Vagaries of Bondage

Mir Adnan Aziz
The Frontier Post

Bondage is subjection to external influences and internal negative thoughts and attitudes. W.Clement Stone.

The seventh anniversary of September 11, 2001 saw Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceding before the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee that the US military was not winning the fight against an increasingly deadly insurgency in Afghanistan.

Victory in war comes from the breaking of the enemy's will to win. Sun Tzu said: To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." The Iraqis and the Afghans have done exactly that without fighting a conventional war.

Mullen further said they would revise its strategy to combat militant safe havens in Pakistan. This evoked a sharp and immediate response from General Ashfaq Kayani. It indeed was a true reflection of the thoughts and sentiments of the whole nation. A line had to be drawn, though it took an eternity coming. Nations who give up their pride and honor have to face the shameless vagaries of bondage, as we have been doing in these last many years.

Gen. Kayani also made it clear that in a recent meeting aboard the Abraham Lincoln, Admiral Mullen was fully conveyed the role of Pakistan in the present war. That Mullen is now threatening cross border attacks is not exactly a revelation. Tolstoy described this mindset way back in 1857: "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabrics of their life."

With the New World Order in tatters, Bush is set to fade into oblivion leaving behind an equally tattered legacy. All his hubris has come to naught be it Iran, North Korea, Lebanon, Palestine, China and most recently in Russia which scornfully rejected US and European pressure by invading Georgia.

With Iraq a lost cause and Afghanistan on the verge of becoming another, Mullen's statement only highlights the glut of self-serving reasons. The Bush administration wishfully thinks that its gross failures will transform into Republican political and personal advantage by expanding the sphere of war into Pakistan. Lost in these cross border US attacks and the murdering of innocent men, women and children is the fact that America faces a military and economic meltdown.

Seven years on, America is a country divided by political extremes, economically devastated by a war based on lies: Buried not under the rubble of the World Trade Center but by a callous Presidential administration that considers occupations and annihilation a given right while those of individuals and countries a disposable commodity.

The RAND Corporation in a major study prepared for the Pentagon has criticized the Bush administration's focus on using military might to defeat al-Qaeda in the so-called war on 'terror'. The study found that the current strategy for defeating al-Qaeda has failed in diminishing the group's capabilities. It also recommended a "fundamental rethinking of US strategy" to focus on minimizing overt military action while increasing intelligence collection and partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the world. Seth Jones, co-author of the study, said, "Our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to 'terrorism'."

Yet the Bush administration fails to tone down the rhetoric and unilateral aggressive actions. It is incredible seen in the backdrop that the entire Muslim world seems to be betrothed to America. It provides the US with a NATO ally (Turkey) and four of its five non-NATO allies! No wonder NATO has refused to endorse the US/UK revised strategy.

Karzai, the press conference comrade of our new President, whole heartedly supports the attacks on our sovereignty. A day after the 'joint press conference' he fully endorsed Mullen's statement saying he had been clamoring for this since the last three years. Virtually a mayor of Kabul, he hopes to salvage his own rule by dragging in Pakistan, blaming it for all ills that have plagued his 'mayorship' from day one.

President Zardari has come to 'epitomize' reconciliation and the myth of taking everybody with him. This sounds and looks hollow seen that this stance comes to a shuddering stop at the door of the deposed judges and things that go beyond the 'deal'. Occupying the highest office he could make better decisions if he could but differentiate between friend and foe. Equally beneficial will be to understand when one is invited and when summoned. The missive from 10 Downing Street sounds like a subpoena and the haste of President Zardari to comply puts him and more so the people he represents in a bad light.

With an elected government, it is vital the political leadership stands together and makes clear that this aggression will not stand. This is no time for shameful statements of moral equivalence, as was made by our Defense Minister, claiming that the tribals brought the recent cross border attacks on themselves as the US had been given a reason to intrude into Pakistan.

As for unleashing a diplomatic offensive could the Prime Minister also educate the nation as to how and who will spear-head this putsch. With ambassadorial posts being doled out and another twelve awaiting the same treatment, is the assertion he has made to counter the attacks realistic.

Our foreign policy is, as are all other aspects of governance, in an obvious state of disarray. Do Messrs Hussain Haqqani, Hussain Haroon and Wajid Shamsul Hasan representing us in Washington, the UN and the UK have the requisite capabilities to counter the unleashing of a US/UK joint diplomatic onslaught? What signals are we sending to China which has been sans our ambassador since months? Are we not making them 'lose face', thought to be the greatest of insults in the Orient?

With thousands of our own dead in this war, there can be absolutely no excuse for cross border incursions. Any further violations of our sovereignty should not be passed over in silence or with meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers.

The Bush Doctrine sees military coercion as a means to serve its interest. Libya, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now they are homing in onto Iran and Pakistan. It also believes this coercion necessary to bring to heel those countries that do not accept U.S. hegemony.

The Bush Administration had made next to no effort to capture Osama bin Laden. It has made no effort to bring true democracy or to rebuild a war-torn and ravaged Afghanistan. The only reason for the U.S. to invade Afghanistan was the country's position between the Indian Ocean and the landlocked Caspian Sea nations especially Kazakhstan. It was here that in 1999 the biggest oil strike in world history was made.

'No American President can stand up to Israel'. These words came from Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chief of US Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In these recent years none of our leaders has ever dared stand up to the United States.

We have to free ourselves from the tentacles of this bondage and this war 'of' terror. The ball has been set rolling by Gen Kayani. Let us hope President Zardari truly and firmly represents national sentiments by showing grit and resolve. Let us also pray that he does not try to protect our sovereignty with just a smile accompanied with yet another constitutional package.