Imad Benziaten died for France: will rest where he is loved

By Aziz Daouda

Morocco World News

Rabat, March 23, 2012

Some Moroccans died for France in the recent past. And other Moroccans continue to die for France. We almost never speak of it. France continues to fascinate Moroccans. Are they not, after the Brazilians, the people most likely to want to live in the hexagon?

The latest to lose his life in France was Imad Benziaten, who died in the killing of Montauban. He was killed by a sap who, in order not to be considered totally villainous, is shamelessly claiming Al Qaeda, vengeance for the Palestinians, the Afghans, and I do not know who else.

In short, he was killed by someone looking for a reputation as a hero. What kind of heroism is that? Does killing innocent people make him a hero? No.

This killer has mutilated a Moroccan family whose son had chosen to serve France in the Foreign Legion, which is a group of foreigners who choose to enlist in order to defend France. The Foreign Legion was created in 1831 by the French King, Louis Philippe. This is a boon for a country that benefits from cheap cannon fodder. The Legion is at the front wherever France intervenes.

Without a doubt, Benziaten would have preferred some other death, not one in cold blood by a criminal. He left behind him a wife who shared his life only since last summer, a young Moroccan woman… ‘Ajaraha Allah’. His death also left a mother without a son. Both wife and mother went to France after his death, but their voices weren’t heard.

They were there during the “celebration” chaired by President Sarkozy in the presence of many of the presidential candidates. Who would have missed this moment of great emotion? Even those who continue to call for hatred were there and had the right to speak into the microphone. But the two Moroccan women were invisible–no picture, no sound. For the Republic, they don’t count. Bizarre!

Imad is nothing but “Marshal Imad Benziaten.”

This has affected me as much as the treatment of other Moroccan, who willingly or forcibly, were left to serve France: veterans. These old men who remember a Republic of great ideals, but are unable to recognize the value of Africa.

The ceremony celebrates the Americans and the landing of the West, but merely does the same for the Mediterranean side. In France, there were many Moroccans, thousands of them, who died in Montecassino. Their mission was to break the Gustav Line in order to reach Rome. They dropped like flies under fire from the Nazis, but it didn’t stop them. The Gustav Line was broken. Long live the Allies. Long live freedom. Long live the Republic.

Benziatenc calls to mind those thousands: Mohamed Ali, Lahcen Ben, those who died for France.

God bless their souls [Rahimahoum Allah]. Today their children have little Le Pen, the visionary Gueant, and other officials at the consulates, the streets, and “neighborhoods” of France. They died for an ideal which does not concern them. Imad will return home to rest for good, there at least he is loved for what he is: a human who died for France.

Aziz Daouda served three times as the technical director of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Athletics. He was also the manager of numerous renowned Moroccan and foreign track and field world champions with whom he won several titles and world records, including Said Aouita, Hicham El Guerrouj, Nezha Bidouane, Jawad Gharib, Hasna Benhassi, Salah Hissou. He is a contributor to Morocco World News. He blogs at azizdaouda.blogspot.com.