| Issue 23 Vol I, September 15, 2006 | Archive |
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American bungles on its war against terror
Ironically, these were the American sponsored and supported regimes of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Taliban in Afghanistan that killed and maimed thousands of innocent people. America and its allies were exclusively responsible for keeping these regimes alive through the supply of money and arms. History of the 20th century is replete with examples of how America has acted against democracy, propped up dictators and cared only for its own economic and, geo-political interests. It’s the only country that has not been attacked in any conventional sense except the 9/11 bombing that took 3,000 innocent lives and it is the only country that had been at war in Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Niangua, Mexico, Congo, and where not either directly or indirectly. Dictators execute the American hegemonic agenda. It now suits America to occupy these countries in the name of fighting terrorism. It has created mayhem with killing and looting of the innocent people. American President George W Bush recently declared, “The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that depends on victory in Iraq." So far America is no where near fulfilling its wishes.
All these wars are primarily for oil and sustain the war industry; producing weapons and ammunition. Progress a la of American style. An insecure world that America has created, suits its hegemonic plans whatever it costs to the people including its own public. It is five years now since America-led forces invaded Afghanistan and used every weapon: air strikes, cluster bombs and other weapons of mass destruction to eliminate their protégé, the Taliban and establish a puppet government. The end result is that the “Taliban have regained control over the southern half of Afghanistan and their frontline is advancing daily.” On September 10 NATO gunships killed 94 insurgents in a fierce gun battle and lost two soldiers. A provincial governor was killed by a suicide bomber. In total 450 persons were killed between September 2 and 10 in Medusa alone. Such is the daily run for the past many weeks. A British officer Captain Leo Docherty has resigned from the British army in protest at its "grotesquely clumsy" campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Capt Docherty,was aide-de-camp to Colonel Charlie Knaggs, a senior commander in the British task force in southern Afghanistan, quit in August and alleged “All those people whose homes have been destroyed and sons killed are going to turn against the British. We’ve been grotesquely clumsy. We said we will be different to the Americans who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like them." In Afghanistan ,“The Taliban frontline now cuts halfway through the country, encompassing all of the southern provinces," Senlis Council, an international policy think tank with offices in Kabul, London, Paris and Brussels says. The report on the reconstruction of Afghanistan marking the fifth anniversary of 9/11 is based on extensive field research in the critical provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Herat and Nangarhar. "The subsequent rising levels of extreme poverty have created increasing support for the Taliban, who have responded to the needs of the local population," the report says. Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of The Senlis Council says "We are seeing a humanitarian disaster. There are around Kandahar now camps with people starving, kids dying almost every day, and this is obviously used by the Taliban to regain the confidence of the people, and to regain control of the country." The poppy eradication programme has been a disaster, he said. "It is a direct attack on the livelihood of the farmers, so there is a clear connection between the eradication and this humanitarian crisis. All this is being used by the Taliban to say that when we were there we were maybe hard and cruel, but you could feed the family, now look what's going on. They are more and more providing support, social services to the local population." Hunger is leading to anger, the report says. Lack of funding from the international community means the Afghan government and the United Nations World Food Programme are unable to address Afghanistan's hunger crisis, the report says. "Despite appeals for aid funds, the U.S.-led international community has continued to direct the majority of aid funds towards military and security operations." "Five years after 9/11, Afghanistan is still one of the poorest countries in the world and there is a hunger crisis in the fragile southern part of the country," said Reinert. "Remarkably this vital fact seems to have been overlooked in funding and prioritisation of the foreign policy, military, counter-narcotics and reconstruction plans. Consequently the international community has lost the battle for the hearts and mind of the Afghan people," the report says. Two leading journalists Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily recently quoted officials and academicians from Ramadi that the U.S. military has lost control over the volatile al-Anbar province. Iraqi police and residents say the area to the west of Baghdad includes Fallujah, Ramadi and other towns that have seen the worst of military occupation, and the strongest resistance. “Despite massive military operations which destroyed most of Fallujah and much of cities like Haditha and al-Qa'im in Ramadi, real control of the city now seems to be in the hands of local resistance.” Something similar is being admitted by the Pentagon and the NATO commanders though in a subdued manner. In Iraq close to 50,000 innocent people; men, women and children have lost their lives. No one can think of normal life in the entire Iraq and nearly one fifth from cities like Baghdad and Mousel have fled to Syria and Jordan. Take the first week of September 2006 report alone. “The number of killings in the Iraqi capital escalated last week despite an American-led crackdown, with morgue workers receiving as many bodies as they had during the first three weeks of August combined. At least 334 people, including 23 women, were slain in Baghdad between August 27 and September 2, according to morgue figures provided by Ministry of Health officials. Most of the victims were kidnapped, tortured, hogtied and shot. During the week, at least 394 other people were killed around Iraq in other types of violence, including bombings, mortar attacks and gunfights” Iraqi authorities said. Almost as many American lives, 2,641, as the number of people killed on September 10, 2001, 2,997. Count the 115 British troops killed so far, the 32 Italians, 18 Ukrainians, four Salvadorans, three Slovakians, two Dutch and one Kazakh, there difference of 126 deaths between those killed on 9/11 and those killed in the war to avenge it. But throw in the more than 300 killed in Afghanistan and the 19,000 wounded, and the whole adventure begins to look completely foolhardy, anti-war arguments run like this. How do you even begin to factor in the cost of more than 50,000 civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan into the cost-benefit analysis about the rightness of the war? |
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Five years
after 9/11: World is more insecure
In fact, terrorism is not new to America. Scholars recount that between 1990 and 1999 some sixty terrorist attacks perpetrated by both domestic and foreign groups occurred in the United States, killing 182 people and injuring more than 1,932. In 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy and the Marine base in Beirut had killed 270 Americans. But 9/11 shook the world and America began its war against terrorism, first attacking Afghanistan and then Iraq and encouraged Israel to attack the Palestine and Lebanon. But this strategy that has taken heavy toll of human life and resources is not paying. Even the American administration despite brave face is not so sure. It has left the world much more unsafe and worried. Travelling has become a nightmare for the people and as more alienation and anger envelops the world and particularly the Muslim community worldwide, more dangerous it becomes.The world is more unsafe, divided, strife-prone, paranoid, and vulnerable to terrorism.
The most interesting finding of the latest Pew poll appeared to be the growing public disillusionment with U.S. military intervention. Publication of the Pew survey coincided with the release of a second poll by CNN which found widespread skepticism over claims by the administration of President George W. Bush that the U.S. is making progress in the war on Iraq and that the war is related to the larger "global war on terrorism" launched after 9/11. Despite repeated and increasingly frequent assertions by Bush that the war in Iraq has become the "central front" in the war on terrorism, a majority of 53 percent said it was "an entirely separate military action." A larger majority of 58 percent said they opposed the war, compared to 39 percent who said they favoured it -- a margin that has not changed substantially over recent months. About two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the handling of Iraq by the Bush administration, and only about one-third think that war has made them safer from terrorism. The White House, though, is pushing ahead, casting those who disagree as somehow constitutionally deficient, even traitors. The agenda before the Republicans to keep building fear psychosis to first November senate and other elections and then to be ready for presidential elections in 2008. There is no other weapon in the armoury of Mr Bush and company except this fear of terrorism. There had been series of bombings in Madrid, London, Paris and Mumbai and Delhi besides several places in Pakistan, Indonesia and many other countries including Russia. Is it impossible for the world leaders to sit back, calmly debate this issue of extremist politics, and go deep into the reasons for alienation and anger? Is it impossible for peace in West Asia by accepting the reality of Palestinian existence? Israel will not have peace unless it settles the issues of territory and coexistence with its neighbours by handing back their territories it continues to occupy. Then help settle issues of recognising each other’s right to exist and prosper. Same for Kashmir and Chechnya and other troubled spots. The occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is costing hell of money to the American taxpayers. According to latest Congressional Research Service estimates [September 7 2006] the cost of the Iraq war will reach at least $361 billion. The U.S. Senate in September also approved $468 billion for defense spending next year, including $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spending overall for Bush called global war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, will reach $502 billion with this measure. It doesn’t include an additional $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 that the administration has signaled. The Senate provided $126.3 billion for operations and maintenance, $99 billion for military personnel, $81 billion for weapons purchases and $73 billion for research and development. The American senate has also added $200 million over next two years to bolster efforts to catch Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders. Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who heads the Senate's subcommittee on defence spending, finds the measure as an "irresponsible'' insult to U.S. intelligence efforts. He, however, finally supported it. American economy if you go by reports and the opinions of economists like Paul Krugman, a respected columnist with the New York Times, is getting into deep depression; cost of living has shot up, jobs have become scarcer, students have to pay more for education and loans and the housing bubble is bursting. Deficit is astounding. Bill Clinton left a huge surplus and the Bush administrations have rendered it into a huge deficit, $521 billion. There are big tax cuts for the rich. Look at the havoc which Katrina caused to New Orleans and the total failure of the American administration to rebuild the cities and provide relief. Money meant for rehabilitation like in Iraq and Afghanistan is being pocketed by the contractors, many of them fund raisers for the Republican Party. This is what American media tells us. The estimated population of the United States is 299,458,347. The National Debt 9 trillion has continued to increase on an average of $1.75 billion per day. George Bush's series of tax cuts (designed in part to lift the economy out of recession) and profligate spending have since transformed a budget surplus into a record—and still expanding—deficit. Though the 2005 budget paid lip service to deficit reduction, and promised moderate cuts to discretionary domestic spending, it still ended up in the red to the tune of $520 billion, or about 5% of America's GDP. In 2006 Mr Bush's budget proposal promised more of the same. Look at the world which European or American city is safe. Madrid, London, Paris, Berlin, Delhi, Mumbai, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, every country is now forced to spend huge money on homeland security besides, on defence preparedness. Arms has picked up despite the end of cold war and various UN treaties in place. It has been three years since the fall of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's government and Iraqis are still lacking basic facilities such as power, clean potable water and sanitation, problems some experts blame on corruption. Iraq is suffocating and groaning in pain. However in the speeches of President Bush, it's impossible to find a trace of such an Iraq. Even the US Department of Defense has admitted that Iraq is on the brink of a civil war with sectarian conflict becoming more and more severe. The editorial of 'Time' pointed out that in fact, there are "a number of countries" co-existing in Iraq as almost all the major cities are under the control of different armed groups and political factions. The capital city of Baghdad which is at constant war is, in fact, split into areas dominated by different forces. Facing domestic anti-war pressure, the US military pledged to withdraw its troops from Iraq, but now they are sending an additional 14,000 soldiers to the country. Bush has asserted that till all radicals are eliminated, no American withdrawal can take place. In fact, next target after Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon are Iran and Syria. This is the time for the international community to seriously consider alternatives to this war on terror that has created more insecurity and terrorism and has not addressed the real issues that feed extremist politics. |
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This war on
terror has devoured thousands of innocent lives, plundered a civilized
country, pushed another to Stone Age and created havoc. Bush had alleged the
Iraqis have weapons of mass destruction and were responsible for the attacks
on America on 9/11.The American Senate has finally nailed the lies of the
Bush administration on September 10 by declaring after thorough
investigations that there was neither any weapon of mass destruction nor
Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. He was, in fact, against
al-Qaeda and other religious fundamentalists. Those attacks have lost any
justification, so why keep the occupation of Iraq through bombs and
bayonets. In fact, the world has to consider how this act of monumental
barbarism has been transformed into political opportunism and eventually
into an international catastrophe on a grand scale.
IT'S
been almost five years since a group of 19 Islamist fanatics hijacked and
then slammed their commandeered passenger jets into three buildings and a
field in New York and Washington, killing about 3,000 Americans. It pushed
the Bush administration into a new mould to fight the scourage of
terrorism, a part which it had created to defeat communism.
The U.S.
public is considerably less enthusiastic about projecting military power
abroad, according to a major Pew survey of more than 1,500 randomly selected
adults nearly half (46 percent) of the respondents consider U.S. support
for Israel a "major reason" for the rise in anti-U.S. sentiment around the
world. This is a significant increase since Pew last posed the question 10
months ago. Only one in four respondents in that poll, which was conducted
Aug. 30 to Sep. 2, thought that Washington and its allies were winning the
war, compared to 13 percent who said the insurgents were winning and 62
percent who said that the war was essentially stalemated.