It is strange that some people still harbour the illusion of an identity that would solve all our problems. A powerful dominant section in Maharashtra appropriates selected stories and images of Shivaji for its own political and cultural end. The end is exclusionary and partisan. The Maratha ruler in his time and context of history was not what some people would like everyone to believe as they believe. Equestrian statues of the Maratha king are in galore. The one near the Gateway of India where the tourists throng is enough. Interestingly the tourists crowd the piers of the Gateway to view the sea rather than look back at who is riding post haste with a raised sword and giving a clarion call. Having another off the shore from the Marine Drive would be another tourist attraction. The mighty statue of Rana Pratap Singh at Udaipur is splendid in terms of tourist attraction. Certain aspects of mass aggressive tendencies have so overwhelmed the common psyche of groups that they ascribe the same to the legendary figures of the past and make them mascots of present day political configurations and aspirations.
That such an identity would be appropriated by the ones filled with passionate intensity and the communalists for their interest to score over others is a forgone conclusion. Babu Bajrangi did not mince words when he referred to slaughtering Muslims in their hundreds and boasted, “Maza aata hai na, sahib. [I enjoy it]… I cam back after I killed them them (sic), called up the home minister and went to sleep… I felt like Rana Pratap, that I had done something like Maharana Pratap..I’d heard stories about him, but that day I did what he did himself. “ (Tehelka November 3, 2007)
The main purpose behind this skewed recourse to history is revivalism and not what some mistakenly believe a renaissance of a section of the society.
However, you cannot have a renaissance for the asking. If it is a rebirth of learning, as it really is, it is a secular matter. There has been revival of the mythical or mythological stories through television serials, like the Ramayna or the Maharbharat. That did produce revivalism and the whole movement of Ramjanam bhoomi that reached a climax in the demolition of the historic mosque at Ayodhya. It was craftily choreographed to win votes. We are still paying for it and perhaps nobody would like to have another such movement. Not the least in the name of a mythical bridge. There is already a conviction that we had had an Indian renaissance at the turn of the nineteenth century. Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Tagore were the fruits of that renaissance. Wanting another so soon is wishful thinking. Even so the ‘rebirth of learning’ has now been replaced by a much more revolutionary thing: the web. How much can anyone drink from a hose? The metaphor of the hose of water is apt as the net is ever enlarging the scope of knowledge. Knowledge is no more stored in any space that would lead to the spread of learning if it falls into hostile hands and artists and artisans migrate. Rebirth of learning in Europe also saw the Greek philosophers finding a new life after they hibernated with the Arabs. Will a renaissance in the name of religion lead to such rebirth? For an Iqbal or a Hussein, for example?
In the age of the internet, globalization and corporations there is need for a composite identity that is not only national but also tolerant. When the tiger roared at the lamb drinking water down the stream, it gave excuse that the lamb was polluting the water. And when the lamb replied that the water was flowing from the tiger to him, the tiger hit back saying that the lamb’s ancestors had done so. For the ills of society when people like Bal Thackeray, Subramanian Swamy and others, ala RSS, find scapegoat in Muslims it is high time to either dismiss them or take them seriously. All of them want to go back to pre British India to define identity of Indians, which they believe is essentially Hindu in character. Even if, for the sake of argument, we come to an agreement that we all have Hindu identity how are we going to solve the problems of unemployment, indebted farmers, insurgency in various parts of the country. Tamil tigers and Naxalites are essentially Hindu. Struggle for determining one’s homeland is as violent in the north east as it is across the Palk Strait.
Religion per se does not make its followers backward or forward in material terms. Therefore reserving jobs for the backward, be they Hindus or Muslims or anyone, is based on survey and findings. There has already been reservation based on religious identity of the Hindus. But it was extended to certain Muslims only recently on account of their backwardness. Thackeray not only calls it doling out of alms of concessions [saulatinchi khairat] but as a danger to the unity of the country. Because any reservation to Muslims would push the country into the abyss of another partition [dusraya phadni chya khol]. It implies that they are not trustworthy, hence their perfidy. Thus suspicion is created around that identity.
Defining group identity on what happened in1947 and viewing it as a crisis is forgetting one’s roots. Blaming Muslims for the partition and attributing “perfidy” [treachery] as the hallmark of their identity (as Swamy does in Is Hindu Reanaissance the Answer? Covert June 1-15, 2008, and Bal Thackeray in his letter to the Prime Minister, Samna, September 13, 2007) is banal.
Some people have become so schizophrenic that they want to live as if what happened in 1947 did not transpire. Thus they believe that the pre British India was still there for them, intact. They are just like the ukil babu or the lawyer in Shadow Lines of Amitav Ghosh. Their denial of 1947 is essentially the denial of the partition of India. Even if, again for sake of argument, we reverse history then the bulk of the hordes of talibans of Afghanistan and the North West Province of Pakistan would be at our door steps everywhere. That might not be very enviable, I suppose. The Indian Muslims would not like anymore tampering with history for they know very well that they have paid and are still paying for those who wanted their ‘pure’ land and got it and left the consequences for the Muslims of India to bear.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and His Jihad:“It's an inquisition, not a trial"
There is much talk on jihad and terrorism both in the West and India. Since the scourge of terrorism is spreading tentacles world wide there is need to sift through much that goes in its name. Most of intelligence report being classified we can only peep through what is available for clues.
Source of passion
The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad will be a remarkable event in world history. After the death of Mahdi [al Mahdi al Muntazar, otherwise Mohammad Ahmed] in Khartoum of the nineteenth century it would be the first time that the West will try and punish a Muslim self professed would be martyr. It is reported that everyday at 6 in the morning President George Bush reads the sermons of the Christian missionary preacher who was killed in the violent confrontation in the Sudanese capital of yore. He was besieged along with others in Sudan in 1885. Charles Gordon was sent by the British government to evacuate the British from Sudan but he stayed a year longer and wanted to destroy the Mahdiyah. They were the followers of Mahdi carrying out his revival and purification of Islam and fighting against the corruption of the Turkish and Egyptian and British influence on the people. The crusader and the jihadi since then have assumed new names and new identity.
President Bush got inspiration from preaching of the missionary priest who was in the British garrison with Gordon when it was besieged by the followers of al Mahdi. Interestingly al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden calls Bush and others as the crusaders. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s utterance in the court at Guantanamo Bay reminds much of the fervour of the jihad of al Mahdi.
KSM, as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is briefly called, was arrested in Rawalpindi on March 1, 2003 in a search and arrest operation jointly conducted by the Pakistani and FBI. He had worked with Adman G. El Shukrijumah, a 27-year-old Saudi, the latter was equal to Mohammad Atta in position. Spectacular terrorist attack was the brainchild of KSM. In addition to the World Trade Centre towers there were other monuments as targets, the White House, the Manhattan Bridge as well as the ones in St Louis and San Francisco, the Sears towers in Chicago, the Israelis embassy in Washington. There were two dozen such attacks planned.
Intensity of passion
In the courtroom KSM shouted and chanted in undaunted zeal for martyrdom. 'Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time. I will, God willing, have this, by you.' When the military judge wanted to warn him he not only dismissed his lawyers but sang in lilting phrases of Arabic and translated them for the court: 'I may have the best legal team here. They may be well qualified but I want to represent myself. My shield is Allah most high.' In up fronting and putting in the centre he touched upon the most crucial situation vis-à-vis Islam and his trial: "It's an inquisition, not a trial!. We under five years were under torture. We don't have rights to anything. After all this torturing, they transfer us to inquisition and in Guantánamo." "I cannot accept any attorney who is not governed by sharia [Islamic] law. I will represent myself. I will not be represented by anybody even if he is a Muslim, because he will be sworn to your American Constitution. I consider all the U.S. Constitution and laws evil.”
He also took time to speak about the ignominy of allowing same sex marriage besides accusing the US of waging ‘a crusader war’ against Islam.
Razmi bin al Shibh was also forthright though, as it turned out, during the proceeding, that he was drugged against his will. "I am seeking martyrdom for five years. I tried for September 11 to get a visa and I could not. If this martyrdom happens today, I welcome it. God is great! God is great! God is great!". "I do understand I will be killed for the sake of God. But I don't understand that I am guilty." His lawyers then intervened to tell the court how drug was forcibly given to him. He sat with his feet shackled. He spoke again: "My mental capacity is absolutely fine. I don't think that there is reason to force lawyers on me that I don't want."
The CIA has already accepted that it practiced water boarding torture on KSM. According to the US laws any confessional statement obtained out of torture is inadmissible in court. The US also has used all the three kinds of renditions. KSM was arrested in Pakistan and imprisoned in a third country. This constituted the extraordinary rendition. He was then transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
Many of his claims are exaggerated including probably his boast: "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z." He also says he is responsible for thirty terrorist attacks.
Consequences of passion
The killing of Gordon and the missionary preacher and British soldiers in Khartoum resulted in massacre of the followers of Mahdi on a much larger scale. In the attack on the twin towers of World Trade Cetre 2973 innocent people perished. The death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan is astronomically much higher and continuing.
The war in Iraq began when there was no al Qaeda there. It has ravaged the country so much that it has given birth to terror that is hell bent to destroy the country. Afghanistan battle scenario is fast degenerating into another debacle for the US. Both the wars have caused huge number of casualties with no end in sight.
No doubt President Bush’s administration is there for about half a year the next president will surely close down Guantanamo Bay detention centre. The Supreme Court in the US has already castigated the detention facility and is going to hear a case again in a month’s time. The offshore detention centre also poses problems of international law regarding war and prisoners of war. With complete secrecy surrounding the trial who is there to verify KSM’s accusation: 'They mistranslated my words and put many words in my mouth.' Even his defence lawyer Navy captain Prescott Prince is groping in dark regarding the process of the proceedings in the military court. Then there is the terrifying restriction of keeping secret. Any detail coming out of the proceeding may be construed to be a threat to the United States of America. This would affect the attorney as well. Prince: "It is frustrating to me, and frustrating to him [ KSM], that he's presented with an attorney who in essence says: 'I don't know, the rules are new. They were made up for you."'
Last laugh
Alex Spillus of the British daily Telegraph was among the 60 reporters flown to the strangely named Justice Camp where there was no justice. No habeas corpus to the prisoners, the prisoners were held in notorious secret prisons [the gulags of our time] of the CIA for four years before they were held for 18 months in Guantanamo. The air flight to the camp on the Cuban island made the reporters feel what extraordinary rendition is as they sat huddled together buttock to buttock like prisoners. They were kept in tents where air conditioning units revved like Sherman tanks. Then came the comic relief. The judge told the prisoners that they had available to them lawyers free of charge. Pat came the retort from the 30 year old Kuwaiti Ali Abd al Aziz Ali: “ [America] tortured me free of charge, too.” "I am in the wrong court. I am not a criminal. My case is political."
The crowning irony: KSM and Razmi bin al Shibh extolled martyrdom over the travesty of their trial and mockery of the American justice. Raising doubts about the legality of the court was not enough. Lawyers of the defendant Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi objected to the Judge Kohlmann that he had allowed nodding, gesticulating, and whispering among the defendants to make them look like conspirators.
Source of passion
The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad will be a remarkable event in world history. After the death of Mahdi [al Mahdi al Muntazar, otherwise Mohammad Ahmed] in Khartoum of the nineteenth century it would be the first time that the West will try and punish a Muslim self professed would be martyr. It is reported that everyday at 6 in the morning President George Bush reads the sermons of the Christian missionary preacher who was killed in the violent confrontation in the Sudanese capital of yore. He was besieged along with others in Sudan in 1885. Charles Gordon was sent by the British government to evacuate the British from Sudan but he stayed a year longer and wanted to destroy the Mahdiyah. They were the followers of Mahdi carrying out his revival and purification of Islam and fighting against the corruption of the Turkish and Egyptian and British influence on the people. The crusader and the jihadi since then have assumed new names and new identity.
President Bush got inspiration from preaching of the missionary priest who was in the British garrison with Gordon when it was besieged by the followers of al Mahdi. Interestingly al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden calls Bush and others as the crusaders. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s utterance in the court at Guantanamo Bay reminds much of the fervour of the jihad of al Mahdi.
KSM, as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is briefly called, was arrested in Rawalpindi on March 1, 2003 in a search and arrest operation jointly conducted by the Pakistani and FBI. He had worked with Adman G. El Shukrijumah, a 27-year-old Saudi, the latter was equal to Mohammad Atta in position. Spectacular terrorist attack was the brainchild of KSM. In addition to the World Trade Centre towers there were other monuments as targets, the White House, the Manhattan Bridge as well as the ones in St Louis and San Francisco, the Sears towers in Chicago, the Israelis embassy in Washington. There were two dozen such attacks planned.
Intensity of passion
In the courtroom KSM shouted and chanted in undaunted zeal for martyrdom. 'Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time. I will, God willing, have this, by you.' When the military judge wanted to warn him he not only dismissed his lawyers but sang in lilting phrases of Arabic and translated them for the court: 'I may have the best legal team here. They may be well qualified but I want to represent myself. My shield is Allah most high.' In up fronting and putting in the centre he touched upon the most crucial situation vis-à-vis Islam and his trial: "It's an inquisition, not a trial!. We under five years were under torture. We don't have rights to anything. After all this torturing, they transfer us to inquisition and in Guantánamo." "I cannot accept any attorney who is not governed by sharia [Islamic] law. I will represent myself. I will not be represented by anybody even if he is a Muslim, because he will be sworn to your American Constitution. I consider all the U.S. Constitution and laws evil.”
He also took time to speak about the ignominy of allowing same sex marriage besides accusing the US of waging ‘a crusader war’ against Islam.
Razmi bin al Shibh was also forthright though, as it turned out, during the proceeding, that he was drugged against his will. "I am seeking martyrdom for five years. I tried for September 11 to get a visa and I could not. If this martyrdom happens today, I welcome it. God is great! God is great! God is great!". "I do understand I will be killed for the sake of God. But I don't understand that I am guilty." His lawyers then intervened to tell the court how drug was forcibly given to him. He sat with his feet shackled. He spoke again: "My mental capacity is absolutely fine. I don't think that there is reason to force lawyers on me that I don't want."
The CIA has already accepted that it practiced water boarding torture on KSM. According to the US laws any confessional statement obtained out of torture is inadmissible in court. The US also has used all the three kinds of renditions. KSM was arrested in Pakistan and imprisoned in a third country. This constituted the extraordinary rendition. He was then transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
Many of his claims are exaggerated including probably his boast: "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z." He also says he is responsible for thirty terrorist attacks.
Consequences of passion
The killing of Gordon and the missionary preacher and British soldiers in Khartoum resulted in massacre of the followers of Mahdi on a much larger scale. In the attack on the twin towers of World Trade Cetre 2973 innocent people perished. The death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan is astronomically much higher and continuing.
The war in Iraq began when there was no al Qaeda there. It has ravaged the country so much that it has given birth to terror that is hell bent to destroy the country. Afghanistan battle scenario is fast degenerating into another debacle for the US. Both the wars have caused huge number of casualties with no end in sight.
No doubt President Bush’s administration is there for about half a year the next president will surely close down Guantanamo Bay detention centre. The Supreme Court in the US has already castigated the detention facility and is going to hear a case again in a month’s time. The offshore detention centre also poses problems of international law regarding war and prisoners of war. With complete secrecy surrounding the trial who is there to verify KSM’s accusation: 'They mistranslated my words and put many words in my mouth.' Even his defence lawyer Navy captain Prescott Prince is groping in dark regarding the process of the proceedings in the military court. Then there is the terrifying restriction of keeping secret. Any detail coming out of the proceeding may be construed to be a threat to the United States of America. This would affect the attorney as well. Prince: "It is frustrating to me, and frustrating to him [ KSM], that he's presented with an attorney who in essence says: 'I don't know, the rules are new. They were made up for you."'
Last laugh
Alex Spillus of the British daily Telegraph was among the 60 reporters flown to the strangely named Justice Camp where there was no justice. No habeas corpus to the prisoners, the prisoners were held in notorious secret prisons [the gulags of our time] of the CIA for four years before they were held for 18 months in Guantanamo. The air flight to the camp on the Cuban island made the reporters feel what extraordinary rendition is as they sat huddled together buttock to buttock like prisoners. They were kept in tents where air conditioning units revved like Sherman tanks. Then came the comic relief. The judge told the prisoners that they had available to them lawyers free of charge. Pat came the retort from the 30 year old Kuwaiti Ali Abd al Aziz Ali: “ [America] tortured me free of charge, too.” "I am in the wrong court. I am not a criminal. My case is political."
The crowning irony: KSM and Razmi bin al Shibh extolled martyrdom over the travesty of their trial and mockery of the American justice. Raising doubts about the legality of the court was not enough. Lawyers of the defendant Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi objected to the Judge Kohlmann that he had allowed nodding, gesticulating, and whispering among the defendants to make them look like conspirators.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Fighting terrorism with 'abuse of intelligence'
On June 1, 2008 the Australian contingent of 550 troops in Iraq lowered their flag at Camp Terendak in the southern Iraqi city of Talil, their Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has fulfilled the mandate of his people for the withdrawal that they gave him in the November 2007 election. The withdrawal of the Australian troops from Iraq has at long last justifies many people who have been skeptic of the war. There were two reasons for going to war, one, that Saddam Hussein was preparing WMD, and, two that there was link between his regime and al Qaeda. But what is obviously more damning than these false assumptions was the role of fudging of the intelligence agencies’ reports and the role of the US and in essence the detestable doctrine to which even others fell victim, namely, that you are either with us or against us. The ravages of the war are still in full display. The lesson learnt is that those who called for the destruction of evil ideology [Bush and Blair] have proved themselves not only wrong but what Harold Pinter has called the greatest terrorists of the world. Their ideology was evil and not that of Saddam Hussein. If Australia chose to go to war what else was there in common between the two: Australia and the US? As Rudd said on June 1, Howard wrongly believed that Australia's close alliance with the United States left him with no choice but to join the campaign in Iraq.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd not only exposed his predecessor John Howard as misled by the US but as too eager to gang up according to the predilection of the West that a WMD in the hands of Saddam Hussein would be more dangerous than an Ariel Sharon. In 1973 war it was this general in the desert of Sinai who used the most deadly weapons [rushed to him straight from the US] on the poorly equipped Egyptian army and slaughtered them in their thousands and had also used the Christian militia in the refugee camps of Sabrila and Chatila to massacre the unarmed civilians. The West chose to blame Saddam for what he did to the Kurds and the people of Southern swamp land of Iraq but not Ariel Sharon. With all this in the background the US and its hardcore allies still favour a hard line approach to the problems of the Middle East which cannot displease Israel let alone even the balance of justice. A corrupt prime minister elsewhere would have attracted another nefarious foreign policy article of the US: regime change. But Ehud Olmert like his predecessors does not come under the purview of this foreign policy otherwise readily available article.
One must recall the Spanish government’s decision to recall the Spanish soldiers from Iraq. On March 11, 2004 Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar blamed ETA [Basque separatists] for the Madrid bombing. Three days later his party lost the election. On March 15, the new government decided to pull out of Iraq. No one should be under the delusion that al Qaeda brought about this change through terror tactics. You can fool some Spaniards for some days but not all the Spaniards for all the time. Spain is a functional democracy. Australia took much longer to realize its folly. The bombing of Bali 2002 did not produce any change. But a concerted effort to better educate the electorate during the last election on the issue of fighting terrorism produced the chemical change which brought Rudd to power. Barrack Obama is also fighting for the change the electorate can believe in. Will he succeed for a change? The corrupt regimes of our time are the regimes of Bushes and Howards and Blairs. It is they who have whipped up mass hysteria of aggression. Others also had rushed to where angels feared to tread. That, too, with neighbours. But some sanity prevailed. India was also fighting terrorism.
Another folly of the war rhetoric is appropriating the western viewpoint for the entire world. This is pax Americana. America represents the world! Even reviewing Rudd’s decision to pull back troops reveals this rhetoric: White House press secretary Dana Perino said she had not reviewed Rudd's comments, but said the U.S. invasion was based on intelligence that the entire world had.[AP June3, 2008] How could the whole world have it unless the CIA had supplied to every world government its doctored intelligence?
Howard ruled Australia eleven years and Bush is completing eighth year What Rudd realized: "It caused me great pain as a long-standing friend of America to fundamentally part company with the administration's policy on Iraq," is still lost on Bush and Cheeny
The legacy of Blain continues with the British Prime Minister, John Brown. How long will the American electorate take to learn the truth of the war, the longest they have ever fought. Their indifference to words of advice from Jimmy Carter and Noam Chomsky shows a cussedness of character that their founder fathers had never thought of.
Why did President Bush then fudge the intelligence reports? His trusted friend and former press secretary McClellan provides the answer in his tell-tale book "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception"( June 2008: “Bush and his advisers knew that the American people would almost certainly not support a war launched primarily for the ambitious purpose of transforming the Middle East." Therefore the ruse of WMD. McClellan says that Bush was not ‘open and forthright on Iraq’ and lied on ‘propaganda to sell the war.’
So America has lost much of its pragmatism and position as a result of this bogus war and the signs of decay contrary to wishful thinking of Samuel Huntington’s robust view of American civilization have set in. Pakistan an ally is also fighting war on terror but is secretly having talks with tribal chiefs in the North West frontier, which is a place where the US is carrying out air strikes on suspected al Qaeda leadership. It is another ally, Turkey that is carrying on negotiation with Syria on Golan Heights that too with tacit approval of the greatest of all allies of the US, Israel. Israel is building more settlements on occupied land although American policy is contrary to this. Noori Al Maliki government in Iraq gave hero’s welcome to President Ahmedinejad of Iran. The American propped government of Siniora in Lebanon is having sharing of power with Hezbollah. Egypt is talking with Hamas over the release of Israel solder captured by them. Egypt cannot be negotiating with an organization dubbed by the US as terrorist without the approval of the Israelis. On the top of it, the Bush juggernaut on terror has let China have a freedom of a field day. All in the name of fighting terrorism. How handy comes terrorism in the hands of some opportunists!
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd not only exposed his predecessor John Howard as misled by the US but as too eager to gang up according to the predilection of the West that a WMD in the hands of Saddam Hussein would be more dangerous than an Ariel Sharon. In 1973 war it was this general in the desert of Sinai who used the most deadly weapons [rushed to him straight from the US] on the poorly equipped Egyptian army and slaughtered them in their thousands and had also used the Christian militia in the refugee camps of Sabrila and Chatila to massacre the unarmed civilians. The West chose to blame Saddam for what he did to the Kurds and the people of Southern swamp land of Iraq but not Ariel Sharon. With all this in the background the US and its hardcore allies still favour a hard line approach to the problems of the Middle East which cannot displease Israel let alone even the balance of justice. A corrupt prime minister elsewhere would have attracted another nefarious foreign policy article of the US: regime change. But Ehud Olmert like his predecessors does not come under the purview of this foreign policy otherwise readily available article.
One must recall the Spanish government’s decision to recall the Spanish soldiers from Iraq. On March 11, 2004 Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar blamed ETA [Basque separatists] for the Madrid bombing. Three days later his party lost the election. On March 15, the new government decided to pull out of Iraq. No one should be under the delusion that al Qaeda brought about this change through terror tactics. You can fool some Spaniards for some days but not all the Spaniards for all the time. Spain is a functional democracy. Australia took much longer to realize its folly. The bombing of Bali 2002 did not produce any change. But a concerted effort to better educate the electorate during the last election on the issue of fighting terrorism produced the chemical change which brought Rudd to power. Barrack Obama is also fighting for the change the electorate can believe in. Will he succeed for a change? The corrupt regimes of our time are the regimes of Bushes and Howards and Blairs. It is they who have whipped up mass hysteria of aggression. Others also had rushed to where angels feared to tread. That, too, with neighbours. But some sanity prevailed. India was also fighting terrorism.
Another folly of the war rhetoric is appropriating the western viewpoint for the entire world. This is pax Americana. America represents the world! Even reviewing Rudd’s decision to pull back troops reveals this rhetoric: White House press secretary Dana Perino said she had not reviewed Rudd's comments, but said the U.S. invasion was based on intelligence that the entire world had.[AP June3, 2008] How could the whole world have it unless the CIA had supplied to every world government its doctored intelligence?
Howard ruled Australia eleven years and Bush is completing eighth year What Rudd realized: "It caused me great pain as a long-standing friend of America to fundamentally part company with the administration's policy on Iraq," is still lost on Bush and Cheeny
The legacy of Blain continues with the British Prime Minister, John Brown. How long will the American electorate take to learn the truth of the war, the longest they have ever fought. Their indifference to words of advice from Jimmy Carter and Noam Chomsky shows a cussedness of character that their founder fathers had never thought of.
Why did President Bush then fudge the intelligence reports? His trusted friend and former press secretary McClellan provides the answer in his tell-tale book "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception"( June 2008: “Bush and his advisers knew that the American people would almost certainly not support a war launched primarily for the ambitious purpose of transforming the Middle East." Therefore the ruse of WMD. McClellan says that Bush was not ‘open and forthright on Iraq’ and lied on ‘propaganda to sell the war.’
So America has lost much of its pragmatism and position as a result of this bogus war and the signs of decay contrary to wishful thinking of Samuel Huntington’s robust view of American civilization have set in. Pakistan an ally is also fighting war on terror but is secretly having talks with tribal chiefs in the North West frontier, which is a place where the US is carrying out air strikes on suspected al Qaeda leadership. It is another ally, Turkey that is carrying on negotiation with Syria on Golan Heights that too with tacit approval of the greatest of all allies of the US, Israel. Israel is building more settlements on occupied land although American policy is contrary to this. Noori Al Maliki government in Iraq gave hero’s welcome to President Ahmedinejad of Iran. The American propped government of Siniora in Lebanon is having sharing of power with Hezbollah. Egypt is talking with Hamas over the release of Israel solder captured by them. Egypt cannot be negotiating with an organization dubbed by the US as terrorist without the approval of the Israelis. On the top of it, the Bush juggernaut on terror has let China have a freedom of a field day. All in the name of fighting terrorism. How handy comes terrorism in the hands of some opportunists!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Koran Shooting !!!
In a highly charged situation shooting the Koran is tantamount to shooting the albatross, the bird of good omen. The war in Iraq is purportedly fought also for winning the hearts and minds of the people. When the wind of anti insurgency seems just to have started blowing shooting the holy book could wreck the very ship in which the Americans and the Iraqi government are sailing.. This is not a theological perception of any presentiment but rather a gauge of geopolitical realization of the facts on ground.
An enlisted soldier of the US army used the holy book to practice shooting target. This incident has come full several years after the flushing of the same holy book in the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. Both are contemptible outrageous deeds. Instead of winning hearts and minds such odious acts would create cataclysmic reaction. It is like carrying gunpowder for the al Qaeda cannon aimed at the so called crusaders besieging the Muslims.
In the fist place it is a symbolic action. A thin wire far away or gravel would have done the job better. But choosing the thick book with hundreds of pages the American soldier wants to signify certain things that are fixated in his mind. It is objectification of his hate. He can shoot even without bothering the crossed hair in the view. In the words of Najam Sethi such deliberate wilful act of vandalism is seen ‘as evidence of how America and the West make the war against terrorism synonymous with the war against Islam.’ [Somini Gupta and Salman Masood, “Guantanamo Comes to Define US to Muslims” New York Times, May 21, 2005]
It also lends credence to the fact that there is design behind all the incidents of desecration. It was no other than a two-star general in charge of the hunt of Osama bin Laden, William G ‘Jerry” Boykin who told in 2003 a gathering of Christians that America was cast as a Christian nation locked in a battle with Satan. The general made such a statement wearing full military uniform. He also described his god as greater than the god of the Muslims. It is for nothing that some 4000 Christian missionaries landed in Baghdad after the invasion began in 2003.
On May 9, 2008 American soldiers were practicing target shooting in the police station of Radhwaniya on the western outskirts of Baghdad. They had clearly marked the centre of a copy of the Quran for this purpose. Afterward the bullet ridden copy was retrieved by an Iraqi policeman, Abdullah. There were fourteen bullet marks and the pages of the holy book were scrawled with graffiti. Since then the Americans have pulled the particular sniper soldier out of the country and flown him to US.
In the past US officials were dismissive in their attitude and did not tender any apology. Their attitude is summed up what the soldier in charge said when US planes had bombed a marriage party. A senior officer had remarked: "Hey, bad people can have parties too." In the case of the shooting the Koran the New York Times reporter described the reaction of the people as irrational popular anger [May 20].
The blogger site Abu Muqawama devoted to fighting insurgency merely called the soldier stupid and the American response to apologize: quick.
A meeting of tribal leaders was called on May 17 where a grim looking officer, General Jeffrey Hammond said: “I come before you here seeking your forgiveness, In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers.”
President Bush who was lecturing the Arabs on democracy and asking for more oil around the same time spoke to the Iraqi Prime Minister Noori al Maliki and expressed his concern. There was no extraordinary effort on his part as was in evidence during his visit to Israel. He ignored to dilate on the kind of attitude his soldiers had for Islam and the Muslims. He had won the hearts and minds of the people of Israel when on that foreign soil of the ally he had castigated Barack Obama for daring to speak with radicals and terrorists. The Americans know whose hearts and minds they really want to win.
Many others in America justified saying that shooting the holy book is of the same class as beheading Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg. For them Jehovah was guidance: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. They did not bother that such attitude puts the soldiers in the rank of the terrorists. Of this Matthew Arnold had said of ignorant armies clashing in the dark of the night when the sea of faith was ebbing. But now it is full.
So full that every event has a biblical justification. Some took strong exception to American soldiers kissing the Quran by way of tendering apology. They also felt angry at army officers’ submission to the tribal leaders and their demand. Submission as a metaphorical substitute of Islam is a bete noire to many.
However, when all is said and done, what really matters is that US is a secular country and yet such regrettable incidents happen, that too in the army. Another is the absence of chain of command in the episode. The higher officers on duty enjoy the cloak of anonymity. No one seems to question what they were doing when the incident transpired. Call it what you will, debasement or demoralization. Occupation of a foreign land has queer ways of recoiling on the occupiers.
President Bush had attacked talking to radicals or ‘terrorists’ as appeasement. What else were the army officers in Baghdad doing when they met the tribal leaders? True, real politick is necessary, but the Americans and their allies in the Noori government have much longer to stay together, if at all staying the course is feasible. It is for this that many people recall how Britain had to deal with the IRA for a hundred years. In a world where IRA, yes, but Hamas and Iranisns, no, the Reformation is still needed in the West.
An enlisted soldier of the US army used the holy book to practice shooting target. This incident has come full several years after the flushing of the same holy book in the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. Both are contemptible outrageous deeds. Instead of winning hearts and minds such odious acts would create cataclysmic reaction. It is like carrying gunpowder for the al Qaeda cannon aimed at the so called crusaders besieging the Muslims.
In the fist place it is a symbolic action. A thin wire far away or gravel would have done the job better. But choosing the thick book with hundreds of pages the American soldier wants to signify certain things that are fixated in his mind. It is objectification of his hate. He can shoot even without bothering the crossed hair in the view. In the words of Najam Sethi such deliberate wilful act of vandalism is seen ‘as evidence of how America and the West make the war against terrorism synonymous with the war against Islam.’ [Somini Gupta and Salman Masood, “Guantanamo Comes to Define US to Muslims” New York Times, May 21, 2005]
It also lends credence to the fact that there is design behind all the incidents of desecration. It was no other than a two-star general in charge of the hunt of Osama bin Laden, William G ‘Jerry” Boykin who told in 2003 a gathering of Christians that America was cast as a Christian nation locked in a battle with Satan. The general made such a statement wearing full military uniform. He also described his god as greater than the god of the Muslims. It is for nothing that some 4000 Christian missionaries landed in Baghdad after the invasion began in 2003.
On May 9, 2008 American soldiers were practicing target shooting in the police station of Radhwaniya on the western outskirts of Baghdad. They had clearly marked the centre of a copy of the Quran for this purpose. Afterward the bullet ridden copy was retrieved by an Iraqi policeman, Abdullah. There were fourteen bullet marks and the pages of the holy book were scrawled with graffiti. Since then the Americans have pulled the particular sniper soldier out of the country and flown him to US.
In the past US officials were dismissive in their attitude and did not tender any apology. Their attitude is summed up what the soldier in charge said when US planes had bombed a marriage party. A senior officer had remarked: "Hey, bad people can have parties too." In the case of the shooting the Koran the New York Times reporter described the reaction of the people as irrational popular anger [May 20].
The blogger site Abu Muqawama devoted to fighting insurgency merely called the soldier stupid and the American response to apologize: quick.
A meeting of tribal leaders was called on May 17 where a grim looking officer, General Jeffrey Hammond said: “I come before you here seeking your forgiveness, In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers.”
President Bush who was lecturing the Arabs on democracy and asking for more oil around the same time spoke to the Iraqi Prime Minister Noori al Maliki and expressed his concern. There was no extraordinary effort on his part as was in evidence during his visit to Israel. He ignored to dilate on the kind of attitude his soldiers had for Islam and the Muslims. He had won the hearts and minds of the people of Israel when on that foreign soil of the ally he had castigated Barack Obama for daring to speak with radicals and terrorists. The Americans know whose hearts and minds they really want to win.
Many others in America justified saying that shooting the holy book is of the same class as beheading Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg. For them Jehovah was guidance: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. They did not bother that such attitude puts the soldiers in the rank of the terrorists. Of this Matthew Arnold had said of ignorant armies clashing in the dark of the night when the sea of faith was ebbing. But now it is full.
So full that every event has a biblical justification. Some took strong exception to American soldiers kissing the Quran by way of tendering apology. They also felt angry at army officers’ submission to the tribal leaders and their demand. Submission as a metaphorical substitute of Islam is a bete noire to many.
However, when all is said and done, what really matters is that US is a secular country and yet such regrettable incidents happen, that too in the army. Another is the absence of chain of command in the episode. The higher officers on duty enjoy the cloak of anonymity. No one seems to question what they were doing when the incident transpired. Call it what you will, debasement or demoralization. Occupation of a foreign land has queer ways of recoiling on the occupiers.
President Bush had attacked talking to radicals or ‘terrorists’ as appeasement. What else were the army officers in Baghdad doing when they met the tribal leaders? True, real politick is necessary, but the Americans and their allies in the Noori government have much longer to stay together, if at all staying the course is feasible. It is for this that many people recall how Britain had to deal with the IRA for a hundred years. In a world where IRA, yes, but Hamas and Iranisns, no, the Reformation is still needed in the West.
Monday, May 19, 2008
How to Fight Terror
The question how to fight terror should concern all right thinking Indians as well as others affected by the menace directly or remotely. But fighting terror should not be fighting ideology of those you consider your rivals or the “other”. Fighting terror should be your strategy and not your own warped ideology. Given this veritable although unpleasant truth as the rock foundation of fight against terrorism we must not indulge in fear peddling nor should we keep harping on what is skewed perception at the best.
Nowhere is this more pertinently true than in the zeal and enthusiasm shown in fighting what is generally called the jihadist terror. Terror itself does not make discrimination. The relatively easygoing concern for ULFA or Naxal terror is quite obvious. Those who are immediately in the vicinity of such a terror can only express their apprehension. Their concern is not shared with the political right or even the left. But the jihadist terror is another kettle of fish, at least in India.
The perception of the investigation or intelligence agencies also is equally skewed. Thus CBI says that there is a great difference between Malegaon blasts of 2006 and Jaipur blasts of 2008. The agency says that the explosions in Malegaon were calculated to produce less casualties than those in Jaipur.. This would imply that the terrorists wanted to minimize the toll in Malegaon but maximize it in Jaipur. As a matter of fact more than forty lost their life in Malegaon while 80 in Jaipur. But there is a vital factor that the agency does not consider. There were only three bombs which blew up in Malegaon, two in the cemetery and one in the Mushawarat chowk. In Jaipur there were eight bombs which exploded at five different places.
As far as the shibboleth of terror in India is concerned it is Afzal Guru. There is a fair amount of reason that Afzal Guru could also have been acquitted had an astute lawyer with legal acumen been available for him. As Sayyed Abdul Rehman Geelani could fortunately get support of excellent legal help and support of fellow teachers and students his innocence was made convincing in the court of law. There are certain dark areas in the mess up in which Afzal Guru found himself. Our assumption is and should be that if Afzal is guilty he should hang. There should be no ifs and buts there.
However the matter does not rest there. There are puzzling circumstances structurally built into the whole affair. Was he really employed by the special task force of the police? If so what task was he assigned to do just before the attack on the parliament of our country? He transported a would-be terrorist from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi and helped him obtain the car used in the attack. Who exactly used him and for what? There is a kind of idiocy and naiveté ascribed to him that makes him look like the retarded brother in law of The Secret Agent of Joseph Conrad who carried the bomb to the observatory. He was incapable of understanding what he was doing. No doubt Afzal is not mentally handicapped but what if he was used by someone? Who used him is more important.
We almost went to war with our neighbour Pakistan for the attack on Parliament. The US and allies attack on Iraq on the pretext of a bogus WMD and terrorist link has now made many Americans rue the day they went to war on so called terror in Iraq. With a hind sight it would be better that we do our home work with meticulous care before we rush to any conclusion. A lone convict in death row can wait as long as possible till those who are behind him are also caught and punished. Punish we must, we did it once in the case of Maqbool Butt. No one should doubt our resolve!
How much more stringent antiterrorist law could you make? The contemporary American laws in the matter of water boarding, all the three kinds of renditions, including the extraordinary, the Guantanamo detention without trial have all failed. More innocent people have suffered. Did Khwaja Yunus also go through water boarding? What killed this innocent citizen of our country? He came from a part of Maharashtra where de facto terrorist attacks have taken place. They have been brushed under the carpet of crackers. If the police selectively apply even the most stringent laws will it be effective? The fear is that more disaffection between people will be produced. And against what?
Despite this, the former lawyer and now a spokesperson of BJP Arun Jaitley has counted 5 reasons why we are unable to fight terror. One, the BJP ruled states want very strict laws against terror but the central government does not allow them to have such laws. In his sophistry he mentions Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh but does not mention Gujarat where even ordinary crimes are booked under Pota. Even so the attack on Akshardham had taken place. He mentions Maharashtra which has a law against organized crime. How does he forget that despite this law the explosions of bombs in Nanded in the house of RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP activists were cavalierly treated. Incidentally the Supreme Court recently came down heavily against booking the alleged culprits of bomb blasts of 2006 against the organized crime law. Two, the central government has failed to execute Afzal Guru. Three, those who allegedly burnt Sabarmati express are booked under Pota and yet the central government is helping them. Arun Jaitley does not specify what he means by help. He should not have better mentioned Gujarat. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had ignored the written letters of the President of India, KR Narayanan, on the situation in Gujarat at that height of the massacres of Muslims in 2002. Jaitley also mentions Madhya Pradesh. But he conveniently forgets that Mr Sreekumar was DIG of intelligence department of Gujarat police. He has mentioned in diary the details which would have damned any head of state elsewhere in the world. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh was no other than BJP President Rajnath Singh who was also entrusted with Home Department and he had not complied with the reporting of the unruly behaviour of the kar sevaks of the Sabarmati express which had passed through his state. Confessions of crime by people like Babu Bajrangi have been recorded on camera and yet nothing has happened. What greater Pota does Gujarat want? Even in the investigation of the burning of the train different inquiry commissions have found different versions of truth and the confessions of the alleged and also police statements have been changed and facts fabricated. Four, confession of alleged perpetrators is not taken as proof of their crime. Jaitley would like mere confession as admissible proof, and he a former lawyer at that! Five, the culprits are able to get bail easily. How short is our memory! The bomb blasts of Faizabad, Lucknow and Varanasi reveal that the alleged criminals were attacked by lawyers and their bail applications are pending because no lawyer can dare plead for them. This is not only unconstitutional but inhuman. Jaitley and his party would make this unconstitutional into a stringent law to fight terror. Perhaps this can be done otherwise. But then India would have to attack and annex a part of Sri Laka and create its own Guantanamo prison somewhere in Jaffna.
Spain did fight terrorism with convincing justification as far as the Madrid bombing is concerned. It did not take on the followers of any ideology per se. Nor did it pass any more stringent laws to deal with the situation. Australia did try to use extraordinary legal provision but then set Dr Haneef free although his cell phone card was used by his cousin who blew himself at the Glasgow airport. Dr Haneef himself was not involved. In the case of 7/11 metro bombing in England a brother of the main accused was set free which would be impossible if the kind of draconian law we want to enact here in our own country. There was no proof against him. His identity was not important there. But is the identity of an accused important here?
Nowhere is this more pertinently true than in the zeal and enthusiasm shown in fighting what is generally called the jihadist terror. Terror itself does not make discrimination. The relatively easygoing concern for ULFA or Naxal terror is quite obvious. Those who are immediately in the vicinity of such a terror can only express their apprehension. Their concern is not shared with the political right or even the left. But the jihadist terror is another kettle of fish, at least in India.
The perception of the investigation or intelligence agencies also is equally skewed. Thus CBI says that there is a great difference between Malegaon blasts of 2006 and Jaipur blasts of 2008. The agency says that the explosions in Malegaon were calculated to produce less casualties than those in Jaipur.. This would imply that the terrorists wanted to minimize the toll in Malegaon but maximize it in Jaipur. As a matter of fact more than forty lost their life in Malegaon while 80 in Jaipur. But there is a vital factor that the agency does not consider. There were only three bombs which blew up in Malegaon, two in the cemetery and one in the Mushawarat chowk. In Jaipur there were eight bombs which exploded at five different places.
As far as the shibboleth of terror in India is concerned it is Afzal Guru. There is a fair amount of reason that Afzal Guru could also have been acquitted had an astute lawyer with legal acumen been available for him. As Sayyed Abdul Rehman Geelani could fortunately get support of excellent legal help and support of fellow teachers and students his innocence was made convincing in the court of law. There are certain dark areas in the mess up in which Afzal Guru found himself. Our assumption is and should be that if Afzal is guilty he should hang. There should be no ifs and buts there.
However the matter does not rest there. There are puzzling circumstances structurally built into the whole affair. Was he really employed by the special task force of the police? If so what task was he assigned to do just before the attack on the parliament of our country? He transported a would-be terrorist from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi and helped him obtain the car used in the attack. Who exactly used him and for what? There is a kind of idiocy and naiveté ascribed to him that makes him look like the retarded brother in law of The Secret Agent of Joseph Conrad who carried the bomb to the observatory. He was incapable of understanding what he was doing. No doubt Afzal is not mentally handicapped but what if he was used by someone? Who used him is more important.
We almost went to war with our neighbour Pakistan for the attack on Parliament. The US and allies attack on Iraq on the pretext of a bogus WMD and terrorist link has now made many Americans rue the day they went to war on so called terror in Iraq. With a hind sight it would be better that we do our home work with meticulous care before we rush to any conclusion. A lone convict in death row can wait as long as possible till those who are behind him are also caught and punished. Punish we must, we did it once in the case of Maqbool Butt. No one should doubt our resolve!
How much more stringent antiterrorist law could you make? The contemporary American laws in the matter of water boarding, all the three kinds of renditions, including the extraordinary, the Guantanamo detention without trial have all failed. More innocent people have suffered. Did Khwaja Yunus also go through water boarding? What killed this innocent citizen of our country? He came from a part of Maharashtra where de facto terrorist attacks have taken place. They have been brushed under the carpet of crackers. If the police selectively apply even the most stringent laws will it be effective? The fear is that more disaffection between people will be produced. And against what?
Despite this, the former lawyer and now a spokesperson of BJP Arun Jaitley has counted 5 reasons why we are unable to fight terror. One, the BJP ruled states want very strict laws against terror but the central government does not allow them to have such laws. In his sophistry he mentions Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh but does not mention Gujarat where even ordinary crimes are booked under Pota. Even so the attack on Akshardham had taken place. He mentions Maharashtra which has a law against organized crime. How does he forget that despite this law the explosions of bombs in Nanded in the house of RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP activists were cavalierly treated. Incidentally the Supreme Court recently came down heavily against booking the alleged culprits of bomb blasts of 2006 against the organized crime law. Two, the central government has failed to execute Afzal Guru. Three, those who allegedly burnt Sabarmati express are booked under Pota and yet the central government is helping them. Arun Jaitley does not specify what he means by help. He should not have better mentioned Gujarat. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had ignored the written letters of the President of India, KR Narayanan, on the situation in Gujarat at that height of the massacres of Muslims in 2002. Jaitley also mentions Madhya Pradesh. But he conveniently forgets that Mr Sreekumar was DIG of intelligence department of Gujarat police. He has mentioned in diary the details which would have damned any head of state elsewhere in the world. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh was no other than BJP President Rajnath Singh who was also entrusted with Home Department and he had not complied with the reporting of the unruly behaviour of the kar sevaks of the Sabarmati express which had passed through his state. Confessions of crime by people like Babu Bajrangi have been recorded on camera and yet nothing has happened. What greater Pota does Gujarat want? Even in the investigation of the burning of the train different inquiry commissions have found different versions of truth and the confessions of the alleged and also police statements have been changed and facts fabricated. Four, confession of alleged perpetrators is not taken as proof of their crime. Jaitley would like mere confession as admissible proof, and he a former lawyer at that! Five, the culprits are able to get bail easily. How short is our memory! The bomb blasts of Faizabad, Lucknow and Varanasi reveal that the alleged criminals were attacked by lawyers and their bail applications are pending because no lawyer can dare plead for them. This is not only unconstitutional but inhuman. Jaitley and his party would make this unconstitutional into a stringent law to fight terror. Perhaps this can be done otherwise. But then India would have to attack and annex a part of Sri Laka and create its own Guantanamo prison somewhere in Jaffna.
Spain did fight terrorism with convincing justification as far as the Madrid bombing is concerned. It did not take on the followers of any ideology per se. Nor did it pass any more stringent laws to deal with the situation. Australia did try to use extraordinary legal provision but then set Dr Haneef free although his cell phone card was used by his cousin who blew himself at the Glasgow airport. Dr Haneef himself was not involved. In the case of 7/11 metro bombing in England a brother of the main accused was set free which would be impossible if the kind of draconian law we want to enact here in our own country. There was no proof against him. His identity was not important there. But is the identity of an accused important here?
Friday, May 16, 2008
Election and Religion :America
Marking the celebration of 60th birth anniversary of Israel the American President George Bush said in Jerusalem on Thursday May 15, 2008 that the Jewish state would be a flourishing democracy when it celebrates its 120th anniversary. His party’s nominee for the forthcoming election John McCain said that he would win the war in Iraq in four years and bring back the American troops in 2013. Why they are so optimistic and self assured? The answer is religion, and in essence the doctrine of premillennial dispensationalism.
There is plenty of proof that religion is ascendant in America as never before even at the time when the founding fathers had established the city of god on the rock. The world owes to the United States of America the invention of the concept of fundamentalism. The religious right are on the rise. Their voice is heard with rapt attention and thunderous applause. On February 26, 2008 the Christian preacher Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus and author of Silent No More remarked that the prophet of Islam was inspired by demon spirits and not by the living god. He called Islam a false religion, an antichrist religion. He reminded his guest of the occasion, the Republican nominee John McCain, and others that it was the historic duty of the US to destroy Islam. Through this kind of vociferous vitriol Parsley wanted to stagger his audience, he said. What he spoke and wrote in a chapter titled “Islam: The Deception of Allah” of his book is truly staggering:
“I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.” He goes on to say: "It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492…Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America." And this: "Allah was a demon spirit."
What is astonishing is that McCain embraced and praised Parsley. Neither did he protest nor did he condemn him. This is the same man who in 2000 election tried for nomination and had called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance." In 2004 Parsley’s evangelical followers in Ohio voted Bush for reelection. McCain sees the inevitability of the evangelicals including the Texas televangelist Reverend John Hagee who has called the Catholic Church as “the great whore” and a “false cult system”. Their antagonism to Islam and unflinching albeit uncritical support for Israel leads many to indulge in innuendos about Obama, Osama and the Somali Muslim ancestry of the former. Even so Obama is a friend of the stalwart ally that is Israel. Otherwise also no
There is plenty of proof that religion is ascendant in America as never before even at the time when the founding fathers had established the city of god on the rock. The world owes to the United States of America the invention of the concept of fundamentalism. The religious right are on the rise. Their voice is heard with rapt attention and thunderous applause. On February 26, 2008 the Christian preacher Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus and author of Silent No More remarked that the prophet of Islam was inspired by demon spirits and not by the living god. He called Islam a false religion, an antichrist religion. He reminded his guest of the occasion, the Republican nominee John McCain, and others that it was the historic duty of the US to destroy Islam. Through this kind of vociferous vitriol Parsley wanted to stagger his audience, he said. What he spoke and wrote in a chapter titled “Islam: The Deception of Allah” of his book is truly staggering:
“I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.” He goes on to say: "It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492…Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America." And this: "Allah was a demon spirit."
What is astonishing is that McCain embraced and praised Parsley. Neither did he protest nor did he condemn him. This is the same man who in 2000 election tried for nomination and had called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance." In 2004 Parsley’s evangelical followers in Ohio voted Bush for reelection. McCain sees the inevitability of the evangelicals including the Texas televangelist Reverend John Hagee who has called the Catholic Church as “the great whore” and a “false cult system”. Their antagonism to Islam and unflinching albeit uncritical support for Israel leads many to indulge in innuendos about Obama, Osama and the Somali Muslim ancestry of the former. Even so Obama is a friend of the stalwart ally that is Israel. Otherwise also no
one can dare to criticize Israel on crucial matters. Look at how the mainstream Americans ignore and berate the senior ombudsman and former President Jimmy Carter in his struggle to bring peace to the Middle East. His meeting Hamas leaders has not gone down well with the administration and the political leaders.
The overwhelming concern for Israel is because the evangelical Christians have enormous influence on the election outcome. They want Israel to be not just strong but dominating. President Bush was elected because of their support. Once John McCain had called the radical preachers as intolerant but now he is currying favour with them because he knows that he would need them to win.
According to the millennial dispensationalism doctrine there will be ingathering of the Jews of the world in Israel. Israel will reign supreme from the Nile to the Euphrates. The Jews will destroy the Dome of Rock [Aqsa mosque] to rebuild the original temple of Abraham. They would accept Christianity. There would be the Second Coming of Christ who would destroy the antichrist [read Muslims, in the context of the evangelicals of today]. This would be the last but one stage of the Biblical history. In the end all those who are redeemed would be swept away up to the heaven. Christ would rule a millennium thereafter. The religious right view this essential for their ultimate salvation.
When Bush attacked Obama without naming him he said that talking to ‘radicals’ and ‘terrorists’ is like the appeasement of Nazis in 1939. Hamas and Hezbollah are the new avatars of the antichrist. The implication is loud and clear. There would be no peace in the Middle East. Endorsing Obama, John Edwards spoke of tearing down walls that divide the Americans in matters relating to war and the Middle East. Would the man he has endorsed be able to do that?
The overwhelming concern for Israel is because the evangelical Christians have enormous influence on the election outcome. They want Israel to be not just strong but dominating. President Bush was elected because of their support. Once John McCain had called the radical preachers as intolerant but now he is currying favour with them because he knows that he would need them to win.
According to the millennial dispensationalism doctrine there will be ingathering of the Jews of the world in Israel. Israel will reign supreme from the Nile to the Euphrates. The Jews will destroy the Dome of Rock [Aqsa mosque] to rebuild the original temple of Abraham. They would accept Christianity. There would be the Second Coming of Christ who would destroy the antichrist [read Muslims, in the context of the evangelicals of today]. This would be the last but one stage of the Biblical history. In the end all those who are redeemed would be swept away up to the heaven. Christ would rule a millennium thereafter. The religious right view this essential for their ultimate salvation.
When Bush attacked Obama without naming him he said that talking to ‘radicals’ and ‘terrorists’ is like the appeasement of Nazis in 1939. Hamas and Hezbollah are the new avatars of the antichrist. The implication is loud and clear. There would be no peace in the Middle East. Endorsing Obama, John Edwards spoke of tearing down walls that divide the Americans in matters relating to war and the Middle East. Would the man he has endorsed be able to do that?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Terror Chooses Busiest Market at Busiest Hour
The seven blasts that rocked the pink city of Jaipur also wore off its charm and romance, at least for sometime to come. Known for its wonderful monuments the city was bustling as usual with tourists from all over the world. The sunset crowd at 7.12 was enjoying a whiff of cool air, one of the reasons of crowding, when tragedy struck. Among others: prayer, shopping and strolling. For the next fifteen minutes five hubs of public gathering became virtual inferno what with the dead lying on the roads and wounded crying in pain and almost every other person running in disorderly haste.
Are we caught in a vicious circle of reprisal as far as terrorism is concerned? A day before Jaipur is rocked by explosion; Hubli in Karnataka was scene of another explosion. That too, it was in the court set up for trying terror suspects.
Terror and politicking go hand in hand as is evident after every bomb blast. BJP president Rajnath Singh dubs Jaipur serial blasts as the work of Pakistan and describes it as ‘dangerous’. In a tow as is his wont Mukhtar Ahmed Naqvi calls the Prime Minister ‘weak’ and Home Minister a ‘coward’. They never bothered about it when their party-run Rajasthan state showed leniency in treating its police officer who bumped off Ram Prajapati, the accomplice of Sohrabuddin. That was no mean terror, though DIG Vanzara called it patriotism. Another part of mud slinging is that central government does not share intelligence with state governments. In the case of Ajmer the centre did alert Rajasthan government of possible attack.
The serial bombs exploded at a Hanuman temple in Tripolia Bazaar, Johari Bazaar, Manak Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal. Nearly 80 died and 150 were injured. DIG AS Gill said that cycles were used to blow up the bombs. The gleaming cycles in the wreckage remind you of the ones used in Malegaon serial blasts at a mosque adjoining a cemetery and a nearby crowded chowk in September 2006. The IG of Jaipur said that there were eight blasts which went off in just over ten minutes.
As a knee jerk reaction the Intelligence Bureau pointed finger at Harkut-ul Jihad al Islami (of course by now the familiar acronym HuJI)—like a sudden involuntary reflex movement.
There are also self start groups of terrorists. They are modules. A module is each of a set of standardized parts or independent units that can be used to construct a more complex structure. This dictionary meaning of the word seems to be lost on the Intelligence Bureau. Even before reaching the site of the latest attack the bureau says in a chorus that it is the work of HuJI. Even before the details emerge you can hear the chant emanating from mostly Delhi. Jaipur is full 160 miles from there. But the announcement almost coincides with the event.
In the case of Madrid bombing of March 2004 humongous blame ala IB that al Qaeda was behind the attack was belied. A group of immigrants having no links to any terrorist group let alone the most dreaded chose to target trains. They chose what was easily had through some venal adjustment.
Bicycles stationary or parked are currently in use in our country. On the fringe of the crowds praying in a cemetery in Malegaon or the milling crowd around a temple in Jaipur, they can play havoc. But the question is where the security and intelligence people were. A new bicycle should be as much an object of suspicion as an abandoned bag. After Malegaon and Gorakhpur and Faizabad the security personnel should have been instructed into what to look out for. Ammonium nitrate and ball bearing and small pipes as splinters go as standard constituents of easily made bombs assembled at short notice. They can be put in containers and loaded on to new bicycles. They are sure recipe of destruction.
In Malegaon the buyers of the cycle did not ride them. They walked nearly a kilometer from the shop with the explosive material on the cycles. Yet this did not draw attention of the police and intelligence department personnel. A mammoth crowd as at the Hanuman mandir at Tripolia bazaar must have been impossible for the culprits to walk through.
Ajmer draws the attention of the world for the renowned shrine of Khwaja Chisti and Jaipur for its romantic monuments like the hawa mahal and numerous others. Tourist centres or environs were free from the menace of terrorism so far at least outside Delhi. This will be the first jolt to tourist industry. The heart of the old city is also the heart of tourism in Jaipur and in the whole of Rajasthan. The city is one of the three corners of the so called Golden Triangle of tourism in India, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Anyone visiting Rajasthan also visits the old part of the city. Choosing the shrine and the temples the unmistakable handwriting on the wall is clearly decipherable. There are people who do not want to see that we Indians live together. Therefore we must rise to the occasion in a national spirit of unity and solidarity.
However, the ground reality is different, 15 areas of the city are under curfew 9 to 6 for fear of communal riot. The day time curfew is a sort of ominous barometer of our civil life. This surely had not happened in a proverbially violence prone and intermittently communally charged Malegaon. Hindus and Muslims together donated blood and faced what turned out to be a nightmare where scores of children and women were killed.
Are we caught in a vicious circle of reprisal as far as terrorism is concerned? A day before Jaipur is rocked by explosion; Hubli in Karnataka was scene of another explosion. That too, it was in the court set up for trying terror suspects.
Terror and politicking go hand in hand as is evident after every bomb blast. BJP president Rajnath Singh dubs Jaipur serial blasts as the work of Pakistan and describes it as ‘dangerous’. In a tow as is his wont Mukhtar Ahmed Naqvi calls the Prime Minister ‘weak’ and Home Minister a ‘coward’. They never bothered about it when their party-run Rajasthan state showed leniency in treating its police officer who bumped off Ram Prajapati, the accomplice of Sohrabuddin. That was no mean terror, though DIG Vanzara called it patriotism. Another part of mud slinging is that central government does not share intelligence with state governments. In the case of Ajmer the centre did alert Rajasthan government of possible attack.
The serial bombs exploded at a Hanuman temple in Tripolia Bazaar, Johari Bazaar, Manak Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal. Nearly 80 died and 150 were injured. DIG AS Gill said that cycles were used to blow up the bombs. The gleaming cycles in the wreckage remind you of the ones used in Malegaon serial blasts at a mosque adjoining a cemetery and a nearby crowded chowk in September 2006. The IG of Jaipur said that there were eight blasts which went off in just over ten minutes.
As a knee jerk reaction the Intelligence Bureau pointed finger at Harkut-ul Jihad al Islami (of course by now the familiar acronym HuJI)—like a sudden involuntary reflex movement.
There are also self start groups of terrorists. They are modules. A module is each of a set of standardized parts or independent units that can be used to construct a more complex structure. This dictionary meaning of the word seems to be lost on the Intelligence Bureau. Even before reaching the site of the latest attack the bureau says in a chorus that it is the work of HuJI. Even before the details emerge you can hear the chant emanating from mostly Delhi. Jaipur is full 160 miles from there. But the announcement almost coincides with the event.
In the case of Madrid bombing of March 2004 humongous blame ala IB that al Qaeda was behind the attack was belied. A group of immigrants having no links to any terrorist group let alone the most dreaded chose to target trains. They chose what was easily had through some venal adjustment.
Bicycles stationary or parked are currently in use in our country. On the fringe of the crowds praying in a cemetery in Malegaon or the milling crowd around a temple in Jaipur, they can play havoc. But the question is where the security and intelligence people were. A new bicycle should be as much an object of suspicion as an abandoned bag. After Malegaon and Gorakhpur and Faizabad the security personnel should have been instructed into what to look out for. Ammonium nitrate and ball bearing and small pipes as splinters go as standard constituents of easily made bombs assembled at short notice. They can be put in containers and loaded on to new bicycles. They are sure recipe of destruction.
In Malegaon the buyers of the cycle did not ride them. They walked nearly a kilometer from the shop with the explosive material on the cycles. Yet this did not draw attention of the police and intelligence department personnel. A mammoth crowd as at the Hanuman mandir at Tripolia bazaar must have been impossible for the culprits to walk through.
Ajmer draws the attention of the world for the renowned shrine of Khwaja Chisti and Jaipur for its romantic monuments like the hawa mahal and numerous others. Tourist centres or environs were free from the menace of terrorism so far at least outside Delhi. This will be the first jolt to tourist industry. The heart of the old city is also the heart of tourism in Jaipur and in the whole of Rajasthan. The city is one of the three corners of the so called Golden Triangle of tourism in India, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Anyone visiting Rajasthan also visits the old part of the city. Choosing the shrine and the temples the unmistakable handwriting on the wall is clearly decipherable. There are people who do not want to see that we Indians live together. Therefore we must rise to the occasion in a national spirit of unity and solidarity.
However, the ground reality is different, 15 areas of the city are under curfew 9 to 6 for fear of communal riot. The day time curfew is a sort of ominous barometer of our civil life. This surely had not happened in a proverbially violence prone and intermittently communally charged Malegaon. Hindus and Muslims together donated blood and faced what turned out to be a nightmare where scores of children and women were killed.
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