy of the Arab world?
These dictators’ atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.
Throughout his article I had to keep re-reading to make sure I was seeing it correctly, I actually had to read the article 3 times just to make sure I really comprehended it and there was no subliminal message.
He talks of the ‘Palestinian refugees’ and although I may not agree with the whole Palestinian argument, he puts forth some very valid points on what is happening due to the Arab Spring,
And now, with the never ending Arab Spring, the Arab world has no time for the Palestinians refugees or Palestinian cause, because many Arabs are refugees themselves and under constant attacks from their own forces. Syrians are leaving their own country, not because of the Israeli planes dropping bombs on them. It is the Syrian Air Force which is dropping the bombs. And now, Iraqi Arab Muslims, most intelligent brains, are leaving Iraq for the east. In Yemen, the world’s saddest human tragedy play is being written by the Yemenis. In Egypt, the people in Sinai are forgotten.
Say what you will about the so-called ‘Palestinians’, Al-Mulhim points out the facts of the Arabs that live within Israel’s borders,
Finally, if many of the Arab states are in such disarray, then what happened to the Arabs’ sworn enemy (Israel)? Israel now has the most advanced research facilities, top universities and advanced infrastructure. Many Arabs don’t know that the life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. Even the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip enjoy more political and social rights than some places in the Arab World. Wasn’t one of the judges who sent a former Israeli president to jail is an Israeli-Palestinian?
His last sentence of the article is truly astonishing; it states the obvious answer to the Arab-Israeli conflict,
The Arab Spring showed the world that the Palestinians are happier and in better situation than their Arab brothers who fought to liberate them from the Israelis. Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations.
It is far past “time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations.”
I know right now many of you are saying, “big deal, he wrote this in an English speaking paper, he is preaching to the choir” and or, “this is nothing more than ‘taqiyya’(religious dissimulation or lying to further Islam), he is trying to gain more sympathy towards Muslims”
This is where I must point out a few things. After researching his other articles I have found this is not the first time he has written about the dictators/monarchy’s and Arab countries. He has written extensively on the lack of education, the corruption and the problems that plague Arab and Islamic countries.
His articles also appear in Arabic in various publications including ‘Al Yaum’ “Today”, the Saudi Arabian Arabic daily newspaper.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is far from ‘taqiyya’, Ret. Commodore Abdulateef Al-Mulhim is an educated individual including 5 years at the State University of New York Maritime College (1975-1979) where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Marine Transportation. He obviously has the ability to think ‘Western’ and this comes through in his articles.
I also have no doubt that before I am done writing this there will be a ‘Fatwa’ on this man’s head, not only for his statements pointing the finger of blame of where Arab countries are today at the Arab leaders themselves, but for his family connections as well.
Al-Mulhim is undoubtedly in the Saudi Royal family himself, going by what I have read and the fact that he achieved the rank of Commodore (Rear Admiral) while not being part of the Royal family would be extremely rare.
This man has put not only himself in danger with his words, but those of his family as well. In this case the definition of irony is when a Muslim writes that the problems with his own people are not moving forward with education and in to the 21 Century and yet he can be killed for saying so.
But the real irony here is the fact that he points out that the problem is not Israel or the Jews, but rather the Arab countries themselves and that Israel has been nothing more than a scapegoat for “the many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people.”
It’s nice to see reality and fact in the media but it is really amazing when that reality comes from the Arab press and one of their own.
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2012-10-08 08:16:46 |173.44.64.xxx| Reese
Great article on a subject that our own media won't consider notable enough to give it some light here. Thank you!
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2012-10-08 09:29:13 |204.116.254.xxx| Joseph A Nagy Jr - Wow
I am very surprised - and happy - to read what he had to say. Hopefully he's not the only one to think so.
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2012-10-08 09:32:28 |24.11.97.xxx| RAN - Tears In The Ocean
This is a stunning article coming out of the Arab world, not only because of what is being said, but who is saying it. Unfortunately, although he is a powerful voice, he is still only one voice of sanity in an insane asylum. And, as you said "This man has put not only himself in danger with his words, but those of his family as well." This is the backwards mentality that will keep the Arab world blind, deaf and stupid to its own self interests, and silence anyone who can see the truth. Only when the sword of islam is taken away from the throats of the people will any of this ever change. Only when the ayatollah's and Imam's no longer hold ultimate power over the lives of the people, will they begin to progress toward a civilized society.
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2012-10-08 09:58:37 |24.56.188.xxx| gerald arnold - Gangsters with a flag
The covert colonial strategy of Western Financial Empires of GB & US have often relied on the recognition of some local crime boss to gain a foothold in a target region. From there, they can apply pressure or overthrow an existing State or create a new one to appear respectable.
Sometimes they bribe their way into an alliance with one tribe and use it to divide and conquer all the rest until they dominate them all. The Saudi Arabia and its "Royal" family was no different. It's a tribal mob running an artificial country. Gangsters with a flag.
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2012-10-10 13:43:13 |68.225.148.xxx| EMA - Who's Listening?
My title says it all...."Who's Listening?" My hope is that this message from a thinking person will be absorbed and listened to - results will follow, I'm sure.
Let us hope that this article will be the end of intolerance and hate, but I've been accused of being a dreamer.
This article is the most eye opening article. I read arab news every day. This man's article are the best and different from any other articles we read in the area. I worked here for 15 years, it is the first time , I simply wait for a surprise from this writer