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When Leaders Forget They’re Made of Flesh and Blood
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When Leaders Forget They’re Made of Flesh and Blood

Al Mada, Iraq, August 26

I can’t recall the number of times I’ve read The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, written by the English historian member of Parliament Edward Gibbon in the 18th century. I remember the first time I encountered the six-volume work in the early ‘80s, when my professor, Abd Al-Rahman Tahmazi, shared them with me. At that time, I couldn’t even get through the first volume. I felt dizzy just by reading it and tracking the chronicles of the Roman Empire. However, with time, I managed to get through more and more of the text. I discovered the meaning of the stories depicted in Gibbon’s work and the lessons that nations must learn from them. Perhaps one of Gibbon’s most fundamental takeaways was that the Roman Empire fell when the ruler proclaimed that everything he does is in the name of law and insisted on enslaving his people and quelling their ambitions under the banner of patriotism and nationalism. Indeed, even in the 21st century, countries fall when rulers open the doors for abuse, marginalization, exclusion, and killing. Conversely, when leaders believe that freedom and security are fundamental rights, when they view themselves as servants of the people, their nations prosper. For too many years, the people of Iraq were waiting for the end of the dictatorship era. The cost of tyranny reached hundreds of thousands of victims. Many lost their lives, while many others remained alive only to live in poverty and despair. As we all know, there is nothing greater than a leader who fosters the principles of dialogue and reconciliation as an alternative to the language of violence and revenge. But that hasn’t been the case for Iraq. Let me return to Gibbon and his famous work on the Roman Empire, which tells us that the real danger for any country is a ruler who thinks he knows everything, and then claims for himself the right to enslave others. Nations fall when people find themselves silenced; when they are sold empty promises about glory and wealth; and when their biggest fears are manipulated and extorted. Above all, nations fall when their leaders forget that they’re human beings made of flesh and blood. – Ali Hussein (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)

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WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE TO CHANGE THE MISINFORMATION
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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR?
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