Sayyed Fadlullah: We believe that the American people deserve a better administration; one that does not threaten international security and the future of humanity

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: In the framework of discussing the reasons that led to the failure of the US to communicate with the Islamic World, we have been hearing several calls for conducting a war of ideas as a part of the war on terror. There are also calls by American diplomats and scholars to increase the funds allocated to the media efforts that aim at communicating with the Islamic world. How do you view this issue?

The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, said:

It is rather ironic and even sarcastic that the American officials are studying the best way to communicate with the Islamic world.

The incumbent administration has been communicating with the Arabs and Muslims, with all the means of killing, destruction and elimination. It did not make even one single step towards a real dialogue.

Even when it talked about reform, it used it as a means of intimidation without proposing any concrete plans to reform the totalitarian regimes that it has been supporting for over sixty years.

The American communication with the Arab and Islamic World is one of a wolf with the sheep or a murderer with his victim. No region in this world has not been subjected to American hegemony or at least conspiring to let it fall in the hands of the Americans, especially if it contains oil or if it is of strategic significance.

The American Administration has initiated its war over Islam as an ideology following the bloody war it waged on the Islamic countries in the name of fighting terrorism or initiating reform. This led to the democracy of killing and committing massacres. In Iraq, for example, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in a collective manner, while even Saddam used, in most cases, to kill individuals.

Therefore, we believe that all the American calls for dialogue, are hypocritical and directly related to the presidential elections. How could an administration that has long been killing the Muslims in the Islamic World and persecuting the American Muslims remember just weeks before the elections that there is a need for dialogue with the Muslims?

It is an administration that has overlooked and even encouraged the attacks on Islam as a religion, and talked about using forcing to discipline and intimidate all those who should be disciplined in the Islamic world in the name of fighting terrorism. It did not listen to all who called for defining the concept of terrorism and for the need for fighting its root causes of poverty and injustice. Such an endeavor would have lead to condemning the US being directly responsible for encouraging terrorism whether by protecting the regimes or supporting Israel.

No communication projects or even developmental aid will be of any use as long as the American foreign policy considers the Muslims as enemies and as long as America continues to see things in the region from the Israeli perspective. The blood that has been spilled in the region form Palestine to Afghanistan and Iraq makes it impossible for the Muslim world to believe these calls that seem like poison in a medicine capsule.

This Administration that talked about the Palestinian state has done all it could to make sure that it will not come to be, and that supported not only the racial wall but also the expansion of the settlements, could not be trusted.

It is the political issue that matters. The Islamic world is not concerned with all the American talk about cultural or educational programs.

America and the entire world know that the issue is the Palestinian question. The US unconditional support to Israel is what has distorted its image in the Arab and Islamic World.

The problem with America in our Islamic world lies in its spreading political and security chaos, as well as its ideological and informational attack on Islam… This Administration does not deserve any respect being that deceitful and hypocritical. It is not qualified for any serious discussion with the Arabs and Muslims.

We believe that the American people deserve a better administration; one that does not threaten international security and the future of humanity.