11/9 Attacks and ben Laden Killing ; Milestones in Crusades and Jihads
"America can do whatever we set out mind to," President Obama on killing of Osama ben Laden on May 1, 2011
MORE BRUTAL AND RANDOM *
K. Gajendra Singh
Culture and civilisation have not altered the barbaric nature of human beings. The more it changes the more it remains the same. And it's the big powers that are responsible for this perverse Genesis
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi.
In 1253, when French ambassador William of Rubruck arrived at the court of the
Mongol warlord at
This was because the mighty Khan had heard that no less than 40 assassins in
various disguises from the
In response, the Khan sent one of his brothers with an army to the 'land of
assassins' and ordered him to kill them. Hulegu destroyed the assassin bases in
Today, the situation in
millennium assassins, relying on their will to die and simple box-cutters, and with
many still at large, have created for the first time an abiding aura of terror in
American history. It was not
which has actually stunned the
Millions of Muslims live in
the backlash, which can be deadly and self-perpetuating. Jehad and crusades have
gone on since Islam's birth in the 7th century. But this jehad is universal, it includes
Hindus and others. It might end in terrible damage to human civilisation itself.
Although Europeans had heard of early assassins through crusaders and travelers,
they could put together the story only in the 19th century. Not many crusaders were
victims, the first being Conrad, King of the Latin
who passed through
near the Caspian headquarters of a sect. Enclosed between two mountains, it was
like a paradise with gardens of beautiful flowers and fruit trees, streams of water,
honey and wine. Beautiful women sang, danced and entertained the guests. When
the Alamut Sheikh wanted an enemy to be assassinated, one of the disciples was
commissioned. He was given hashish, a 'glimpse' of the paradise, and told that he . could return to the paradise if alive, otherwise he would enter it directly.
But this was only fertile European imagination, a misconception that still persists in
the West. The only motivation was religious fervour and obedience to the Sheikh's
cause. The assassins learnt languages, the art of fighting, even posed as Sufis,
waited for years, even decades, for the opportunity to knife the target and die —
contented. The word 'assassin' perhaps originates from its abusive use in
their stronghold much later, where they were considered wild and fanatic, like
narcotic addicts.
The intolerance bred by 'my god is the only god', followed by 'my true and only'
ideology like fascism, Nazism and communism have been used to butcher
hundreds of millions over the millennia, around 80 million in 20th century alone.
The followers of Buddha, Tao, Confucius, Mahavira, Shamans and Hindus never
forced their belief on others. The world now awaits the latest clash.
Ever since
great faith in the survival of the fittest theory. So there was colonisation in the garb
of the white man's burden, the brutal elimination of Red Indians on the American
continent, organised slavery and the dehumanisation of the blacks in
US. One wonders if the second atomic bomb against
Then came the napalm and chemical bombings in
Who established the nurseries of terrorism with billions of dollars of arms due to
which countries around
poor Muslim masses who want to be left in peace but have to pay for the blunders
of their leaders in
The short-term selfish interests of big powers have brought humanity to this stage.
After the Berlin Wall fell, came globalisation, a distorted version of capitalism, to
promote narrow corporate interests of the West, with no accountability to the people
who suffer as in
been transferred from
reducing the people to penury. With the Goebbelisation of western media, Leftist
and other forms of dissent, are screened off. The exploited, who could earlier
sustain hopes in Leftist ideologies, now have fundamentalist ideologies to resort to.
For the
challenge of the new millennium. Fifty years ago, the Islamic Ummah had started
bestirring into violence a structure whose major fault lines cut a wide swathe from
strategic centre of the Islamic world. Trained by the CIA and ISI, there are now over
100,000 jehadis all over the Islamic world, in
(
smuggling. It's crucial that leaders of all countries must forget their short-term interests . and ponder what has gone wrong with the human race, and find peaceful solutions. At
least to live and let live.
The writer is a former Indian ambassador to
* From Hindustan Times, New Delhi 3 October, 2001 (Oped page)
The announcement by US president Barrack Obama that US special forces have finally succeeded in killing Osama ben Laden at Abbottabad, next to Pakistan's military training academy ,has given corporate and government controlled media in US and some other western countries and Australia, another lease of life for Osamamania , with India's copy cat corporate media toeing the US line.
Since the author wrote the piece above immediately after September 11, 2001, the situation has become clearer although the leitmotif of crusades vs Jihads was and remains a major affliction between the West and the Muslim world .But it affects the rest of the world directly and indirectly. The latest episode is Euro-US bombing of Muslim Libya for its oil and acquiring a strategic position in south Mediterranean and for expanding Africom operations ,with the unfortunate acquiescence of United Nations Security Council , a legacy of the WWII United Nations military Alliance led by Great Britain and USA against , Germany, Italy, Japan and other states , which was again a war for control of colonial territories ,their people and resources . What purpose UNSC serve now ! It has become a tool for the powerful and useless for others like the dead League of the Nations.
The timing of the Abbottabad operation comes when Obama's ratings for re-election are poor , in spite of no rational Republican opponent . US as an economic power is fast declining , with debt of $ 14 trillion , an annual trade deficit of around $500 billion , surviving on purchase of US treasuries by China , Gulf kingdoms and others .Standards and Poor have threatened to downgrade USA's credit rating of AAA. It would have been for any other country equivalent of bankruptcy.
In the wake of US caught in quagmire in Iraq and an unwinnable war in Afghanistan ,the Arabs have revolted against US supported dictatorships .It is similar to the 1990s revolts in East Europe against Soviet imposed regimes , which finally led to the collapse of USSR itself . Which way the camel will sit in the Arab speaking world will depend on many factors , but the weakening of US hegemony , which had a Faustian deal to protect the Saud Dynasty in exchange for its energy resources and of others in the region is beginning to unravel. Washington and Riyadh have different perceptions and solutions about the outcome of revolts in say , Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain.
With Shia Iran thus emerging an even stronger regional power , Saudi Arabia is worried about its own security and future . Apart from a large percentage of its own unemployed youth , who look askance at luxurious lifestyle of the thousands of princes and princelings of the Saud dynasty , Riyadh has to worry about its disgruntled and ill-treated Shia population in its north east , adjoining Shia majority Bahrain and south of Shia south Iraq .So Riyadh, always close to Islamabad is coming even closer. Many ex soldiers from Pakistan have been recruited for service for Saudi Arabia .Reports suggest that Riyadh has requested Islamabad to keep two Pakistan divisions on alert in case of an emergency .
So Osama , of little strategic value now , but who had many supporters in the Gulf region could be sacrificed .It is like taking a fly out of ointment .Both Riyadh and Islamabad want to close the Al Qaeda chapter. But would they succeed .And what about the backlash and blowbacks. Washington has manipulated ben Laden and the threat of Al Qaeda , more often than not as a useful tool for its policies , internal and external. Has there been any Al Qaeda operation in USA since 11/9!
As for 11/9 events, right from the beginning there have been suspicions that it was an inside job to provide a pretext to invade Afghanistan , occupy it and use it to threaten Russia and China and use it for transport of energy from central Asia to the Indian ocean. Before 11/9 Taleban leaders were in Texas with oil company UNOCOL in discussions for such a project.
Washington used the pretext of fight against terror to obtain military airbases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan .Tashkent terminated permission to Washington after US tried to oust president Islam Karimov .US is just about hanging on in Kyrgyzstan for ferrying troops and sophisticated equipment for war in Afghanistan .
The US is not only a declining power but a receding power too.
US Congress Commission of inquiry into 11/9 was a whitewash job, according to many well informed individuals and groups. Films have been made to prove this point .Even in USA , there is a growing opinion that it was an inside job. For example , Richard Gage, a San Francisco architect and founder of the nonprofit Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth said
"The official Federal Emergency Management [Agency] and National Institute of Standards and Technology reports provide insufficient, contradictory and fraudulent accounts of the circumstances of the towers' destruction. We are therefore calling for a grand jury investigation of NIST officials"
The technical issues surrounding the collapse of the towers has prompted years of debate, rebuttal and ridicule. Gage is particularly disturbed by Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper, which was not hit by an aircraft, yet came down in "pure free-fall acceleration." He also says that more than 100 first-responders reported explosions and flashes as the towers were falling and cited evidence of "multi-ton steel sections ejected laterally 600 ft. at 60 mph" and the "mid-air pulverization of 90,000 tons of concrete & metal decking." There is also evidence of "advanced explosive nano-thermitic composite material found in the World Trade Center dust," Mr. Gage adds.
Amb ( Retd) K.Gajendra Singh 2 May, 2011.
