Once again we find ourselves facing the same situation in every Arab crisis and yet here we have Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, in Khartoum, saying that the decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al Bashir is an “insult to Muslims”! And the irony as Hamas warned Arab leaders not to merely stand by and watch, reminding them that they have a role [to play] after what happened to Saddam Hussein.
From the beginning it must be said that this is a woe to rational-minded people in this part of the world, as there is no rationale or wisdom or understanding of the consequences, nor is value given to peaceful humans, whether rulers or the ruled; the proof of this lies in the streams of blood in our region.
When Ali Larijani says that the targeting of the Sudanese President is an insult to Muslims, it raises the following questions: aren’t the people, or let us say victims, of Darfur also Muslims? Isn’t it insulting to “Islamic” Iran to approve of this kind of tyranny against the people of Darfur?
And when Hamas defends al Bashir, reminding the Arab leaders of Saddam Hussein’s fate, it raises the following questions: what about Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi victims? What about what he did to Iraq during all those years as ruler until he was found in that infamous pit? What about his Arab victims?
The truth must be told to President Bashir: those who came to Khartoum to meet and kiss you and express their solidarity are the ones who led Saddam Hussein and others in our region to commit errors and led them to their deaths as they endangered them and then left them to face their inevitable destiny alone.
What a short-term memory we have! Just close your eyes and cast your mind back to the last few days before the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and remember those who were visiting Baghdad and the false statements that were issued in defense of Saddam Hussein and the contradictory statements that were issued after his downfall!
The truth is that the Sudanese regime ignored around 20 international resolutions in five years regarding Darfur. It ignored all demands calling for putting a stop to the crimes committed in Darfur and the necessity for a peaceful and humanitarian solution there. Today is simply a time of reckoning.
The Hamas movement is the last entity that could help Bashir’s regime; if only it would help itself and prevent harm from coming to the people of Gaza in the future and embark upon Palestinian reconciliation and protecting the Palestinian Cause from becoming a playing card in the hands of those in search of a role or a deal.
As for Tehran, there is no doubt that it would sell Khartoum at the drop of a hat in negotiations with Washington just as it did logistically with Iraq when the US invasion of Baghdad began. Moreover, it facilitated Washington’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Therefore, the two biggest threats facing al Bashir today are external and internal; externally, the danger lies in his guests who announced their support of him; internally, there is the danger of what al Bashir described as fans that he said he discovered in Sudan after the arrest warrant was issued.
Those figures visiting Khartoum did not help the ruler of Baghdad in the past for them to help al Bashir today. Also, these fans might turn on the Sudanese president at any moment especially that the international resolution has isolated him internationally and blocked him internally.