Just few
points on Dear Zeru's comments!
Dear Zeru, I believe that your frustration
comes out of deep love for your country. I would have felt the same way
had I had not seen the nastiness of war first hand, and at a very young
age. In addition to this, I am one of those people who are eager to see this
arrogant and yet coward Issayas gone forever. Issayas and his always
ill-intended Mafioso organization (it is not even like a political party) PFDJ
is certainly being a big obstacle to the developmental path on which our
country has embarked. These two, the person Issayas and his so-called PFDJ,
will never have a peacefully night until they see Ethiopia
fragmented. The bad news for them is that all the indications in the
ground in Ethiopia show that they will have
to die waiting for this to happen which never will. Therefore, I agree, based
on this that the current rulers of Eritrea
need to be replaced and soon. Do I have the doubt on the capability of our
brave army to do the mission? Not even the slightest one. That is not the
question though.
You see dear Zeru; I was born and grew up in Asmara. I have so much bad memories while growing up in
that beautiful city. As a son of an Ethiopian soldier from the Amhara Kilil, my
classmates always ostracized me. Being constantly called "Adgi"
sometimes felt as if that was my real name. And the irony was that I was
the smartest kid in all my classes, well if the ranking during that time is the
measure for that, if you know what I mean. This is not all. My dad was killed
in the battle near Keren when I was barely 12. I have seen horrible
things happen around me related to the war. I was once inside a live war
between the then EPLF and the Ethiopian army. I was around 14 then. Believe me,
you do not want to be there. For the reasons above, did I ever hate
Eritrean or Eritrea it self? Never. I should be
the first person, though, to want see Eritrea and
Eritrean suffer. Because that is what would happen if war breaks again.
The people of Eritrea
except some misguided and lunatic (they have a bunch of them by the way!), as a
people never meant harm to the people of Ethiopia.
They have suffered enough, they still are. They have already enough to worry
about and deal with. If you tell me that with the help of the Ethiopian invasion
the suffering would be shortened, I would definitely challenge that in some
other occasion.
All the above was written based on my personal
experience and personal beliefs. Now let me say something in defense of PMZ:
·
Is it really beneficial for Ethiopia
to go to war at this crucial time, when the government has enough on
its hands to deal with? I believe not. It is not a question of capability. It
is a question of diplomacy. As a prime minister, what Meles repeated saying is
the smartest thing to say and do? Simply because a couple of Shaabiya soldiers
were captured in Somalia region fighting alongside the terrorist group ONLF,
should not provoke a government, as mature as Meles's, to go to war. I
think he is smarter than that. I do not believe that a leader as seasoned
as Meles should be led by the wave of emotions from average people. Remember
what happened to CUD? CUD, instead of leading their supporters based on
their experience in politics, they asked the average people (their supporters)
whether to join the Parliament or not. That was
the stupidest thing I ever heard and was the beginning of their fall. Do you
think that Bush, as a President of USA, should just listen to the
overwhelming public opinion and take his army out of Iraq? No, that would be
too naive for an American president to say the least. He believes he has
to "stay the course". Whether wrong or right that is what he is doing
because he is not an average person: he is the President of USA. He should know
to do what he believes is right and not what the polls say. That is not why the
American people elected him after all.
·
From financial point of view in Ethiopia's end, a new war
would not be the best choice. If you compare the financial burden that would
bring a new war to the negative effects of the status quo of No-war-No-peace
situation, I believe that Ethiopia is in a
much better shape than Eritrea. You
know how badly the current situation is affecting Eritrea. And that is why that they are
provoking us with the slogan "If I die you die with me"! Why
should we then fall to their trap? Are not we smarter than that? Let
Issayas degrade and spoil in his hideout in Massawa!
Let him fall with his own deeds! Let the Eritreans deal with it! I am among
those who believe strongly that the war in Iraq was wrong from the US point of
view. If the US waited 10 years or a little bit more, Saddam would definitely
have been thrown out his power by his own people. Look what brought to the US
for invading Iraq to dispose an already dieing dictator.
·
Why should we sacrifice our valuable soldiers if Issyas himself
is doing the job for us? He is doing everything right for Ethiopia's
advantage. Let him do that for us. Let him die a slow death. That is what he
deserves. Do not even think that he is enjoying life right now. He is suffering
and badly!!
·
Let's think of the thousands of civilians that would lose their
lives in both sides if war breaks. In fact, this should be our main concern.
Why should we do something that would guarantee the death of thousands of
Ethiopians and Eritreans, soldiers and civilians alike?
Dear Zeru, war is not the best choice. This is
my strong belief!
Take care brother,
Tesfaye Kassa
Nov 18,2007