Drama Queen George Galloway babbles about Somalia

Sunday, June 15, 2008

photo: slate.com

Israel and UK. He has so far not stopped to amaze us with his numerous anti-Israel rhetoric. In his mind, the WEST is always this bogeyman plotting and organizing wars everywhere. And all Western allies are puppet governments who have no national interests of their own, especially according to this racist George, all African countries who share western interest are mere puppets with no brains to care for their national security or interests. So far, all of us can only watch this theater: sit back, relax, click, turn ON the show and enjoy Drama Queen George babble about Palestine. Well, that is until the issue hits right at home, meaning, in this case, my homeland of Ethiopia, in which Drama Queen George has suddenly tagged us as the bad guys.

As a requirement to be a successful political drama queen one probably needs to put everything as black and white, or in this case, create this good guy and bad guy roles that our Drama Queen George always sets up. At the expense of rationality (not to mention reality) Drama Queen George recently came up with the British government’s “dirty little secret” fairy tale about events in the horn of Africa.

Noting that Britain sent aid money to Ethiopia, he scorned Ethiopia’s increase of military budget from $350 million to $400,000 and called Ethiopia the “most militarized” in Africa.

Unfortunately for Drama Queen George, Ethiopia has one of the lowest per capita military personal in Africa. A rise of less than 15% in national military budget for a big country located in the most unstable region (a rise not even equal to what a small business in London would make in a year) has no effect. At around 3% of GDP used for military budget; Ethiopia spends less, percentage wise, than MANY countries around the world.  In fact, Ethiopia has almost 20 times more population than neighboring Eritrea, but Ethiopia uses between 25,000- 50,000 LESS soldiers than Eritrea.

Drama Queen George also mentioned that Ethiopia is in a state of war with Eritrea but failed to give excuse why Eritrea invaded Ethiopia, as stated according to the international commission in the Hague. He also failed to give excuse why Eritrea is arming and financing ONLF rebels in the Ogaden region, why it armed Anuak militants in Gambella and why Eritrea armed rebels in eastern Sudan and Djibouti, which almost led to wars. Oh, we almost forgot, Eritrea did go to war with Yemen over the Hannish Islands, it has been arming and sponsoring ICU-Alshabaab militants labeled as international terrorists by the UN and also attacked Djibouti over Ras Dumeira many years ago. (oops sorry, Eritrean government is invading countries again this week) So why is Drama Queen George quick to vilify Ethiopia, a country that has been on defense from Eritrean and rebel aggressions for years?

Mr. George Galloway said “Somalia has lost thousands of dead as a result of the Ethiopian invasion” as if Somalia, a country with no government for 2 decades, was in a state of peace for all these years until Ethiopia intervened. No single death can be excused but it is good to face reality sometimes. Despite their small population, why do you think Somalis make up one of the biggest non-European immigrant population in Britain and America George?

One thing is for sure, though George Galloway is rare, such kind of political Drama Queens are often driven by the central idea that they are more humane or more caring human being than others. Certainly, if you really cared for Somalis, you would have asked for world attention on their misery the last 2 decades instead of pointing fingers whenever some one tries to do something about such problems. Anyway, George Galloway failed to talk about the insurgents killing civilians and the Al shabaab waging jihad, not only on Ethiopians, but on Somalis. It wasn’t too long ago that ICU heads promised to exterminate Somali traitors, TFG and moderate Muslims in Somalia, even after Ethiopia withdraws.  Drama Queen George also failed to say anything about the ICU who waged jihad to annex Eastern region of Ethiopia and Eastern region of Kenya as well as to establish radical Islamic governments through out the region. George would never dare to step one foot inside a place where Islamic extremists would kill you in a second if you don’t accept Islam and/or accept their interpretation of Islam but he can surely shriek against Ethiopia and others for defending themselves from such threats. A person that wishes for others something that he would never want for himself or for his children – what kind of humane and caring person is that? George Galloway has entertainingly used the word “hypocrisy” more times than any human being on earth, what about he tests his hypocrisy level for a change?

Then Drama Queen George went on a rampage, listing a few of Somali government members who he accused of doing injustice and being…..drums please….BRITISH.  Yeah, well, too bad thousands of other Somalis who have supported the different factions in Somalia the last decades are ALSO BRITISH. Heck, minutes after the ONLF rebels in Ogaden massacred over 70 Chinese and Ethiopians in April of 2007, they were celebrating their massacre live on BBC radio from their comfortable London homes. Talking about hypocrisy, where have you been when all that happened George? The ONLF and other rebels have been killing more civilians in Ogaden, burning villages and assassinating more people the last many years with their leadership enjoying life as British citizens, and as British Somalis finance all the rebel crimes. So It is not just some Somali government members who happened to have British citizenship.

Of course, we can't blame only George Galloway because he is getting some of his information from bias sources like the recent "Dispatches" documentary in UK which basically parrotted insurgent propaganda. The documentary tried to use "warlord" to label the TFG Somali authorities, but what about warlords like Yusuf Indho "ade" Mohammed who was military leader inside the Islamist insurgency? What about the hundreds of Somali British financers who ARE funding the Al Shabaab terrorists who have killed hundreds of civilians? Like mentioned before, what about the ONLF anti-Ethiopia leaders enjoying life in London? Of course, "Dispatches" would not want to uncover all these facts because that would show the tough position UK is in since all fighting sides have thousands of British citizen financers. I can't blame makers of Dispatches either since reporting the truth would have made the documentary very boring. 

As is always the case with people who blabber about things they don’t know about, Drama Queen George made statements and gave wrong basic information that would make a rookie politician laugh in disgust. One of these statements was of course his claim that the hostile Eritrean government has been condemned by the international community because it is an “Islamic government.”  

What?

Eritrea.....an Islamic government? Is there another Eritrea that we don’t know about?

Then of course, George’s went on to claim that the Ethiopian government is starving Ethiopians. This is strange because international organizations like IMF were praising this Ethiopian government a few months ago for having one of the fastest growing economy in Africa. Despite the big challenge and the big & growing population, the number of people suffering from malnutrition in Ethiopia from a drought decreased more than 7 million from the previous drought in 2003. This is not to excuse the present sad situation in parts of Ethiopia but this is the reality of the numbers. And it is not like the current Ethiopian government is not begging the UN for assistance. In contrast to the previous Ethiopian government, the current one in Addis Ababa seems to never put pride over humanity. In fact, Meles Zenawi is being accused by opposition parties in Ethiopia for being a “beggar” but I would take a beggar & unpatriotic Zenawi over a proud Mengistu any time of the day, if I was one of the 1 million Ethiopians who died during the 1984 famine under Mengistu. In general, the tone of George Galloway was demeaning while he seemed to have no knowledge of facts from this region of Africa, thus he deserves no respect until he gives an effort to reduce his ignorance. Bringing Ethiopia, the second most populous country in all of Africa, from a 1 million killing famine of 1980s toward ZERO droughts in less than two decades is not as an easy job as reducing crime in small streets of Newark, NJ (no offense Donald Payne).  Especially with this region being unstable, for reasons Ethiopia can not be blamed for, George should put things in perspective.

For the sake of his own credibility, I advise George Galloway to read a book about the region or something. Just know simple things, basic ones George, you know, like pick up a World Factbook, Encyclopedia or anything that informs you about basic thing about, at least, that Eritrea doesn’t have an “Islamic Government.” Good luck.

Source: AfricanPath, June 15, 2008