GANDHI AND US-ISRAELI CULT OF VIOLENCE.pdf

GANDHI AND US-ISRAELI CULT OF VIOLENCE
K Gajendra Singh
http://www.uruknet. info/?p=m40989&hd=&size=1&l=e
It would be a good idea.' Mahatma Gandhi, when asked about his views on western
culture.
Arun Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and the founder of the M K Gandhi
Institute for Nonviolence was forced to resign from the institute attached to
Rochester University following accusations of being anti-Semitic. He had written on
7 January in the Washington Post,
"Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence"
"Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience -- a
German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example
of a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to
repulse friends. The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual
who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems
to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world
must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode but
when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on , the regret turns into
anger.
"The Jewish identity in the future appears bleak. Any nation that remains anchored
to the past is unable to move ahead and, especially a nation that believes its
survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs. In Tel Aviv in 2004 I had the
opportunity to speak to some Members of Parliament and Peace activists all of
whom argued that the Wall and the military build-up was necessary to protect the
nation and the people. In other words, I asked, you believe that you can create a
snake pit -- with many deadly snakes in it -- and expect to live in the pit secure and
alive? What do you mean? They countered. Well, with your superior weapons and
armaments and your attitude towards your neighbors would it not be right to say
that you are creating a snake pit? How can anyone live peacefully in such an
atmosphere? Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you?"
The Post generated hundreds of comments, many of them accusing Arun Gandhi of
bigotry despite an apology he posted later. The university president Joel Seligman
described the resignation "appropriate" and added;
"I was surprised and deeply disappointed by Arun Gandhi's recent opinion piece in
the Washington Post blog, On Faith. I believe that his subsequent apology
inadequately explains his stated views, which seem fundamentally inconsistent with
the core values of the University of Rochester.
"In particular I vehemently disagree with his singling out of Israel and the Jewish
people to blame for the "Culture of Violence" that he believes is eventually going to
destroy humanity. This kind of stereotyping is inconsistent with our core values and
would be inappropriate when applied to any race, any religion, any nationality, or
either gender."
Clearly the university was under heavy pressure. "I think it's shameful that a peace
institute would be headed up by a bigot," said Abraham H. Foxman, national
director of the Anti-Defamation League, an international group that opposes anti-
Semitism. "One would hope that the grandson of such an illustrious human being
would be more sensitive to Jewish history."
In his resignation letter, Arun Gandhi said that his essay "was couched in language
that was hurtful and contrary to the principles of nonviolence. My intention was to
generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation of violence. Clearly I did not
achieve my goal. Instead, unintentionally, my words have resulted in pain, anger,
confusion and embarrassment. "
An association of Hindus in USA also castigated Arun Gandhi's essay' So you can
see the power of the Jewish Lobby in USA. If Arun Gandhi believed in what he said
then like Mahatma Gandhi he should have done Satyagraha ( insisted on truth ) and
then resigned.
What Mahatma Gandhi said about Israel in 1938 – "A crime against humanity"
Commenting on the campaign by imperial powers and Zionist groups to found Israel
on Palestinian land, Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his paper Harijan on Nov. 26, 1938:
"My sympathies are all with the Jews. They have been the untouchables of
Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of
untouchables by Hindus is very close.
"But my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the
national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is
sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return
to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country
their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?
"Palestine belongs to Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English
or France to the French. It's wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs.
What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of
conduct. It would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that
Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home. The
nobler course would be to insist on a just treatment of the Jews wherever they are
born and bred."
Holy wars among Patriarch Abraham's successors and followers
If one studies books on religion and religious leaders by various authors including
Karen Armstrong , her books 'The Battle for the God' (which concentrates on
Protestant fundamentalism in the United States, Jewish fundamentalism in Israel,
and Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran, with historical and multiple insights
into present day problems and clashes) and 'Holy Wars, among the followers of the
three revealed religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, prove that their history is
full of many instances of violence. In wars among themselves, against each other
and the ' others', religion formed an important motivation unlike other religions and
people . Religions like Hinduism , Sikhism and Buddhism mostly resorted to
religion, when under attack by the zealots of the Abrahamic religions . Of course in
all wars of conquest, homo sapiens' greed for the others' wealth, land, property and
women and children to enslave , was and remains the major objective and
motivation .
The "culture of violence " or rather the 'cult of violence' is bringing about a strategic
transformation in the world, as in the past , through gory wars and brutal
occupation, engineering devastating human suffering and killings, colossal
destruction with serious and long lasting environmental degradation and damage .
In this current human folly, USA and Israel are the top dogs , the greatest predators
, perpetrators of violence and threat to world peace , human life and environment .
They describe their illegal invasions and occupation as 'war against terror 'while in
fact they are indulging in blatant state terrorism.
Three years ago, Israel's ally like friend Turkey openly and repeatedly decried Tel
Aviv's actions in Gaza and elsewhere as state terrorism , irked by Israel's activities
among Kurds in north Iraq which would have destabilized the region and provide
impetus to violence and terrorism against Iraq's neighbours .Israel and US neo-
cons believe in creating 'chaos' ,which they can then exploit with the might of the
'culture of violence' . The state of Israel is but a military-industry complex with very
close relationship with the mother complex in USA .Tel Aviv ,ruled mostly by former
military men believes in 'Maximalist ' solution under apartheid like conditions in
occupied lands ( even Jimmy Carter said so and was heckled by the Israel and
Jewish lobby in USA ) and ethnic cleansing .It has no desire yet to make peace with
its neighbours and live in security , in spite of firm and guaranteed offers of security
and diplomatic relations by Arab nations .It continues to build new settlements or
expanding others and is erecting a new 'Berlin Wall' encroaching further into Arab
lands.
As for USA , it spends nearly 600 billion US dollars on defence ( against whom),
when the rest of the world spends around 500 billion put together ; China comes
second with 65 billion and Russia third with 50 billion. Seeped in the 'culture of
violence ', the ruling establishment in USA is financed and controlled by the military
–industry complex .
Never in history have words like freedom, liberty and democracy been so prostituted
as by US leaders . To code name illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003 as 'Operation
Iraqi Freedom" brings out the West's historic racist narrative. The invasion and the
occupation has so far caused extra death of over a million Iraqis, created millions of
widows and orphans , rendered five million Iraqis , refugees in Jordan, Syria and
internally , with damage running into trillions of dollars . Iraq's population was 24
Million. The extra deaths are equivalent to over 12 million US citizens dead .
Israel-US Axis;
Many have compared this symbiotic relationship to the Israeli tail wagging the US
dog. The control of the Israeli lobby is so deep and pervasive that many Jews in
USA are worried of its long term damage to Jewish image and interests.
Washington was goaded into the Iraqi invasion by US neo-cons, mostly Jews and
cheered on by Zionists in Israel ,with Washington now sucked into a messy
quagmire .Americans do not like losers or being losers, so they might turn on Jews
and Israel for the on-rushing economic recession in US and the decline of
Washington's hegemony around the world .
Polls in even in Europe have regularly named Israel and USA as the two major
dangers to world peace. In October, 2003 over half of Europeans thought that Israel
presented the biggest threat to world peace according to a poll requested by the
European Commission. The same survey, brought out that the United States
contributed the most to world instability along with Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and North
Korea. It upset Washington.
Asked to name the two nations that present the greatest threat to regional peace ,
70 percent named Israel , 63 percent the United States, and 11 percent Britain.
Only 6 percent named our bête noire Iran.--Patrick J. Buchanan, in " American
Conservative, January 16, 2006." British voters see George Bush as a greater
danger to world peace than either the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, or the
Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. --Julian Glover. " The Guardian,
November 3, 2006.
Two respected university professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in USA
wrote an article two years ago about the influence of the Jewish lobby in
Washington. They were roundly castigated for daring to even raise the subject.
Many other Jews have added their voice against the evil influence of the Jewish
lobby. An important article " Slouching towards Holocaust in Palestine by Israel '
was written by Richard Falk, an American Jew. But Noam Chomsky commenting on
M&W article rightly pointed out that US and Israeli interests coincide in the West's
policy to control hydrocarbon energy resources in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Independent British journalist Jonathan Cook living in Nazerath , an Arab city in
Israel , in his latest book, "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the
Plan to Remake the Middle East," says that "civil war and partition were the
intended outcomes of invasion." Planned ethnic separation and conflict serve US
interests .From early 1980s, Israeli policy has been to subdue the Palestinians,
fragment Arab rivals, and foster ethnic and religious discord to maintain
unchallengeable regional dominance. Bush administration neo-cons , mostly Jews
,chose the same strategy. Like Israel, they want to neutralize the region through
division and separation. Prior to invading Iraq, Sunni and Shia neighborhoods were
indistinguishable, and the country had the highest intermarriage rate in the region.
( When I visited Iraq twice in 1977,its most prosperous period in recent history, the
country was throbbing with economic , educational and social development with
women an integral part of the process. Except for old women and in conservative
areas , there were few black chadors , now so common .I was pleased by the sight
of young ladies in hot pants , sipping whisky and other drinks in clubs . Since the
invasion and rise of the obscurantist elements, life of women in Iraq has now
become hellish.)
" The scheme is "Ottomanisation, " and it worked for Ottoman Turkey against a
more dominant Islam. Israel sees four advantages to it: (A)-- divided minorities are
easier to exploit, and Sunni - Shia conflict can achieve a greater aim - subverting
Israel's main threat - secular Arab nationalism united against the Jewish State; (B)--
greater military dominance lets Israel maintain its favored status as a valued
Washington ally; (C)-- regional instability may lead to the breakup of Saudi-
dominated OPEC, weaken the kingdom's influence in Washington, and diminish its
ability to finance Islamic extremists and Palestinian resistance; and (D)-- Israel
becomes freer to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied
Territories.
Washington supported the scheme post-9/11, and the so called "war on terror" was
born, a clash of civilizations ensued, and the idea was that "control of oil could be
secured on the same terms as Israeli regional hegemony: by spreading instability
across the Middle East" and Central Asia through a new type of divide and conquer
strategy. For Israel, it weakens regional rivals and dampens Palestinian nationalism
and their hopes for "meaningful statehood."
Israel's defeat by Hezbollah in 2006 –A tipping point
An Israeli government report headed by Justice (ret.) Eliyahu Winograd on the
causes of the disastrous outcome of its July-August 2006 war on Lebanon with the
publicly declared aim of destroying Hezbollah was released last week.
Instead Hezbollah had destroyed the myth of Israeli invincibility proclaimed since
the disastrous six day 1967 Arab Israeli war. Later, the myth was bolstered by
hundreds of nukes reportedly in Israel's arsenal and an ever ready US veto in
UNSC and an obedient US Congress ever ready to crawl.
In its non-stop expansion at the cost of Arab lands in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon
since its inception, Israel began nuclear blackmail from the 1973 war when Egyptian
forces crossed the Suez Canal. Tel Aviv threatened using nukes against Cairo ,
forcing USA to build an air bridge to supply the most sophisticated weapons and full
support in UNSC. Israeli nukes hang like Damocles Sword over its neighbours. Yet,
no sanctions against Israel, not even a mention in Vienna or New York!
The Winograd Committee report , according to Israeli news paper Haaretz ( media
in Israel is quite independent unlike USA) says effectively "We are all guilty" . It
places responsibility with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). After this follows the
political echelon - the cabinet and at its head the prime minister and the defense
minister, and afterwards every Israeli government since the withdrawal from
Lebanon in 2000, governments headed at the time by Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon.
(both former military officers)
The committee explains that its goal was to provide an answer "for the public's
harsh feeling of fracture and disappointment from the results of the war and its
conduct by the political and military echelon" and that it worked from "a desire to
make thorough research-- mistakes" and repair "with determination" that which
needed repair. It admits the "fact that Israel initiated it ( the war), had complete air
superiority and the strongest army in the Middle East." In spite all this, the war
"ended without Israel winning it from a military point of view."-----
"Israel must, therefore, adopt a policy which strives "for peace with its neighbors
also at the cost of compromise. But the arrangements need to come from a place of
military power and public strength," it recommends.
The Committee's interim report earlier had led to the resignations of Defense
Minister Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. There is now pressure on Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert to resign . But bigger war mongers with support from neo-
cons are waiting in the wings. Constant tensions and with government policies
based on insecurity and fear, many talented Israelis are now leaving for good.
Hezbollah tactics against IDF;
The 'divine victory 'claimed by Lebanon's Hezbollah Chief Nassrallah over the most
well armed Force in the region , exposed limitations of massive air superiority in
particular and Armed forces superiority in general . Israel was fully prepared ,
knows the terrain and even held mock exercises .In spite of immense damage to
civilian infrastructure ,willful killing of innocent civilians and raining of illegal millions
of cluster bombs , which still kill children and other civilians ,Israelis are now fearful
of Hezbollah. This is likely to lead to another conflict, for which Hezbollah is also
preparing.
Like many resistance movements fighting against colonialism and foreign
occupation, the evolution of Hezbollah movement from a terrorist group to a legal
political party has been a positive development in the region. It combines populist
rhetoric, important social service networks for the needy, and a decidedly
reactionary and chauvinistic interpretation of Islam in its approach to contemporary
social and political issues. In last Lebanese parliamentary elections Hezbollah
ended up with fourteen seats outright in the 128-member national assembly, and a
slate shared with the more moderate Shiite party Amal gained an additional twenty-
three seats. Hezbollah controls one ministry in the 24-member cabinet.
Based in their own villages Hezbollah protects its own people and land in south
Lebanon .The underground bunkers constructed in secret since Israeli withdrawal in
2000 , withstood a withering Israeli air campaign and tank-led ground assaults could
not establish control over a border strip or sweep it clear of Hezbollah guerrillas --
one of Israel's main declared war aims. In fact IDF attempts to conquer Bint Jubail ,
where Israelis wanted to make a victory speech , were repeatedly repulsed with
stunning loss of the best of IDF commandos .Other attempts to take land from
Hezbollah were beaten back too .
Hezbollah's Islamic faith and intense indoctrination reduces their fear of death,
giving them an advantage in close-quarters combat. Hezbollah leaders also
enhance fighters' willingness to risk death by establishing the Martyr's Institute , that
guarantees living stipends and education fees for the families of fighters who die on
the front. ( In contrast ,there are complaints about US wounded , maimed and dead
.The Israeli reserve troops and their families who suffered in the war have regularly
protested against the government's incompetence and indifference. )
Hezbollah's military leadership carefully studied military history, including the
Vietnam War, a Lebanese expert said, and set up a training program with help from
Iranian intelligence and Revolutionary Guards with years of experience in the Iran-
Iraq war of the 1980s. The training was matched with weapons that proved effective
against Israeli tanks, including the famed Merkava main battle tank with advanced
armor plating. The majority of Israeli combat deaths resulted from missile hits on
armored vehicles -- or on buildings where Israeli soldiers set up observation posts
or conducted searches. As antitank missiles could also be used to attack
helicopters, it limited IDF's use of choppers in rescues and other operations.
To give a taste of their own medicine Hezbollah continued to fire rockets against
north Israeli towns and villages, specially its port and holiday resort of Haifa until the
ceasefire . In spite of usual lies by western media , Hezbollah started sending
rockets and missiles into north Israel only after Israel began its attack on Lebanese
cities and villages including on civilians and infrastructure .Nasrallah offered to stop
if IDF did like wise.
A dramatic example of the secrecy and careful preparedness for the conflict with
Israel was Hezbollah's al-Manar television , which kept broadcasting from hidden
studios throughout the fighting, despite repeated Israeli air strikes against relay
towers and antennas across the country. It was clear that Hezbollah was not
penetrated. " I think it's no secret that the Israeli military didn't have the intelligence
on this," said Richard Straus, of the Middle East Policy Survey , Washington. "They
didn't know what Hezbollah had, how it had built up, what it was capable of."
Another expert Bearden said, "The concept of dismantling or eliminating Hezbollah
is fatally flawed from the very start. Hezbollah is an organic part of that 40 percent
of the Lebanese population that is Shia." A new power dynamic has emerged.
"There's nothing to compare with the Israeli Defense Force in the Mideast," he says,
but Hezbollah's persistence through weeks of air strikes has shown the limits of
Israel's strength. "They've got a lot of very smart people. These are not a bunch of
wild-eyed fanatics." "-- they've always been willing to try to broaden the dialogue
quietly. --I can guarantee you that they would have welcomed a quiet dialogue with
the United States, and they have repeatedly said they have no great quarrel with the
United States," he added.
Bearden continued ,"I think we ( West ) have probably given up any possible role as
honest broker, even though there's no one to replace us ... The concept of a
tsunami of democracy (in the Middle East) is done for. I think that's ended,
particularly when the world realizes that against the first two democratically elected
entities — Hamas and Hezbollah —we have been providing the weaponry [to Israel
] to take them down."
If a movement has US blessings does it become legitimate and even moral! US led
West, Saudi Arabia , other Sheikhdoms in the Gulf and many Muslim nations ( even
the Chinese ) together financed ,trained and provided arms ,directly and indirectly
via Pakistani military intelligence ISI against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to
fighters , who were called Jihadis and not terrorists. It is another matter that the
blowback climaxed in 911 attacks on USA and other attacks against western
interests. Left behind to fester in Afghanistan and Pakistan , they are now creating
mayhem in Pakistan , Afghanistan , India and elsewhere. And now US and Nato are
up against them in Afghanistan. Violent means only breed more violence.
Shia Islam , which evolved and blossomed in Persia, was ruled by Arabs, Turks,
Mongols and Tartars for eight-and-half centuries, before the emergence of the Sufi-
origin Persian Safavids, who became finally masters of their own land, Iran. During
the period of foreign occupation and domination , mostly by Sunni rulers , to
preserve their sect and survive, Iranians and Shias have developed an uncanny
ability not to bring to their lips what is on their minds, and have institutionalized it as
takiyya, ie dissimulation.
While Israel could not penetrate Hezbollah , the latter had made inroads into IDF,
sometimes by providing drugs to bored Israeli reservists across the border. In the
case of US, Bush did not even know the difference between Shias and Sunnis a
month before the invasion .Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld and others were
surprised that there could be resistance , which the Iraqis had put up even in the
last century of rampant colonialism against the British , who were resisted by both
Sunnis and Shias and had to quit .The imported Hashemite King and his PM were
butchered in the streets of Baghdad .For history , US leaders can only recall a long
genocidal war against native Americans and brutal maltreatment of black slaves
from Africa.
In August 2006 , US and UK obstructed a UNSC ceasefire resolution so that Israel
could carry on with its reckless destruction of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure .
Condi Rice talked of the emergence of a new Middle East after the war .Certainly
there is now a new Middle East , but not what Israel and US had hoped for , but with
a defeated and nervous Israel .And earlier with South Iraq under control of Shia
movements and forces , trained and financed before 2003 by Iran, USA's avowed
enemy in the region .
The defeats of the Western arms in Iraq and its outpost Israel in Lebanon are major
turning points in the post Berlin Wall fall era. If Tehran's protégé Hezbollah could
blunt IDF , imagine what damage Iran would inflict if bombed . This is what is
making US military experts and commanders from taking on Iran.
"The well is deep, but it is not infinite," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently. "We must get
Army deployments down to 12 months as soon as possible. People are tired." He
described the U.S. military force worn thin by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
and unlikely to come home in large numbers anytime soon.
Litany of US lies on Iraq invasion-A hoary western tradition
"This war [in Iraq] is the most important liberal, revolutionary U.S. democracy-
building project since the Marshall Plan. ... it is one of the noblest things this country
has ever attempted abroad." -- Thomas Friedman , much-acclaimed New York
Times foreign-affairs analyst, November 2003.
"Propaganda brought us to power; propaganda has since enabled us to remain in
power and propaganda will give us the means of conquering the world.... The task
of the propagandist is not the scientific education of everyone, but the indication to
the masses of the facts, events, necessities etc. whose significance and morality
enter into the field of interest." Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf.
In order to justify removal of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein a thousand lies were
uttered by top US leadership .These "False Pretenses" in a study by two nonprofit
journalism organizations were posted on January 22, 2008 on the web site of the
Center for Public Integrity. It's "an exhaustive examination of the record" of
President Bush and his seven top officials who "waged a carefully orchestrated
campaign of misinformation about the threat" Iraq posed to galvanize public opinion
and go to war "under decidedly false pretenses."
Gobal Research website recounted on 4 February that
"At least 532 separate speeches, briefings, interviews, testimonies and more
provide the evidence. They show a concerted web of lies became the
administration' s case for war even though it's clear Iraq had no WMDs or any ties
to Al-Queda. Numerous bipartisan investigations drew the same conclusion,
including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2004 and 2006,
the multinational Iraq Survey Group's "Duelfer Report," and even the dubious 9/11
Commission."
"The study cites 232 false Bush statements alone about WMDs and 28 others about
links to Al-Qaeda. Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz
and others put out the same lies that increased after August 2002 and spiked much
higher in the weeks preceding invasion. In all, the study documented 935 false
statements, the dominant [corporate] media spread them*, their deception is now
revealed, and yet the administration avoided any responsibility for its actions and
the media is unapologetic. In addition, there are no congressional investigations,
and the war is still mis-portrayed as a liberating one when its clear intent was to
erase a nation, divide and rule it, turn it into a free market paradise, use it as a
launching platform to dominate the region, and control its oil.'
*BBC gave in its over all coverage of Iraq war a mere 2% time to opposition's anti-
war voices and was the worst of the leading broadcasters, including US networks,
according to Media Tenor; a Bonn-based non-partisan media research
organization. ABC of USA with 7% was the second-worst case of denying access to
anti-war voices. In a 4 July, 2003 comment in " the Guardian" titled "Biased
Broadcasting Corporation" , Justin Lewis, Professor of Journalism at Cardiff
University confirmed the above results. US led Western lies and suppression of
truth have since continued.
US political system;
"How to get people to vote against their interests and to really think against their
interests is very clever. It's the cleverest ruling class that I have ever come across in
history. It's been 200 years at it. It's superb." Gore Vidal on US ruling elite.
Cuban leader Raúl Castro , brother of Fidel Castro joked recently that the United
States pits two identical parties against one another. The choice between a
Republican and Democrat was like choosing between himself and his brother Fidel.
"We could say in Cuba we have two parties: one led by Fidel and one led by Raúl,
what would be the difference?" he asked. "That's the same thing that happens in
the United States ... both are the same. Fidel is a little taller than me, he has a
beard and I don't"
In the primaries in Michigan in January, presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich
,easily the leading anti-war candidate in the Democratic race, and with only Kucinich
and Hillary Clinton running. Clinton got 56% of the vote, the "uncommitted" vote for
candidates who had withdrawn but whose names were still on the ballot was 39%,
and Kucinich received but 4%. And Clinton, beholden to the Jewish lobby , was the
leading pro-war hawk of all the Democratic candidates. The Republican nominee
Senator McCain wants the Iraq war to go on until US victory.
Remember ,on 10 October , 2002 the US House by a vote of 296-133, and the
Senate on 11 October by a vote of 77-23, authorized 'Use of Military Force Against
Iraq Resolution of 2002 sought by US President George Bush , known as "Iraq War
Resolution". It was signed into law by the President on 16, October .The "Shock and
Awe" military operation began on 18 March, 2003 .
Such overwhelming and bipartisan unanimity, but did the Congress do a due
diligence study before authorizing the Iraq war!
Three years later on March 15, 2006 , the Congress established a bipartisan
Commission, the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group (ISG) , which on 6 December,
2006 in its 142 page Report with 79 non-binding recommendations recommended
that "The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals
directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability. There must be a
renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-
Israeli peace on all fronts: Lebanon, Syria, and President Bush's June 2002
commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. This commitment must
include direct talks with, by, and between Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians (those who
accept Israel's right to exist), and Syria." Of course Olmert retorted that Iraq war had
nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But the report turned out to be only a red herring to fool the US people , who had
trashed the ruling Republican party of President Bush in November ,2006 elections
giving the Senate and House majorities to the Democrats . This was only much ado
about nothing under a charade of so called political debate.
Decline and Fall of US Power ;
Even India-born Fareed Zakaria , Washington loves to exhibit as a good Muslim ,
who supported US lies of promoting democracy and the invasion, feels that USA is
now on the decline .In the Newsweek of 4 Feb.2008 , he wrote ;
"The World Bails US Out" "The United States is in the beginning of a period of
relative decline. This is not defeatism, it's math."
"As global stock markets went wild last week, financial commentators resurrected
an old metaphor about infectious diseases of the upper respiratory system. "When
the United States sneezes, does the world catch a cold?" they asked. It's an
intelligent question, the answer to which will largely determine whether the current
slowdown turns into a worldwide slump. However it plays out, one thing is sure: the
rest of the world will cushion America's slide. And that says a lot about the new
global order. ---These trends represent a large, ongoing shift in the global economic
order. Power is moving away from the traditional centers of the global
economy—the Western nations—to the emerging markets.—
"All this means that the political and economic clout of the West—and centrally of
the United States—is waning. You can see this reality in the discussions at Davos,
where Indian businessmen, Russian officials, Saudi investment advisers and
Chinese academics are moving to center stage. Or consider George W. Bush's trip
to the Middle East last week. After making several pleas that Saudi Arabia act to
ease oil prices, the president had to accept a hard new truth. He was the supplicant;
power lay with the king. (In fact, it was the oil minister who brushed off the
president's entreaties.) What a contrast to the 1990s, when the price of oil hovered
under $20 a barrel and the Saudi economy was teetering."
"On the American campaign trail, the candidates talk about a world utterly unrelated
to the one that is actually being created on the ground. The Republicans promise to
wage war against Islamic extremists and modernize the Middle East. The
Democrats deplore the ills of globalization and free trade, and urge tougher
measures against China. Meanwhile Middle Eastern fund managers and Asian
consumers are quietly keeping the U.S. economy afloat."
No wonder electors in USA are really not against continuing the war in Iraq , they
are only unhappy that it has not gone as they were told it would .US troops would be
received with flowers and democracy would blossom. Noam Chomsky described it
as manufactured consent (five corporate entitiescontrolling 90% of US media –so
much for freedom of media ! a major pillar of democracy.)
What that hurts and affects the Americans is the death of nearly 4000 US soldiers
and over all 70,000 casualties , including injured and maimed .The post casualty
step motherly treatment of soldiers is deplorable and sometimes despicable , with
upsurge in divorces and suicides among military families .There is little coverage in
Western media of brutal killings and destructions in the wake of the Iraq invasion
and occupation. It is not even properly discussed in US primaries. Thus unless
something drastic happens , the military- industry complex ,entrenched so
pervasively in USA's political economy , will continue to call the shots .
Economic Decline;
In a just concluded BBC Global Poll, only 22% of US citizens said economic
conditions were getting better in their country, with 78% saying they were getting
worse. Citizens in France, Italy and Japan are equally pessimistic, with only 22% of
French people and 33% of Japanese saying conditions were getting better. In
contrast, there was economic optimism in China, Russia, Canada, Australia, and
the UAE, all countries which are benefiting from increased economic growth.
Overall, 64% of the global public believes that the economic benefits of growth have
been shared unfairly.
According to Le Monde , French expert Jacques Attali foresees a crash on Wall
Street, home of the New York stock exchange and ultimate guarantor of the loan
pyramid . Another French leader Michel Rocard is convinced that a world crisis is
imminent and that the system is about to explode. It concluded that the outcome
depends on whether the Asian economies can take over from the US as the driving
force. Another sign, perhaps, that the West is in decline and that the centre of the
world economy is about to shift from the US to China. The crisis may mark the end
of an era.[ of Western domination!]
One of the major conclusions from the end 1980s well researched book ,'Rise and
Fall of Big Powers ' by Prof Paul Kennedy was that empires declined and collapsed
if total revenues were exceeded by expenditures on defence ,internal budget and on
science and human resources development and, if they extended beyond
sustainable borders .
Byzantine empire once extended right up to present day Turkish border with Iran
(Persian empire's Western limit , which also included Mesopotamia) .Both empires
declined and collapsed because of centuries of war fare and high defence
expenditure .The Bedouin Arabs from Arabian desert easily conquered large parts
of the two declining empires .Ottoman empire's unsustainable extension reached up
to the gates of Vienna in late 16th century and then started declining .We know the
fate of the British and other European empires after the second world war. Of
course there are other reasons too for such declines.
For the decline of the Soviet empire ,apart from reasons like emergence of
Orthodox Slav nationalism, a feeling that too much was being drained into USSR's
Turkic and Muslim Soviet republics , basically the Communist Russian leadership
lost nerve as it felt that it could not match increasing US defense outlay on projects
like 'Star wars' etc .A naïve leadership under Gorbachev with its policy of
'perestroika ' and 'glasnost' lost the plot , later the situation was made worse by
mostly a drugged or drunk Boris Yeltsin ( then much loved in the West and now
missed ), with so called reformers from the West and their Russian conspirators
destroying the economic, political and social fabric of the nation. Vladimir Putin has
largely succeeded in restoring the Russian state and its autonomy and sovereignty.
Since a year he has publicly accused Washington of renewing the arms race, by
establishing missile defence in Poland and Czech republic ,against possible attack
from Iran and north Korea (have a heart!) which Moscow would be forced to
counter, ( as would China.)
Other similarities are ; like the Roman ,Byzantine ,Arab and Ottoman aristocracy , in
US rich have become richer and poor poorer , with massive tax cuts under Bush for
the very rich and little spend on general education or research ( barring defence or
defence related) or health. In mid 1980s it was calculated that USA would have
required $ 25 billion to train its own engineers to replace infusion from India .That is
if it could locate that many bright Americans .By now the figure must have risen to
hundreds of billions at current prices . University education in USA remains very
expensive.
The 1997-98 crisis of capitalism and the collapse in East and South East Asia was
triggered by among other factors, investment in housing sector and over valuing of
such assets. This nemesis is now catching up in USA. (It is likely to catch up in
India too, always slow witted to learn and react)
In 'The economic disaster that is military Keynesianism- Why the US has really
gone broke', historian Chalmers Johnson wrote recently ;
"Global confidence in the US economy has reached zero, as was proved by last
month's stock market meltdown. But there is an enormous anomaly in the US
economy above and beyond the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the housing bubble and
the prospect of recession: 60 years of misallocation of resources, and borrowings,
to the establishment and maintenance of a military-industrial complex as the basis
of the nation's economic life.-- The neoconservatives in the White House and the
Pentagon -- failed even to address the problem of how to finance their schemes of
imperialist wars and global domination.
"As a result, going into 2008, the United States finds itself in the anomalous position
of being unable to pay for its own elevated living standards or its wasteful, overly
large military establishment. Its government no longer even attempts to reduce the
ruinous expenses of maintaining huge standing armies, replacing the equipment
that seven years of wars have destroyed or worn out, or preparing for a war in outer
space against unknown adversaries. Instead, the Bush administration puts off these
costs for future generations to pay or repudiate. This fiscal irresponsibility has been
disguised through many manipulative financial schemes (causing poorer countries
to lend us unprecedented sums of money), but the time of reckoning is fast
approaching.
"There are three broad aspects to the US debt crisis. First, in the current fiscal year
(2008) we are spending insane amounts of money on "defence" projects that bear
no relation to the national security of the US. We are also keeping the income tax
burdens on the richest segment of the population at strikingly low levels. Second,
we continue to believe that we can compensate for the accelerating erosion of our
base and our loss of jobs to foreign countries through massive military expenditures
— "military Keynesianism" -- mistaken belief that public policies focused on frequent
wars, huge expenditures on weapons and munitions, and large standing armies can
indefinitely sustain a wealthy capitalist economy. The opposite is actually true.'
"Third, in our devotion to militarism (despite our limited resources), we are failing to
invest in our social infrastructure and other requirements for the long-term health of
the US. These are what economists call opportunity costs, things not done because
we spent our money on something else. Our public education system has
deteriorated alarmingly. We have failed to provide health care to all our citizens and
neglected our responsibilities as the world's number one polluter. Most important,
we have lost our competitiveness as a manufacturer for civilian needs, an infinitely
more efficient use of scarce resources than arms manufacturing. '
The US empire has now reached the unsustainable limits with UK hanging to its
coat tails. Like the Byzantine and Persian adversaries in the past , which became
week and collapsed owing to unsustainable expenditure on warfare , after USSR,
now, perhaps it is the turn of the United States of America. The implosion would be
hastened by its ongoing economic meltdown.
Conclusions;
To those who oppose unjust and illegal wars and media manipulation, John Pilger
offered these words of Mahatma Gandhi: "First, they ignore," he said. "Then they
laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win."
But unless "The Cult of Violence' ceases , it would unravel mother nature's gamble
on homo sapiens , with its domination of the earth very short in zoological time.
Apart from reversing the heedless rush of consumerism to stop the hemorrhaging of
mother earth's finite resources and harming the environment , the world must turn
away from the unidirectional and nihilistic Western thought 'I think and there fore I
am 'and Darwin's theory of evolution that mutations cause species to change at
random and the fittest survives and not Lamarck's theory that species change
because they make determined effort to change.
Cartesian thought and Darwin theory drove the homo sapiens evolution towards its
animal nature . It has played havoc in human history. Survival of the fittest theory
brought in colonialism, imperialism and cultural orientalism. West also evolved
divisive nationalism, Marxism, ideological totalitarianism , capitalism and
globalization. For these causes and ideologies many scores millions of human
beings were butchered in the most violent of all , the 20th century, and the carnage
continues.
West now believes that there is nothing superior to human rational knowledge. In
Greek philosophy, the idea of unwritten laws exists - which ''live always and forever,
and no man knows from where they have arisen". Western belief in an external
moral universe, to which men owe obedience, has been changed to a rational
secular alternative to this moral structure. Isaiah Berlin advice that ''solutions to the
central problems existed, that one could discover them, and, with sufficient selfless
effort, realize them on earth'' has been lost.
K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey
and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as
ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the
Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author. E-mail:
Gajendrak@hotmail. com .