Disentangling Terror

It is becoming eerie by the day that innuendoes abound in the west and in the east dealing with terrorism. SIMI [Students’ Islamic Movement of India] was in the news for quite sometimes thanks to the confessional statements of the alleged plotters. Now Jamaat-e-Islami is dragged in by association. The Jammat has no record of harbouring any illusion of terrorism let alone terrorists. But once you associate it with what is undesirable target in a charged situation enough harm is done. Hillary Clinton showed utter disregard of the values of her own Democratic party by reviving the threat of Osama bin Laden during the Pennsylvania primary. The name of the terrorist rhymed with Obama and that is the message her people applauded her for. But is that fighting terror? Really? It is for nothing that the other camp shot back: Stop the drama. Vote Obama.

All kinds of politicking go on sub rosa in the name of fighting terror. The letter of President Bush to the Israeli PM Ariel Sharon in April 2004 is worth reviving for how US has been bending much backward to accommodate the Jewish state for whatever it wanted. One even wonders if the Israelis run the world affair through their clients in Washington. Their agents have sold weapons against the declared policy of US to countries which did not enjoy friendly relations with Washington. American Jewish citizens Jonathan Pollard and Ben Ami Kadish have spied for Israel. They may of may not serve a term in jail. The state of Israel is always there to welcome them. The CIA boss Mr Tenet had threatened to resign if Pollard was shown any leniency. But he is succeeded by Robert Gates and a new person in the job can be pliant in the case of the octogenarian Kadish. That letter of President Bush amounts to conceding more development of Jewish settlement for the sake of placating Israel to withdraw from the Gaza strip at that time! No talk with Hamas! They are terrorists!

Thus by keeping out Hamas or Hezbollah from having any contact, Israel has been able to have its cake and also eat it, from time to time.

Set against this is the Pennsylvania primary when towards the fag end Hillary Clinton said that were Iran to attack Israel and she in the White House she would obliterate Iran from the surface of the earth. And she would do it! If George Bush can start a war because he suspected that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction (which was a ruse for controlling and misappropriating oil), a nuclear strike is many times more. But no WMD was found. So Bush shifted to removing Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi leader was not only removed and captured but contrary to Bush’s own admission that he would not be executed, he was executed. Given this kind of ground reality the nefarious theory of preemption is the prerogative of the US unless the world unites in the face of this atrocious hegemony and says no to bullying.

In the same way the alleged enrichment of plutonium by Syria with help from North Korea is another hot spot. The Israelis have reportedly destroyed the enrichment site with their air strike indicates how the Jewish state is working in tandem with the Americans. Who is holding the other on leash is academic moot point. But what is sure for you to remember is that US will not tolerate any Muslim state to have nuclear power not even Pakistan which already has. American has sent a permanent officer in its embassy in Islamabad to actively interact in all matters pertaining to nuclear programme and any activity associated with it. The obvious reason is clear. The Americans are terribly obsessed by terrorism and are not in any mood to tolerate any friend or foe to do anything that they think is against their interest. They would strike Pakistan as easily as Syria. As Arindham Chuadhari and Dilip Heero have shown there was neither al Qaida nor WMD in Iraq. It was a far more precious thing, there: oil. To get oil is by all means more important than fighting even terror. The enormous increase in the earnings of the American corporations matters more. It is here that vice President Dick Cheney comes in picture. Hillary Clinton has earned ten million dollars in the aftermath of the Pennsylvania primary. Not because of her consistency but because of up fronting Osama and Iran.

Jumping on to the bandwagon of antiterrorism is the obvious officious wish of some. This is what Jaswant Singh did when he talked with the American officials and still went on to Kandahar to get Maula Masood released in exchange of the hostages.

The charged atmosphere around the world has created what is called world view or weltanschauung on terror. For understanding problems facing many nations of the world this does not help much in having a dialogue between nations or civilizations to settle problems. All kinds of slander are allowed currency even without checking on facts. Thus a reporter of The Times of India, N.D. Shiva Kumar, in the February 28, 2008 issue of the paper wrote in a feature article titled "New network of terror techies comes to light", that the police were hunting for IT legend K.M.Sherif and that his forum for the uplift of the minority community was linked to terrorists. Perhaps here what is unsafe is Sherif’s charitable concern to integrate his community into the mainstream so that they can come out of their indigence. Barack Obama’s Muslim ancestry and race is something that the white voters feel unsafe about. It is unfamiliar. The subterranean scare is maneuvered into a cognizable shape by the deft association of Obama and Osama. If the syllabic jingle can do that there the acronymic jingle of JeM, SIMI and JeI does the same here.

How do we disentangle terror? Among other things, by being steadfast in unearthing truth and shutting off politicking. But more by putting oneself in the shoes of others. That imaginative pity is ever in surplus in the Middle East. You can begin by imagining what is isolation, oppression and suppression, occupation of your land, dispossession, exile within your native land, angst of misfit in society, outrage, discrimination, humiliation, injustice, patriotism( real and sham),etc. Then your fight against terror will not be fight against a technique as former American National Security advisor Zbigniew Brezeznski believes correctly.