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[Our second report on the Columbia disaster.]
DISASTER IN THE HEAVENS
By Hodari Abdul-Ali
"Say: HE is the All-Powerful, able to send upon
you chastisement, from above
you or from beneath your feet, or to confuse you
in factions, and to make you
taste the violence of one another."
Holy Qur'an
6:65.
For those who fear Allah (God), and know that
signs are given to guide
mankind, there were unmistakeable indications
that the destruction of the
space shuttle Columbia was God's clear signal of
displeasure with the leadership and direction of the
United States and
Israel.
Certainly no one wishes for the loss of life
of innocent people, and
condolences are hereby expressed to those in
mourning. As an African-American
I personally feel a special sadness at the death
of Michael Anderson, as even
to this day, there are so few Black astronauts.
The Columbia, however, was a symbol of
America's power and might, a
technological display for the whole world to see
of the greatness of the only
remaining superpower. It reminds one of the
sinking of the "indestructible"
Titanic in 1912, at a time when African-Americans
were being lynched and
terrorized in a terrible way.
As for the Columbia's fall, is it not
"ironic" that it broke up over
Texas, the home state of the man in the White
House who appears hell-bent on
plunging the world into a war of potentially
disastrous consequences, simply
because he has the "power" to do so?
Thank God for men of the moral stature of
Nelson Mandela, the Nobel
Peace Prize winner and former President of South
Africa, who at a conference
just days ago had the courage to say,
"What I am condemning is that one power, with a
president who has no
foresight, who cannot think properly, is now
wanting to plunge the world into
a holocaust. I am happy that the people of the
world - especially those of
the United States of America - are standing up
and opposing their own
president.
I hope that that opposition will one day
make him understand that he has
made the greatest mistake of his life in trying
to bring about carnage and to
police the world, without any authority of the
international body (United
Nations). It is something we have to condemn
without reservation."
And is it not especially "ironic" that the
Columbia had on board the first
Israeli astronaut? Ilan Ramon, in fact, was a
fighter pilot who took part in
the criminal
Israeli attack on a nuclear reactor in Iraq in
1981! He was touted with pride
as a hero in Israel, as the source of some "good
news" for a change.
The reality is that Israel has been
conducting a barbarous campaign of
illegal occupation of Palestine, now under the
guise of "fighting terrorism".
Israel above any other country, has been fueling
the campaign to attack
Iraq,
in part to divert world attention from its state
terrorism of the
Palestinians.
Did anyone notice that on the day of the
disaster, journalists were
reporting from the east Texas town of Palestine,
which is within the area
that the debris fell? I kid you not!
That this calamity occurred so soon after
Bush's war-mongering speech to
Congress, as the U.S. is moving more troops and
armaments of war to the
Middle East region, is truly a sign from above
that no matter how arrogant
and powerful a nation may be, that God is more
powerful and certainly is not
pleased with the bullying tactics being employed
by the White House and its
supporters.
Let men and women of good will continue to
speak out against this war,
and to pray to God that it does not escalate. If
it does happen, however, we
should all be reminded that God is in control and
that the best laid plans of
those seeking to do evil can be thwarted in
"unforeseen" manners.
************
Mr. Abdul-Ali is a journalist and local
businessman.
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2003-02-05 Wed 06:20ct