http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ar&nid=954
The Frontier Post (Pakistan) January 20, 2010 The US ‘war on terror’, a losing proposition Naqib Ullah Wardak -Sadly, Obama did not prove to be any different from his predecessor. He is the continuation of the Bush legacy but in a different skin color. Has he realized that the “war on terror” has really become a war that has terrorized millions of people around the world regardless of their religion and ethnicity? There is no difference between a suicide bomber that kills scores of innocents in a market or a bomb dropped by NATO fighters or missiles fired by US drones that kill hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan or Pakistan. -Conditions in Afghanistan, specifically, are at a deadlock....People are bitter about the civilians who have been killed by NATO and US forces. For sure 2010 will be the bloodiest year of the conflict in Afghanistan. There will be much more public anger directed at Karzai and foreign forces’ declared “war on terror.” Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attack, former US president George W. Bush said the motivation of the hijackers was that they hated freedom. Similar to his conclusion, most US media commentators and politicians, especifically conservatives, emphasized that these people envied the way Americans lived. Hating freedom, as Bush said, or not liking the way someone lives seemed then and now to be a pretty weak reason to give up one’s own life to inflict death and destruction on others. As a matter of fact, this was a cheap way to distract the American people’s attention from the real reasons that Osama bin Laden was able to garnish such huge support for his causes. Since the early to mid 1990s bin Laden has intensified his call for “jihad” against the US. His main reasons included the US support for Israel and the existence of US forces on Saudi soil, which is home to Islam’s holy places. Bin Laden has never mentioned in any of his speeches that he hated the American way of life. His message has been too complicated for ordinary Americans to analyze or understand. In other words, as he mentioned on many occasions, his main enemy was US Middle East policies. At the beginning many Americans bought into Bush’s theory. However, as time wore on and as Bush forced his own way of terror by occupying Iraq and killing thousands of innocents without any compelling reasons, most Americans realized that the problem was in their own government. That was why Americans’ support of Bush dropped from 80 percent in late 2001 to only 20 percent in 2008. His fortune reversed and his real leadership capacity was exposed. What is so unfortunate about American politics is that the leaders who get elected never follow through on what they promised during their campaigns. A good example of this sort of flip flop is President Barak Obama. Obama roared to power by the huge support he got from people who were disappointed with Bush’s policies. Additionally, people saw Obama as a product of Martin Luther King’s dream, who fought for equal rights for every American regardless of their color and gender, who sought an America that was a place of hope, opportunities, and freedom, and who believed that some day his struggle would succeed. Additionally, Obama talked about “change” and tried to be an optimist in the gloom of the destruction that is going on in every corner of our planet. Sadly, Obama did not prove to be any different from his predecessor. He is the continuation of the Bush legacy but in a different skin color. Has he realized that the “war on terror” has really become a war that has terrorized millions of people around the world regardless of their religion and ethnicity? There is no difference between a suicide bomber that kills scores of innocents in a market or a bomb dropped by NATO fighters or missiles fired by US drones that kill hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Leaders in the West have to look deep in their hearts and think if it is morally correct to destroy the life of a five-year-old child or a pregnant woman who could become a mother to her first baby and seek a new life. It is unfortunate to believe that someday after destroying thousands or millions of lives there will be peace. Obviously it will never happen with this approach. .... Undoubtedly, it is becoming clearer that the West gradually lost its propaganda edge against its enemy in its “war on terror.” As people witnessed the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan during the last eight years as a result of war on terror, Al Qaeda and other like-minded groups capitalized on these tragedies. They enlisted thousands of people for their causes all over the world. At the same time not only western governmental policies but also their long held values are under question. What is interesting is that the war on terror that President George Bush called it “crusade” and President Barak Obama called “a good war” has now become a war of cultures, a war of values, and a war of religions. Thanks to the ruthlessness of suicide bombers that killed scores of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, which kept the West’s war on terror alive. Conditions in Afghanistan, specifically, are at a deadlock. People are bitter about the civilians who have been killed by NATO and US forces. President Hamid Karzai is deadlocked with the Afghan House of Representatives who rejected his cabinet nominees twice. This time people see Karzai as a person who stole last year’s election and who is soft on corruption and civilians deaths by foreign forces. For sure 2010 will be the bloodiest year of the conflict in Afghanistan. There will be much more public anger directed at Karzai and foreign forces’ declared “war on terror.” =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: [email protected] or [email protected] Daily digest option available. ==============================
