This week heralds the fifth anniversary of the heinous attacks of Sept. 11 and hails the half decade in which the entire world has seen itself become embroiled in a constant state of war. A “war on terror” devised under the combined “intelligence” (make of that what you will) of US President George W. Bush (who in a rare moment of wisdom said: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we”) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A global war that has overseen the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the pulverizing of Lebanon and the virtual imprisonment of 1.5 million people in Gaza. It is a war that has claimed the lives of an estimated 72,265 people, mostly Iraqi civilians. It is a war that has been justified on the basis of bringing safety and security to the world and democracy to the Middle East. But, hey! Not everything always goes to plan.
Remember the senseless, deceitful and juvenile rhetoric of Bush, Blair and their henchmen that characterized the facile approach to the invasion of Iraq three-and-a-half years ago? Who can forget the bogeyman-hallucinations that haunted them of the so-called “weapons of mass destruction” or the equally delusional promise of the “liberating forces” being welcomed with roses on the streets of Baghdad?
With 3,000 civilians dying every month, Uncle George and Auntie Condi have changed their tune. Gone is the promise of peace and security, but instead we are being sold the peril of potential failure. Never under the tough sanctions imposed by the international community during the rule of Saddam Hussein did the Iraqi people suffer as they do now. And for those of you who quite rightly opposed this dictator’s despotic rule let us not forget who supported him in the first place (it was Donald Rumsfeld who was sharing a cup of tea with him while the Kurds were being gassed in the North).
The country is plagued by violence on a scale that was previously inconceivable. With severely inadequate water supplies, in spite of Bechtel receiving a $100 million contract to put things right, and a crumbling infrastructure further crippled by insurgent attacks, things don’t appear to be as rosy or rose-filled as we were told they would be.
The US government’s promise of “flourishing industry” appears to have been directed at those specializing in the kidnapping trade. Nice business opportunities there. But aside from the $50 billion worth of contracts awarded to US companies there doesn’t appear to be much evidence of prosperity or progress toward peace. Unless, of course, you key into the equation the exemplary behavior of the US military who were found guilty in a recent Red Cross investigation of “a pattern of indiscriminate arrests involving brutal behavior toward suspects and their families, including elderly, handicapped or sick people.”
Oh and I forgot to mention the occasional gang-rape of an Iraqi minor by bored American soldiers. Details, details! If facts were important enough there would never have been a war in the first place, but evidence is, as we have seen, irrelevant in the context of the Middle East. And the spoilsports who force our righteous and capable leaders to take it into account are so dreary and unimaginative.
Equally arrogant was the stance adopted by the British government that the deployment of a few of their men in green would be enough to terrify the Taleban into pant-wetting unilateral surrender accompanied by the statement made by their former Secretary of Defense John Reid who claimed that his troops would come back from Afghanistan “without a shot being fired”. (Tell that to the families of the 36 servicemen who have lost their lives there.) Two international think-tanks have reported that under the current campaign against the Taleban “the Afghans are starving”. A popular method of eliminating undesirable populations. Just look at what’s happening in Gaza. It takes a bit longer than the more efficient bombing sorties used in Lebanon, but still does the trick.
And now, as if the Middle East has not been screwed up enough we have the thinly-veiled US threat against Iran to contend with. The charge? Iran might be thinking of developing nuclear weapons five to ten years from now. The evidence? Come off it! Do you honestly think that Uncle Bush and Auntie Condi are going to allow “evidence” to get in the way of things? All they have to do is follow the wonderful model of Iraq. Demonize the president: Check. Create the myth that just because we haven’t found stuff there “might” still be some: Check. Convince everyone that the country’s denial of a nuclear program means they definitely have one but “might” not be telling us: Check. After all “might” must be dealt with might and so what if they’re wrong? Anyone heard Uncle George’s compilation CD with the hummable track “Nothing’s gonna stop us now”? Once the bombing starts we can all sing along to his favorite Britney Spears song “Oops! I did it again.”
If anything, the “war on terror” has only served to fuel extremism and plunge the world into a frenzy of fear and anxiety. One-sixth of the world’s population is Muslim and Islam is not a terrorist organization. Waving a magic wand is not going to make a billion people disappear. And as for the term “Islamo-fascist”! The jargon definition used by MIT is that of a computer system with excessive or annoying security barriers or access policies. Applied to a place does it sound like somewhere we know? Perhaps someone should buy Uncle George an updated dictionary for his birthday.
(Lubna Hussain is a Saudi writer. She is based in Riyadh.)
