In his November 5, 2018 column in the Jordanian government daily Al-Rai, Ruman Haddad slammed the democratic system, calling it "criminal and inhuman" and stating that democratic countries were responsible for war crimes and the killing of innocents more than any others. Democracy, he added, was supposed to ensure that officials be held accountable for their actions, but the U.S., France and Britain have been involved in deadly wars in which they used unconventional weapons, including atomic bombs – yet none of their leaders were ever held accountable for this. Conversely, Nazi officers who survived World War II were tried for war crimes based on the "exaggerated" claims of the Jews.
Ruman Haddad (image: Al-Rai)
The following are translated excerpts from his column:[1]
"I am not dazzled by democracy, despite what its advocates disseminate about it, and I am convinced that mankind today is in need of new systems of government, which address the great changes that have occurred in all aspects of life. My certainty about this is enhanced daily by the feebleness of the defenders of democracy, who [respond to] every crisis that exposes a flaw in democracy by placing the blame on people or on the implementation and never on the idea [of democracy itself]. Democracy, as it is presented in theory, is a regime that places authority in the hands of the citizens, to ensure a government that works for the benefit of the people. As part of this, citizens are granted the opportunity to choose who will rule over them, which provides everyone with freedom and equality. Some insist on claiming that a democratic regime enables to hold negligent officials to account, which means governability and accountability – two necessary factors in the creation of a modern country.
"[But] in practice, when I review history and leaf through its pages I can't find [evidence] that any [part of] this theory is realized, for it is democratic countries which are most involved in wars, in the killing of innocents, and in the destruction of cities and villages. To avoid being accused of making unfounded accusations, let me take you on a journey through the history of wars. For example, Adolf Hitler is considered a war criminal and an enemy of mankind due to the claim of the Jews that he burned them. They exaggerated the number of those who were burned in the Holocaust, and the Nazi officers who survived were tried in the Nuremberg courts as war criminals. On the other hand, [U.S.] President Franklin Roosevelt is considered a world hero and a defender of the free world and of democracy, and certainly not a war criminal, although he gave the order to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki with two atom bombs [sic],[2] which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians – women, elderly and children – and he was never held to account for this.
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"This same democracy, America, was involved in the Korean war and the Vietnam war, in which it used several types of ammunition that are forbidden by international [law], such as napalm bombs and chemical weapons – yet the American presidents who were in office during the Vietnam war and officers in the U.S. Army were not held to account. President George Bush Jr. was not asked about the U.S. war against Iraq in 2003, which was premised on the lie that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons [sic], [a lie] that was exposed after Iraq was occupied and destroyed...
"The same is true of Britain, one of the most arrogant democracies in the world, which waged the Falklands War against Argentina and the war against Iraq in 2003, but neither of the prime ministers who were in office during these wars, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, were held to account. And let us not forget that this great democracy conquered so many countries that it was dubbed 'the Empire on which the sun never sets.' It abused the residents of its colonies, for instance in India and other places.
"As for France, which has adopted liberty and equality as its slogan, we can mention its takeover of African countries and its barbaric treatment of the residents of its colonies until the late 1960s in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and in sub-Saharan African countries – all of this without any one of its presidents or military officers ever being held to account, judicially or politically.
"The examples are innumerable, which leads me to ask again: Is this criminal and inhuman democratic system the best thing that mankind has attained? Or might we be able to develop a more just system, in which people would really be held to account?"
