3/18/03, Letter to the Editor, printed in the Dallas Morning News

(Printed in the Dallas Morning News, March 18, 2003, entitled, “A New Era of Imperial America”)

Dear Editor:

In less than twenty-four hours, Baghdad soil and its people will likely be raided by our government forces and bombed to pieces. But when the dust and the fury clear, it will be more than Iraq that will be entering a new era. It will be the world that witnessed how powerless the United Nations has been to prevent worldwide aggressive tendencies--the very tendencies that it was founded to stop. The United States has demonstrated to the world that we are a big and powerful a nation that can defy the UN and its purpose, and with or without authorization, can exercise military interventions at will.

With these unfoldings, having openly violated international laws and the sovereignty of other nations, we are witnessing a dangerous new precedent being set internationally for future bombings and military interventions. I am no longer surprised why U.S. embassies, bases, and other symbols of U.S. power, are made targets by those claiming to be affected by American foreign policies.

If our government would refrain from what the world perceives as imperialist tendencies, then I am sure that nations everywhere would love for America to be the policemen of the world. But in the meantime, I join the nations of the world in calling on all youth, veterans, and progressive-minded people of America to object to these pending attacks. Should we bomb Iraq, to the people of the world I say, "Those are not our bombs!" We have more in common with you than with those who run our government. We are more than Americans; we are citizens of the world.

Bilal A Rana
Fort Worth, TX