Saladin Incarnate, President Bush
Zachary Latif 21:18
If I were a Hindu and truly believed that the heroes of the past took form in the present age then it would be not be hard for me to consider President Bush the incarnate of Saladdin, the Kurdish general revered throughout the lands of Islam. This is not a war against Islam but a war for Islam as the liberation of Basra has taught us. My increasing empathy for American soldiers risking their lives for an alien people is fuelled by the hope of a thriving civilisation reestablishing itself on the banks of the Tigris. Baghdad will once again take its role as the capital of Islam, with Kerbala and An-Najaf as the minarets bellowing the cry of freedom to the oppressed Shi'ites of the world.
Peculiarly some fail to see this and only a week ago was this brought to home in my very own living room when my father was entertaining guests. The discussion wended its way to the war on Iraq and there was an overt anti-Americanism displayed by our guests, in contrast towards the decided partiality oft displayed by my father and myself. Paradoxically as Pakistanis we were justifying American action to an Etonian (who had a command of the English language, befitting his education) and an American passport holder. At any rate their flimsy argument, predicated on emotional bias, rested upon a few flawed premises, which could be summed up as thus:
„X Everything that went wrong in the world is attributable to America because as a hegemon it should have prevented any sort of mishaps.
„X America is wrong to interfere in the sovereignty of other nations.
„X America as a nation-state should not have override the United Nations and in effect negated the entire institution.
„X America proceeds with an undeserved arrogance.
„X America as a hyperpower should be held to a higher standard than other countries.
„X America's support of Israel implies that it lacks an empathy towards Islam.
Of course I consider these statements to be rather ill-conceived and indicative of a biased opinion. My argument that America was a benevolent hyper power, in comparison to its predecessors such as the British Empire, the Roman Empire and Napoleon, was rather ill-received. However I further qualified that statement by laying down my own premise, which was:
America as a hyper power still acts in the best interests of its 200mn or so citizens. Thus it will continue to operate in a manner to secure, rather engineer given its tremendous powers, a global environment that will be conducive to the progression of its own people. This is national self-interest and axiomatic basis for foreign policy.
However in marked contrast to its dynastic predecessors, America had a direct accountability to its citizens (as opposed to subjects) and therefore evolved a system that allowed for checks and balances to prevent systematic exploitation. This inhibited the strain of totalitarianism and autocracy so often unchecked in other nations.
America in defining its foreign policy has placed ¡§stability¡¨ and preservation of civilization as the foremost priority. Thus the fluidic definition has allowed the Americans to systematically perceive their greatest threats to a stability & civilization and accordingly use everything at their disposal to neutralize them. Consequently the Americans struck a deal with the Soviet to rid the world of Hitler, and then nurtured the Jehadis of Afghanistan to counteract the Soviet invasion. Saddam may have been an ally at a time when theocratic Iran was a threat however given the fluidity of geopolitics currently he poses a greater threat to civilization than his immediate neighbors. Ipso facto Osama Bin Laden was given covert support by the CIA because during the 80¡¦s he was a frontline defense against the Soviets. At the time he was the lesser of the two evils and thus American foreign policy has operated in such manner to counteract the ¡§greater of the two evils¡¨.
There is no contradiction or inchoate logic to American foreign policy. Having consistently pursued these directives, it has tried to secure a globe that is amenable to the American Grand Strategy.
This grandiose phrase can be reduced to a few key aims such as to effect a closer economic cooperation amongst nations, promote a democratic-capitalistic ideology whenever possible, make the world safer for Americans, to ensure regional stability and to prevent the outbreak of armed conflict. This Grand Strategy has been fundamental to the evolution of our world from 1945 and can be rated as an outstanding success.
American citizens have been shielded and removed from the horrific realities of the world, notwithstanding isolated events like September 11. The flame of hatred may be fuelled in the lands of Islam however if it were not for the State of Israel (mind you readers this is not a qualitative judgment on Israel but rather a factual statement) and my theorizing of ¡§Boujloud¡¨. Nontheless as I hope to discuss soon there is a multi-faceted response to America amongst Muslims that cannot be characterized as merely odium.
America is Islam¡¦s greatest friend and it is the benevolent power that has allowed for millions of Muslims to prosper and survive. Islam can thanks America for it¡¦s survival in the Balkans where Belgrade, the Zion of Orthodox Christianity, was bombed to preserve the Muslims populaces of the Balkans.
As for the United Nations lacks the requisite efficacy to ever become pivotal to global order especially when totalitarian China has tremendous leverage over the proceedings of the Security Council. Technically the United Nations should have sanctioned an invasion of India for not adhering to the relevant Resolutions on Kashmir!
Anyone who displays enmity towards the United States, attacks the very beacon of light that illumines our dreary world. It is the lighthouse by which other nations can find their way in the turbulent ocean of geopolitics.
Zachary Latif 23:52
No Comment.
The Brits have taken Basra, the Americans are deep inside Baghdad and now there's talk of a post-Saddam Iraqi coalition government. It seems that the war isn't proceeding as planned, in fact it's better than expected. The Basra Shi'ites were cheering British forces and over the next few days will share with the rest of the world their experiences under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. The propaganda war will be won by the Anglo-Americans as the local Iraqis come out in favour of these liberating troops. It seems reconstruction is the topic of the day and I'll try to be more regular with my postings.
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