Hussein Shobokshi

One of the most famous political quotes is the one attributed to the late American president Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was criticized for supporting the Nicaraguan dictator “Somoza” and saying “he may be a son-of-a-bitch but he is our son-of-a-bitch”. That same quote is also attributed to Cordell Hull, the former US Secretary of State (1933-1944), when he said the same thing referring to the Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo. What was true then is very valid today, it seems, unfortunately.



Today, the Arab world sees this “theory” put into a very ugly practice. The Shia sect is supporting “blindly” the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad just because he belongs to the same sect, turning a blind eye to his massacres and crimes against the Syrian people which have resulted so far in the killing of more than 60,000 people.



The Sunnis, on the other hand, are suddenly glorifying Saddam Hussein and making him a hero and a great icon who stood firmly against “Persian aspirations” in the Arab world. This kind of ignorance provides fertile ground for the seed of brutality to grow and fluorish. That kind of idiotic polarization has blinded the Arab street and caused a serious loss of objectivity which is needed to carry out an important dialogue among political members in this part of the world.



The Russian put up with the Syrian regime as well as its mad president because he is “their” son-of-a-bitch; the same holds true for the Chinese, caretakers of the freak show known as North Korea, and there is the grand daddy of all of “our SOB” show of shows which is, of course, Israel and the West.



Double standards and hypocrisy have become a poison pill that simply destroys the goodwill and clean intentions offered by any official or government. Yes, favoritism might be a sad trait and human nature but it is also borderline sinful as it causes massive destruction to an otherwise noble objective. Sad but very true.