The Pakistani Spectator

“The stages of history are replete with chants and choruses of the conquerors of old who came killing in pursuit of peace”. Martin Luther King

The attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas day and the “revelation” that al-Qaeda has regrouped and is planning more attacks from Yemen is generating renewed attention to Yemen as a base of international terrorism. This new development at international arena has diverted all eyes and ears to watch and wait when the US is going to bring “freedom” to Yemen after Iraq and Afghanistan. Isn’t it interesting that all it takes for the US to invade a country is one guy to hop on a plane and try to ignite some fireworks??

On 28 December 2009, Gary Leupp in his article Blowback on Flight 253? Eyes on Yemen rightly describes that “Al-Qaeda is as much a concept as an organization and seems designed to encourage copy-cat organizations, like the “Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia” once headed by the mysterious Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and perhaps the defunct Ansar al-Islam in Iraqi Kurdestan.” He further pointed out the sudden emergence of a particular group in Yemen claiming itself to be Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). And as professed by the US media, it combined jihadists from Saudi Arabia with homegrown activists and has been responsible for, or has influenced multiple attacks in the Middle East and further afield.

The US’ policy failure in fighting terrorism globally is becoming more and more obvious with each passing day. No doubt, the US entered in an unpopular war that killed off 4371 soldiers in Iraq to-date. It is enmeshed in a second unpopular war (Afghanistan), which is turning out to be more punishing than the first. Afghanistan is turning out to be second Vietnam for the US as the Taliban are resurgent; claiming to control 80% of the country.

It is no secret that the attack on Iraq was based on lies and was an old fashioned imperial grab for oil. Many analysts opined that the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 not only elicited global outrage but also laid the grounds of creation of al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda. It made al-Zarqawi, who had actually had differences with al-Qaeda, jump on board and proclaim himself at the service of bin Laden. In his book American Raj (Liberation or Domination), Eric Margolis has described America’s debacle in Iraq as “Most wars which begin by miscalculation, mistaken information, misjudgment of one’s foes, and overblown estimates of one’s own strength. America’s debacle in Iraq offers the latest example of wars.” Also “the role of America’s media in promoting the war has insufficiently understood and constitutes one of the most disturbing episodes in modern US history. Scholars have uncovered the fact that almost all of the 400 or more major stories about Iraq run by the mainstream media in the lead-up to war actually originated with the Bush administration. Senior White House officials would plant false stories in major US newspapers, and then cite these same stories as irrefutable evidence of fact.”

After eight years of low-level warfare in Afghanistan, the United States and its coalition forces could hardly report any real progress in their war to pacify the unruly Afghans in spite of a steady stream of rosy reports from military public relations officer ready to fight to the last Xerox copy for their cause.

By 2008, Afghanistan had become the world’s second-most highly developed narco-state, surpassed only in drug revenue by Colombia. Embarrassingly, the US and NATO found themselves as the proud new owners and defender’s of the world’s primary source of heroine. The US and NATO routinely blamed the Taliban for drug trade but the collection, transport, refining and export of opium-morphine base was controlled by US-backed warlords and high government officials in Kabul. Due to increasing number of Afghan civilians killed by US bombing or shelling and failure of Washington’s efforts to enhance political legitimacy of Karzai government in Afghanistan are other reasons which perished the belief of US invasion of Afghanistan as a legitimate response to a horrible crime.

Dr. S.M. Rahman writes, “The human massacre in Iraq and Afghanistan and now on the tribal areas of Pakistan reflects George Bush’s insatiable lust for human blood. There were 3000 casualties in the twin-tower tragedy. There are growing realities that 9/11 was ‘inside job’. For every one individual, Bush has killed several thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such a mega tragedy has surpassed the death and destructions even by nuclear weapons”.

The ruthless efficiency of the US invasion of Afghanistan, threats of war against Pakistan if it did not immediately comply with Washington’s demands and a rising volume of anti-Islamic rhetoric by the US and its media are proof enough that the tragedy of 9/11 had been used as pretext to launch a campaign to dominate the two of world’s major energy sources, Mesopotamia and the Caspian basin and the worldwide.

As it is apparent that scene is all set on the pretext of War on terror which is now extending to Yemen without any signs of end in sight. From here it might change it course to Nigeria as well. There is a need to understand the phenomenon that AL-Qaeda is everywhere and always appears at the right time the US wants. With the US still in Iraq and Afghanistan, heading into Pakistan and Africa and wishing to bomb Iran as well, it is for all those who intend to put the whole world on the course of war, to shake up their tranquilized conscience before it is too late.

America has been facing a shadow war, a murky struggle against a faceless almost invisible enemy bent on giving Americans a national nervous breakdown. It is apparent that US and its allies are fighting a collection of like minded but completely unconnected and uncoordinated anti-American groups. Thus, in light of recent history and the US’ failure to capture or kill bin Laden; Obama should use restraint before opening a new front in the war against terrorism.

By Jawayria Malik