The Army.. “Giving Birth to Justice from the Ribs of the Impossible”

As I see it

Adel Al-Baz

1.

(This anniversary comes as all the sons of our nation stand united, shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand with their armed forces in a remarkable national solidarity, vowing to God, the homeland, and its noble people to stand against this unjust foreign aggression and invasion, which is orchestrated and driven by international and regional circles that are known and hostile, sadly supported by a political group that has chosen to stand against our noble people, taking their place in one of the darkest and most miserable pages of our national history.)

— From President Al-Burhan’s speech on Army Day yesterday.

Why do we celebrate our army today? Because in Sudan, we love our homeland, and we love our army, which is part of the soil of this land. Those who do not love their army do not love their country. Those who betray their nations do not love their armies, and thus, you find them always entering their countries carried on the backs of their enemies. How many traitors rode on the horse of Kitchener, and how many Iraqi agents entered Baghdad on the back of Bremer’s tank? How many Karzais arrived in Kabul on American planes? Now, many traitors are waiting to return to Khartoum on the backs of Janjaweed tatchers… but in vain.

2.

Seventy years the army has been fighting… fighting rebels, coup plotters, conspirators, and finally invaders. Seventy years they have tried to defeat it by all means but failed, then conspired to dismantle it (reform and restructuring), and finally sought to destroy it from within by waging this vile war against it now.

By God, what are the feelings of those who fought in the jungles of the south to make Khartoum sleep safely and peacefully, and now they see the invading colonial armies being carried on the backs of activists and embassies to dismantle the very army under whose banners they fought? How are the feelings of those who perfumed the soil of this nation with their blood, only to come to the wretched last era where Hicks Pasha, Kitchener, Gordon, and Volker rise on the corpse of the nation, over the corpse of the army, but God does not guide the plot of the conspirators.

3.

Eight nations conspired against the army simultaneously (the heavy rains) and all joined forces to defeat it, but they failed. Now they have brought eighteen countries, some of them major powers, to dismantle and overthrow it, to bring down the entire nation. How?

The first thing to fall in a nation is its army. Look at the nations whose armies they have brought down; once the army falls, the nation falls into their clutches, and once they establish control, they wreak havoc, destroy, and loot its resources, making the noble ones of its people humiliated. They leave it barren and hand it over to traitors, making it prey for the hyenas from all sides.

4.

Armies are not necessarily destroyed by invasion or internal wars; they can be destroyed by the schemes of conspiring politicians. Sometimes, they invade it from within (Trojan horses), sometimes they weaken it by reducing resources, then tarnish its image (they say, “80% of the budget is taken by the army”), or seek to dismantle it under the guise of reform, and finally, they openly declare their hostility against it, chanting in the streets (Sorry, we don’t have an army). The invaders and traitors know the value of a national army as the first and last line of defense for the nation, so they target it to make the homeland easy prey.

5.

The war waged by the invaders and traitors taught the people valuable lessons despite its high cost; it made them fully realize the value of the army. Most Sudanese people used to hear about the war but did not see it with their own eyes. They did not know what the army endured for their security and safety, out there in the jungles, in the desolate deserts, and along the kilometers-long borders, where soldiers of the army spread out, guarding, watching, and fighting for their people. But no one felt them. Now, after the Janjaweed war broke out in the hearts of cities and villages, the Sudanese people knew what the army was doing. They saw with their own eyes the martyrs offering their lives for the homeland. For the first time, they saw the blood, the bodies, the grieving mothers, and the orphaned children. They saw hundreds of soldiers standing guard in the harshest conditions, besieged for months without food but not surrendering.

May God reward the hardships with all the good. The day has come when the Sudanese people, young and old, know what security means and what it means for the guardians to protect “our wealth and blood” silently… The day has come when the cheers of the girls of Khartoum mix with the sound of machine guns, the buzz of airplanes, and the rattling of Kalashnikovs, becoming like Mozart symphonies that delight them. For the first time, we hear the sound of ululations mixed with the sound of bullets in the battles when the entire city rejoices to the news that the special operations knights are patrolling the streets, and you hear the women ululating, the men chanting “Allahu Akbar,” the boys shouting “Army! Army!” The girls carrying water and food, and the mothers embracing their soldier sons with tears and hugs… This is the army we entrust with our women, not the armies of mercenaries and traitors.

6.

When this battle ends and we have time to record the heroics of the soldiers, officers, and commanders of the army, many will know the greatness of this army and the greatness of those who sacrificed everything, even their lives, for the homeland to be free and independent.

7.

Today, August 14th, is Army Day, the day they conspired against before and after independence and still do. This is the day we raise our flag of independence once again, and we congratulate and thank our armed forces for all the great sacrifices they have made, sacrificing their blood and precious lives over seven decades without faltering or hesitating, giving birth to justice from the ribs of the impossible, “then the hand of disgrace remains imprinted (with its five fingers)… upon the humiliated foreheads.”