Sayyed Fadlullah called on the coming US administration not to obstruct change in the region
| Opportunity is likely for US openness to our region; our people to express similar openness |
His Eminence the Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah issued a statement addressing the results of the US presidential election. The following is the text of the statement:
A few days ago, the American people opted to topple a government they chose eight years ago and re-elected for another term four years later. Those people prevented yet another symbol of this administration from assuming power, after it hurts them with the flames of its wars and woes that not only harmed the world and its economy, but its flames also swept into the American heartland itself. For the first time in a century, the American people felt their country is insecure against catastrophes, just as the rest of the world is. They voted to bring down this conservative administration, seeing that the world– except for Israel – is no longer able to coexist with it any more and thus they attempted to dispose of it before it brought about further woes and tragedies.
The most influential voters in the US presidential election were our people and resistance movements, who managed to conquer the project of the conservative administration, and to return the ball to the court of the American people, whose choice was contingent upon the crisis and political woes and economic and financial meltdowns triggered by the preemptive wars of Bush the son. Otherwise, we would have seen a different scene in a world that stands before ruinous and devastating wars.
In light of the results of the US presidential election and the lengthy talks about a genuine desire for change, we would like to comment, through presenting a number of facts:
First: We hope the United States is ahead of a new political era that abandons the traditions and customs of the one that preceded, in which the conservative administration involved the United States and the world in crazy and preemptive wars through a superficial mentality that overwhelmed the White House with a "bloody ideology" by which the US president pitched himself as a messenger implementing divine instructions.
Hence, he devoted the American military machine to waging wars according to a bloody ideology, in addition to fulfilling the calculations of political hegemony and control and Israeli interests. The entire world has entered an unprecedented period of insanity, conflicts and mayhem, especially since the US president attempted to translate a number of visions proposed by complicated American elite groups on the clash of ideologies and the end of the world.
Second: The new administration is duty-bound to abandon much of the arrogance that plagued the US policy in the past eras and at the level of leadership in particular, since the world has entered a new period that has no room for unilateralism. Besides, the US is no longer the only power enjoying political, economic, financial, and military strength, and as a result, it has to deal with the world on the basis of its new weight produced by the ramifications of the past years and the crises that have occurred over the past months. Also, the issue of terrorism should no longer remain a matter for blackmailing and achieving personal interests. The new US administration should also put an end to the policy of direct occupation and leave our countries once and for all.
Third: If change is an established fact in the minds of the new administration, this administration should also bear in mind that the people of this region are eager for this change, and that the subsequent US administrations sought to preserve the dictatorships in our countries by firm intelligence and security and political fences and thus obstructed this hope-for change. Hence, he who prides himself on democracy and his democratic values should not obstruct the change-seeking people from realizing their dreams with undemocratic means that contradict with human culture and heritage and with principles of freedom, glory, sovereignty and human rights that all civilized and wise nations seek.
Fourth: We are under no illusion that the new US administration - with its new democratic outfit represented by the new president and his administration – will replace its absolute support for Israel with enmity, for we know that the American political game has its own rules and constraints that take Israel's interest into account first and foremost.
However, we warn them against dealing with us from an Israeli perspective, and we want the new administration to reconsider its calculations, namely its foreign policies, since the dominance of the Jews over this policy has brought about tragedies for the Americans before anyone else. The financial and political catastrophes that recently swept into the American arena should be a restraint for the newcomers to the White House, so that they will be keen to manage their internal crisis before dreaming about a new invasion of the world, in order not to lose the world once again; yet without winning over their own arenas.
Fifth: Despite the major complications outflanking the forthcoming US administration in relation to its affiliations and backgrounds, chances still exist for an American openness to the world, in terms of recognizing the active forces of the nations, and embarking on a serious ideological and political dialogue over the necessary measures to reform the condition of mankind following the economic and political and environmental catastrophes triggered by the US administration.
If the new administration is keen to settle its relations with the Arab and Islamic world, it ought to start a dialogue with the nations of this world and its vital forces and real powers, aside from the complications of hegemony and aspirations for dominance, because we believe that our nations will meet this openness with a similar openness to boost the chances of solutions in the region, and turn the page on a long black period of pains and grievances, and start a new period that the United States much needs and for which the entire world is eager.