[Editor’s note: The following edited article is taken from a report by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan upon his return from his Peace Mission to Africa and the Middle East, delivered July 22, 2002 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. These still timely words were spoken prior to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.]
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
There is no Arab country that does not desire a better relationship and friendship with the United States of America. Even Iraq wants friendship with America, but on conditions that are fair and just. Whether the leaders in the Middle East agree with Saddam Hussein or not, none of them with whom we spoke wanted to see bombs fall on Iraq and the slaughter of innocent civilians just to get rid of a man who America says is a threat to the world.
They thought that, if such an attack took place, it would increase hatred for the American administration. Any Arab leader who would give approval to the United States to attack Iraq would cause a popular uprising and it would cause America to lose moderate friends in the Middle East. I can tell you that I am very pleased that the Arab and Muslim world is beginning to speak with one voice on this issue. And I thank God that He gave us that desire to speak out regardless of the consequences.
My appeal to the United States government is that it is very unwise to pursue this policy. America is too great and powerful a nation, as the only remaining superpower, to do that which would destroy her credibility as any type of moral authority. The loss to America in political capital would be great. America would then appear to the world, even to her friends, as a bully, using manufactured evidence, supposition, assumptions or a set of “maybes” as a basis for murder and war.
This is why we said that before one bomb is dropped on Iraq and one American soldier’s life is lost, there must be Congressional hearings, that the matter should be debated publicly so that the American people, rather than a strong lobby, will determine what the direction of this nation should be. Such aggression in the name of a preemptive strike against anyone that the United States presumes or assumes is developing weapons of mass destruction would not be only unwise and improper, but it would place the United States opposite God, Himself.
In the Holy Qur’an, and in the Bible, God demands of the righteous not to be the aggressor, whether in word or deed. The Qur’an teaches that Allah (God) loves not the aggressor. If America would assume an aggressive posture, under the name of a preemptive strike without ever proving to the American people that it is worthy of America, then God would take a position against the aggressor. Inside the armed forces of America, you have over 400,000 Black soldiers–men and women, some of whom are Muslim–and they would be forced then to choose under such a policy whether they should obey God or obey the commands of their Commander-in-Chief. This would not be good for the morale of the armed forces to have that kind of conflict within its ranks.
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Our trip took us to Zimbabwe, where the historical injustice of the land question has to be resolved, hopefully amicably. The media in America, Great Britain and Europe have depicted President Mugabe as an undemocratic, wicked man who is now taking land from the White owners. I think if we really want peace, we have to structure peace on the basis of justice. We cannot have justice except on the basis of truth, and the truth must not be hidden to vilify one another. Truth must be told. The land was taken from its original owners by force.
Under Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, men, women and children fought a war of liberation. They didn’t fight a war of liberation just to have a flag and a national anthem and a seat in the United Nations. They fought to liberate the land so that the resources of that land would accrue to its natural and original owners.
Unfortunately, just as they were about to capture the whole country, negotiations began in Great Britain. For three months, at Lancaster House in the United Kingdom, they argued over the land question: What to do with the land settled on by Whites that originally belonged to Blacks? The British wanted Zimbabweans to buy the land back from somebody who never used a dollar to get it. That was an insult. They founded a constitution, but the people of Zimbabwe had no money to pay for the land.
Under the administration of Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carter, there was a verbal agreement that they would help to buy the land back for the British settlers. During the Thatcher, Carter and then Reagan administrations, money was given to buy back land and it was proceeding, but slowly.
So, the Zimbabweans changed an aspect of the constitution–which at first said that if the White settlers wanted to sell the land, the land could be bought, but if they refused to sell, you could not force them to sell. But after 10 years of that, the constitution was changed to say the land would be bought in the national interest. Now, after 20 years of fighting for the land, we saw old newspaper articles that depicted Robert Mugabe as a terrorist, but he was only fighting to liberate his land.
To the Whites of Europe and America, I am pleading with you to think with wisdom. Justice is not what you are being offered. You are being offered mercy. If you reject mercy, then justice comes. What is justice? The Prophet Obadiah said, “As thou has done, so shall it be done unto you.” That’s not what you want. You have given to Africa, so why not accept a merciful solution that allows you some of her resources, but does not deprive the Indigenous people of what belongs to them, what they rightfully deserve.
In South Africa, the wealth is not in the hands of the Blacks. We can’t live with a national anthem and a flag, yet without any food, clothing, shelter, electricity, running water and decent homes.
I think the time to end these unjust policies is now, and the wise Whites and wise Blacks should plan for peace and the acceptance of mercy, rather than the harshness of justice.
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Unfortunately, it was reported in the Washington Times and UPI (United Press International) that I prayed for an Iraqi victory in a military conflict with the United States. I want the American people and the world to know that the only victory that those of us who were in this delegation and on this peace mission prayed for was the victory of peace over the war, the victory of right over wrong, the victory of justice over injustice, tempered with the Mercy of God. I would never go on a peace mission and pray for victory in a war that would see American soldiers lose their lives and Iraqi people get slaughtered. Those media reports were designed in this atmosphere of patriotism to make Farrakhan look like an enemy of the United States of America.
I want to make it very clear: I am a citizen of the world, but this is my land and I was most happy to get back here safely. I love this land and I see myself as one who has to take the responsibility of citizenship seriously, since you say that I am a citizen. Since this is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and since I’m one of the people, if I see my government doing something that doesn’t have the consent of the governed but is being manipulated by those who want war so they can extract more money out of Congress to feed the war machine, then I think as a citizen, I should speak.
The guarantee of freedom of speech is the beauty of American life–not speaking freely and stupidly, but speaking freely and responsibly. In standing up against the will of our government for war and the lack of our use of her strength and leverage in the pursuit of peace, I know that, in this climate of patriotism, I and we can be accused of being unpatriotic.
The word “patriot” comes from a Latin word “pater” which means “father.” There is a Christian prayer that begins, “Our Father….” So, I can’t be patriotic to the fathers of the nation until I’m first patriotic to our Father (God). Being patriotic to our Father means that His Will is above the will of the president. His Will is greater than the will of the president even though the president is our commander-in-chief. But I, being true to The Father, have a duty to the president, as well as he has a duty to all of us.
Thomas Jefferson said, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that His Justice will not sleep forever.” He knew that the question of slavery and how the question was dealt with could be the undoing of this nation. He said this, but John Brown acted upon it. As a result, John Brown was evilly spoken of, but history has rewarded John Brown.
Martin Luther King Jr. took an unpopular position against the war in Viet Nam and Jane Fonda took a similar position and even visited Hanoi and spoke with Ho Chi Minh and they both were castigated and evilly spoken of, maligned and called traitors. They lost many friends, but in the end, history has rewarded Dr. King, and when Jane Fonda comes in a room, nobody even mentions it. Andrew Young was the first Black man to hold the position of America’s ambassador to the United Nations. But because he spoke to a representative of the Palestinians during a time of a foolish no-talk policy, he was forced to resign from his post. But history is kind to him.
We have taken this anti-murder, anti-war stance, not because we wish to be popular and not because we need to be unpopular, but because we desire the United States to be right. No matter what we suffer from being called unpatriotic and even having our lives threatened, I believe, like those who took a right position in the past, history will also be kind to us.
It is written in the Holy Qur’an that whenever God sends a messenger to a nation, He seizes that nation with distress and affliction that it might humble itself. Whenever God raises a messenger or a warner, His pattern is that He raises the warner from among the slaves, the abject, the oppressed and the poor. He sends that one to speak to the mighty and the powerful and the wise of that nation. But because of the humbleness of that person and his background and position, the arrogantly proud dismiss the warner and his warning as inconsequential. This forces God then to seize that nation with distress and affliction, that it might humble itself to the wise guidance coming from one from among the slaves, the abject, the poor and the weak of the society. This is Mercy from God to a great and powerful nation.
According to recent newspaper reports, 49 states are under a condition of drought. Rivers are drying up, leaving fish stinking on the banks in the parched mud. Cattle are dying by the thousands under snow and intense heat. Wind, rain, snow, hail, storms, floods and soon earthquakes, these are mercies coming to the greatest nation on earth to make you humble yourself and say, “Wait a minute, maybe we should examine our policies. Maybe we should be a better nation, a more just nation.”
The crisis of confidence that has caused the stock market to plunge–Enron and the WorldCom scandal–has not been created by Saddam Hussein or any foreign power. These are calamities coming from within, based on greed and corruption, causing thousands of Americans to lose their life savings while corporate executives are making millions at the expense of the poor and weak investors.
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Open your eyes, American people, and stop dancing and playing and partying and drinking and smoking dope while your country is going to hell. Wake up and take your responsibility.
The government cannot make Saddam Hussein or anybody else a boogey man and focus America’s attention on Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. That’s not going to solve the internal problems in America. There are 15 million Americans that are homeless. Saddam Hussein didn’t do that. There are 42 million Americans that have no health insurance. Saddam Hussein didn’t do that. Millions of Americans are incarcerated and they have very little education and 30 percent of those graduating from high school are functional illiterates. Saddam Hussein didn’t do that. There are mob attacks and police brutality on Black people, racial profiling, which our president has not spoken against. Saddam didn’t call us n—-r. Saddam didn’t beat us down in the street. There is a drug epidemic now, that even snared members of the president’s family. Saddam hasn’t sent any drugs to America. Who is bringing in the drugs? Who is selling guns to the gang bangers? It’s not Saddam Hussein.
Our fight is not in Iraq. Our fight is in the streets of America for justice. These are internal problems that the American administration must deal with–not making Saddam the enemy and inflaming the passion of the American people and the soldiers whose patriotism and love of this country is unquestioned. But it should not be manipulated.
So, America is seized with distress and affliction and our prayer is that she will humble herself to listen to voices that speak to her that desire to see America fulfill her potential–not fulfill a destiny of her former sister nations: Rome, Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah and Ancient Egypt that refused to heed guidance from a warner from God in their midst.
Thank you.
