Speak up and sing, America

For more than four years now, America has waged a war in Iraq and I have used my column in The Daily to reflect on its repercussions. At the beginning of the war one warring party said about the other side, "Their ultimate ambitions are to control the peoples of the Middle East, and to blackmail the rest of the world with weapons of mass terror." Which side said that? Was it the angry Iraqis, whose country has been swarmed with foreign soldiers? Or was it the Bush administration justifying their invasion of Iraq? Perhaps the better question to ask is, who has fulfilled this mission?

Those were the words of George W. Bush March 19, 2004, as he reaffirmed resolve to war. As it stands now, it would have made more sense for him to replace the word "their" with "our." Inspired by hegemonic state ambitions, the Bush administration has made it our ambition to control the peoples of the Middle East. We want to blackmail the rest of the world with weaponry. Our tanks, our semiautomatic weapons and our torture techniques have terrorized the people of Iraq for more than four years.

When we entered Iraq, we went in with a handpicked, totally undemocratically chosen set of officials under our command to control the country. They failed and ran away with millions upon millions of dollars allocated to build Iraq. As for the weapons of mass terror, the residents of Abu Ghraib, Fallujah and Baghdad can attest to the deadly presence of American forces in their neighborhoods and homes.

Of course, the militants in Iraq have contributed to the violence. Did they exist before we invaded under false pretenses? Who are we fighting, exactly? There are Iraqis who are fighting each other. There are Iraqis who are fighting in the name of their faith. There are Iraqis who are fighting to defend their homes, histories and country. Who is our enemy?

Besides overall failure in mission, execution and seeking of justice inside Iraq, Americans at home are nearly clueless of the stress their military has inflicted on neighboring countries. Namely, the invasion has created a disturbingly large refugee population that threatens security in Syria and Jordan.

In 2005, I went to Amman and saw more Iraqi refugees than Jordanians. A January Guardian article estimated their number to be between 700,000 and 1 million in the landlocked and resource- depleted country of 5.6 million. Many of them are Saddam Hussein's old cronies who fled with his money. Others are more recent arrivals who swindled American dollars for rebuilding. They drive brand new SUVs, pay for everything with huge wads of cash, wear the finest clothes and have paralyzed the real estate market.

As an American in an Amman shopping center, I was dumbfounded that there was little I could reasonably afford. Meanwhile, Iraqis were dropping big bills to pay for anything they wanted, and many of them were probably paying with our tax dollars. Americans should be furious at our government's severe lack of basic money security and management skills.

In addition, Syria and Jordan are not exactly the right environments for politically-charged refugee populations. Both countries have substantial Palestinian refugee populations that have lived in depressing camps for decades. During my trip to Amman this summer, I expect to see many more wealthy Iraqis spending their money as locals struggle to keep up with spiraling prices for everything from basic food staples to gas. The tension, animosity and opportunity for violence to break out should also be at record-level highs.

Unfortunately, many Iraqi refugees are far less fortunate than their corrupt counterparts. They are poor, lacking work permits, suffering health problems and facing discrimination wherever they go. For them, nothing is being done. The U.N. Refugee Agency is flabbergasted at the lack of governmental action to aid them.

Enough is enough. American citizens need to take responsibility for their money and their government's actions. They need to raise their voices louder than the televisions and radios that broadcast the Bush administration's corrupt propaganda. They need to wrench speaking power from politicians and commentators to let the world know that a change is coming.

Khalil Gibran once wrote, "You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?" It is your right and responsibility to sing now, America, for the sake of so many people.

Reach columnist Hanady Kader at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.