Opinion Editorials, November 2014

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A “war of religion” is unfolding, with a view to justifying a global military crusade. In the inner consciousness of many Americans, the “holy crusade” against Muslims is justified. While President Obama may uphold freedom of religion, the US inquisitorial social order has institutionalized patterns of discrimination, prejudice and xenophobia directed against Muslims.” 
(Michel Chossudovsky, “America's Holy Crusade against the Muslim World.” Global Research: 8/30/2010).
 
American War Agenda and Killing of Humanity
 
To the US bankrupt economy, war is a good business.  All wars kill human beings. Across the Iraq and Syrian war theatres, aerial bombing and shelling are destroying the human habitats and the ecological systems. Millions of Arabs have been displaced and murdered by the US-led military interventions. The panicky acts of belligerency represent a sadistic foreign policy towards the Arab world. The US war agenda aims at killing of the Arabs not taking preventive measures to stop the ISIS advances or using diplomacy to pursue peace talks. The Arab coalition lacks sense of rationality of the US proxy war to undermine the freedom of Palestine and to occupy the oil producing Arab countries. The mindless Arab rulers are collaborating in a war against Islam. All international institutions are defying logic and their responsibility in protecting the lives of entrenched human beings and natural environment. Is man that ignorant and wicked and knows not how to ensure his own futuristic sustainability?

The UNO and other global political powers are utterly a failure in preventing major conflicts from happening. The weapon sales to oil exporting Arab rulers are the hallmark of American-European policies of militarization. Most global institutions are manned by those people lacking rational understanding of the interests and priorities of the global community. Some have no potentials and talents to be effective and intelligent leaders. Once again, the global political culture is culminating dark clouds of vengeful animosities demonstrating failure of rational thinking and intelligence apparatus. Everywhere egoistic political interests assume greater importance than the survival and interests of the global mankind. Unjustifiable killing of one human being is equal to killing of the whole of mankind.

Former FBI agent Coleen Rawley asks “Why do Americans hate beheadings but love drone killings?” (HuffingtonPost: 9/28/2014): The answer lies in human psychology. And probably like the old observation about history, people who refuse to understand human psychology are doomed to be victims of psychological manipulation. War has never been a prelude to peacemaking. Internationally acclaimed scholar Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics and philosophy at MIT speaks of America as the leading force of global terrorism (“America, the World’s Leading # 1 Terrorism State: Cunning of Reason: 11/3/2014), and notes that ‘U.S. covert operations routinely resemble acts of terrorism’ and adds that: Jihadism's most fearsome current manifestation is the Islamic State, or ISIS, which has established its murderous caliphate in large areas of Iraq and Syria. "I think the United States is one of the key creators of this organization," reports former CIA analyst Graham Fuller, a prominent commentator on the region. "The United States did not plan the formation of ISIS," he adds, "but its destructive interventions in the Middle East and the War in Iraq were the basic causes of the birth of ISIS." To this we may add the world's greatest terrorist campaign: Obama's global project of assassination of "terrorists." The "resentment-generating impact" of those drone and special-forces strikes should be too well known to require further comment.
 
The mankind has realized that politics is a game of pretension and always remains problematic. Politicians need problems to get public attention. The global community is not a silent spectator but understands the deliberate destruction of humanity in Iraq-Syria and has the capacity to challenge the politically imperiled insensitivity to universal accord and brutality of Terrorism of Wars. Professor Noam Chomsky outlines how Obama administration continued the anti-human policies and practices of the George Bush era: “America is Running the Worlds Largest Terrorism Operation.” Global Research: 4/22/2014): “The Obama administration is dedicated to increasing terrorism. In fact, it’s doing it all over the world.  Obama is running the biggest terrorist operation that exists, maybe in history:  the drone assassination campaigns, which are just part of it [...] All of these operations, they are terror operations.” Professor Chomsky has previously extensively documented U.S. terrorism and concluded that the global rise in state terror was a result of U.S. foreign policy. In 1991, a book edited by Alexander L. George [the Graham H. Stuart Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Stanford University] also argued that other Western powers sponsored terror in Third World countries. It concluded that the U.S. and its allies were the main supporters of terrorism throughout the world.

Is ‘war a good business’ wonders Bill Dores ("War is Good for Business": Big Oil, Wall Street and the Pentagon's "New Cold War" Against Russia: Global Research: 5/8/2014):  The U.S. invasion of Iraq devastated that country. And it hit hard at working class and oppressed communities in the United States. For Big Oil and Wall Street it was a bonanza….Energy is the world's most profitable commodity…Then there is the heart of the system -- Wall Street itself. Bankers and politicians know that war and crisis abroad drive capital into the United States, cutting the deficit, propping up the dollar and helping keep U.S. banks at the center of the world economy.

Are the Arab Masses Waiting for Salahuddin Al-Ayoubi?

The core issue of the Arab Middle East is not the bombing of ISIS or Shiia-Sunnis sectarian bloodbaths. These consequential developments are the outcomes of decade old American-British military aggression and occupation of Iraq. The ISIL or other groups do not have the capacity to change the governments in Iraq and Syria. The focal problem is the establishment of an independent State of Palestine and recognition of the State of Israel and normalization of relations between the Arab states and Israel. Nothing has happened to change the continuing status quo and occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza by Israel. Are the Arab people waiting for a Salahudeen Ayoubi to come and rescue them from political annihilation?  Paul Laurdee (“Waiting for  Waiting for Saladin (Salahuddin Al-Ayoubi)” Dissident Voice: 3/27/2013), one of the founders of the Free Gaza and Free Palestine Movements and an organizer in the International Solidarity Movement points out that:  Palestinians have a long history of resistance to occupation, expulsion and ethnic cleansing… Every struggle in the world – whether successful or unsuccessful – has included a combination of armed and nonviolent resistance in varying proportions. If it can be argued that armed resistance has failed in Palestine, so has nonviolent resistance…. Should Palestinians wait for a champion to recover Palestine from the Zionist invaders much as Salahuddin Al-Ayoubi (known in the West as Saladin) liberated Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine after 88 years of Crusader rule?
The Arab world and Israel have lost many opportunities to strike peace accord. More than fifty years of so called peace talks sound an insult to conventional wisdom. Israel is not at peace with occupation of Palestine. The divided and leaderless Palestinians lack coherent strategy of peace. Where would the peace come from?  If there were people of new generation - young and educated people of vision and peaceful change, both Palestinians and Israelis could have resolved the major political conflicts. How strange, Muslims believe that Jews and Christians are part of the Islamic faith originating with Prophet Abraham. Yet, they breathe in conflicting time zones and cannot face each other as normal human beings at dinner tables or interactive social communication to talk and come up with workable solution. When would they realize to be conscientious human beings rather than political actors? Perpetuated animosities and occupation of Palestine have crippled their inward minds and souls to exit the hatred and fear box and to see beyond the obvious horizon to make peace.
 
The oil producing Arab leaders operate from a position of weakness not strength in global affairs. America enjoys some influence but the lobbyists control its political nerves and thinking hubs. For the last few weeks, East Jerusalem is again a scene of tragic events, firing on civilians, running street battles and killings outside the Al-Aqsa Masjid. Should the future generations be captive of the political adversaries of today’s politics? Both need focused minds and souls to replace insane behaviors with respect and human dignity. To counter-balance Israel political activism, Arab masses should phase-out the dormant and dummy leaders and phase-in educated and intelligent people of young generation. The need is urgent for both Palestinians and Israelis to resume peace talks with an honest commitment and time table to end the occupation and hostilities and to establish State of Palestine and to ensure both nations could complement a peaceful co-existence and future. Is reconciliation and peacemaking possible by direct negotiations between the parties? Yes, given the will and sincerity of purpose, all man-made problems are solvable. Late Professor Edward Said (Peace and its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Peace Process. Random House, 1996) was a visionary and enriched with proactive thoughts and a truly dedicated intellectual and active warrior for the freedom of Palestine:  “I sincerely believe in reconciliation between peoples and cultures in collision, and have made it my life’s work to try to further that end. But true reconciliation cannot be imposed, neither can it occur between cultures and societies that are enormously uneven in power. The kind of reconciliation that can bring real peace can only occur between equals, between partners whose independence, strength of purpose, and inner cohesion allows them fully to understand and share with the other.”
 
Arab Leadership’s Entrapment

To control the oil supplies, undermine the freedom of Palestine and enhance the political imperatives of Israel, the American bombing will entrap and destroy the entire Arab region. There are no Arab armies to fight for the cause of Islam. The so called Arab armies are manned by foreigners to protect the palaces, not the people of Palestine. There are no Arab leaders to offer moral and intellectual security to Muslims. The oil exporting Arab leaders have no integrity to claim success on any issues in global affairs. What happened to their Islamic culture, values and glorious civilization? Was the petro-dollar prosperity a conspiracy (“fitna”) to disconnect the Arab people to Islamic civilization?  Syria and Egypt are the current instances where people have risen against the military dictatorship. Would the future generations free of foreign captivity hold these monsters accountable for their infested crimes and political cruelty? History is witness that when aggressive leaders challenge the sanctity of the Laws of God governing the earth and the living Universe, and invade other nations, they ultimately meet their own end by natural causes such earthquakes, flooding, tornados, exploding lavas, sound blasts, lightning and lot more. There is no denying but a fact of life that this is how some of the most powerful nations vanished. The US anti-gun lobby asserts that approximately 32,000 American are killed every year by home grown violence. The Iraq-Afghanistan war veterans continue to commit suicide at an alarming rate of 18-25 per day (“Why do soldiers commit suicide and Global Warlords.” Uncommon Thought Journal: 4/14/2014). Are these not the major political issues which should be addressed by the US politicians and Congress rather than continuing Iraq war?
 
How to Stop the Madness of War and Restore Normalcy?

The US and British are responsible for much of Iraq’s planned destruction, increased sectarian violence and dismantling of the economic-political infrastructures. During the decade long occupation, they invested heavily in sectarian violence and destruction of the civic system of governance. American-led bombing will help to sustain the Arab authoritarianism and increased militarization of the region. But none knows the consequences of their own follies except God.
 
The mankind is experiencing the scourge of unwarranted wars. How could we- the conscientious human beings protect the mankind from continuing aggression of the few warmongers?  The 21st century complex political, social and humanitarian conflicts and the encompassing opportunities warrant new thinking, new leaders and new political visions for change, conflict management and participatory future-making. The global warlords represent cruel mindset incapable to see the human side of the living conscience. Madness of the perpetuated war on terrorism and its triggered insanity knows no bound across the global spectrum. Animals do not commit massacre of their kind and species, nor set-up rape camps for the war victims, the Western led wars against the humanity have and continue to do so at an unparallel  global scale without being challenged by any global organizations or leaders. Torture and massacres of innocent civilians are convenient fun games to be defined as “collateral damage” and a statistic. Every beginning has its end. It is just that most powerful nations have failed to learn from the living history. Be it Obama, David Cameroon, Merkel or the new Iraqi PM Haider Al-Abadi, none have the understanding of peaceful co-existence in a God-given splendid and living Universe. To reflect on the Nature of Things, the universe encompasses many challenging opposites which coexist and operate in peace and harmony:  time, space, sun, moon, gravitational rotation of the earth, greed and honesty, good and evil, fire, water, air, sand, floods etc. How is it that Man - a chief creation of God cannot co-exist with fellow Man?  Is Man by nature a blood thirsty creature? 
 
To challenge the deafening silence of the US, West Europeans and of all the authoritarian rulers of the Arab Middle East, the humanity must find ways and means to look beyond the obvious and troublesome horizons dominated by the few warlords. The sadistic leaders have plagued the landscape with daily massacres, displacement of civilians and refugees, barbarity against Arab culture and civilizations, destruction of the habitats and natural environment as if there were no rational being populating the God’s created living Universe. More than 3 millions Syrian refugees live under sub-human conditions in UN camps. Iran has reportedly sent “Quds Guards” and “Badr Brigade” to fight and defend the Iraqi Shiite regime. It will not be in the interest of Iran or the Muslim world to intervene based on any sectarian loyalty. The crises in Iraq and Syria warrant critical rethinking and proactive response not a hasty reaction to dispatch armed groups to side with one or another sectarian force. Iran would stand to lose more than it can imagine gaining within the Islamic context.  
 
The international institutions have failed to carry the trust of the humanity for peacemaking and normalization of affairs. There are no global organizations managed by people of moral and intellectual vision and courage to serve the interests of informed mankind. The global community should initiate an Urgent Action Plan to organize a delegation of morally and intellectually credible and visionary citizens to visit the region and facilitate listening and learning towards crisis management and humanitarian peacemaking in the Arab world. Such an organized group of global peacemakers could include Noam Chomsky, Kofi Annan, Grand Ayatollah Al-Sadr, Bishop Tutto, Paul Craig Roberts, Dr. Kaukab Siddiqui, Medea Benjamin, Mohammad Ali, Reverend Jessie Jackson and a representative of Pope Francis. Where international political institutions have failed, the will of the global community could facilitate unthinkable and feasible solutions. Iraq and Syrian conflicts needs people of new vision and proactive ideas to cope with multiple scopes of the political and humanitarian crises and to seek workable solutions away from the entrenched political box of the few warmongers.
 
(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution, and comparative Western-Islamic cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest one: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity  in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, May 2012).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

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