Here’s a classic piece of Arab victimology from Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, “Minister of Expatriates in Syria, and writer and professor at Damascus University”, writing in the London-based Asharq Alawsat:
Arabs face today a dilemma that appears to be conceptual or philosophical, however, it is political in depth and has grave consequences on the future of Arab generations and Arab homelands. Arabs’ problem is that they are intentionally forbidden from being victims despite all the massacres, war crimes and arbitrary acts committed by various forces against them.
Always the victims, the Arabs, but never the perpetrators. The world’s problems in a nutshell. And who’s the main culprit here?
In his last speech, President Bush classified all Arabs and Muslims as fascists, terrorists and enemies of freedom. He took the 19 perpetrators who attacked world trade towers as his evidence and neglected the humanistic and tolerant directions of Muslims throughout their history. What such a classification could be called except neo-racism against Muslims? It is like saying that all Americans are Timothy McVeigh who attacked the nursery in Oklahoma City. What hatred produced such logic and what violence and destruction such logic could produce?
A wilful misunderstanding of Bush’s remarks about the struggle against Islamo-fascism? Surely not. This is a woman with a distinguished career:
She received her Ph.D. in English Literature from Warwick University in England in 1982, and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an advisor in 1988. Since then, she has represented Syria as a spokeswomen on an international level. In 2005 Dr. Shaaban was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in the same year, was presented with “the Most Distinguished Woman in a Governmental Position” award by the Arab League. Dr. Shaaban has published four books, and contributed to numerous others.
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