Opinion Editorials, January 2015

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There's no question that this "war" will continue indefinitely. There is no question that US actions are the cause of that, the gasoline that fuels the fire. The only question - and it's becoming less of a question for me all the time - is whether this endless war is the intended result of US actions or just an unwanted miscalculation. Why would anyone in the US government or its owners have any interest in putting an end to this sham bonanza of power and profit called "the war on terror"? ….They're preparing for more endless war; their actions are fueling that war; and they continue to reap untold benefits from its continuation.    Glenn Greenwald (“The 'War on Terror' - by Design - Can Never End.” The Guardian: 1/4/2013).  
 
 
Let the Arabs be Bombed
 
“Weather is fair and clear for action”, signals the Syrian Government jet pilot. In seconds and minutes, barrel bombs crush hundreds of innocent and inescapable human lives into pieces. Cynicism sanctions insanity to watch the inhuman acts day and night as if it was nothing more than ‘collateral damage.’ Bashar-al Assad is a dictator not open to reason. Under Al-Sisi’s military regime shielded by the US interests, Egypt once again is in limelight with daily civilian bloodbath. The same is happening day in and day out in parts of Damascus, Homs and Aleppo and beyond. Everyday, Baghdad is hit with cold blooded atrocities, some planned by the Western coalition, others vengeful sectarian cult operated by the Iraqi forces, the ISIL and Iran. As if the Iraqis and Syrians are not the normal human beings. The Western strategic plan aims at incapacitating the entire Arab region to assume political hegemonic control. Bombing the Arabs is a free choice available to most American-European leaders. There is no check and no accountability as was the case before in Afghanistan and Iraq. The world views the stage drama since four years orchestrated bloodbath allowed to happen by inept international institutions, corrupt leaders and large segment of spectator global mankind. What went wrong with the Chief Creation of God- the human beings on this planet? What else would turn them to be animalistic in thoughts, behaviors and indifference toward fellow mankind?  Insanity is flourishing without questioning the planned cruelty to destroy the humanity. Often, one wonders, how the future generations (if any left intact on the planet after the Third WW already in progress), will see the 21st century knowledge-based devilish political quagmire? What moral and intellectual heritage would they claim from the contemporary political governance?  How strange, wrong people embedded with wrong thinking continue to manage the global affairs with wrong priorities.
 
Hoax of “Islamization of Europe” or Favorite Perversion from Tolerance and Societal Integration in Europe
 
Paris-based Charlie Hebdo’s false cartoon portrayal of Prophet Mohammad is not rare or the end in itself. Truth is One and indivisible. French Republic massacred 1.5 million Muslim freedom fighters in Algeria; millions uprooted and killed in Morocco and Tunisia fighting for national freedom. French history denies its reality and record. In both WW, French and Britain Empires used millions of colonized Muslims to fight their wars. British recruited Arabs and Asians to fight against the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Both manipulated and exploited the Muslim world natural resources and manpower when needed in global conflicts. Today, they pretend as if Muslims are new and unknown civic entity in Europe. Muslims are law abiding citizens across Europe. Those individuals, who commit crimes, should be dealt by law as criminals and nothing else. Some right wing agitators allege “Islamization of Europe” but fail to substantiate any political emergence of this phenomenon. Muslims across Europe live as harmonious entity of the civic system and not as an outcaste. If humor is a natural characteristic of human intelligent behavior, it must have its moral and intellectual limits and accountability. There was no question of freedom of expression at all. Europeans do enjoin freedom of expression without the ‘cartoon.’ Some European societies are living in the past and do not see the enlightenment of the 21st century equality of human beings. Islamophobia is an organized scheme of things - an industry – an anti-Islamic institutionalized hatred campaigns and fear-mongering across the Western world. Some Europeans readily embrace right wing fear mongering slogans against Islam and Muslims more so living in France, Germany and UK. The Right Wing activists allege ‘Islamization of Europe’ but political reality is altogether different. It is business as usual by entrepreneurs and lobbyists propelled by certain vested political interests to sabotage the communal harmony between Muslims and others.  Its ultimate aims are to keep the North American and European masses fearful of the growing Islamic presence in these parts of the world as if Muslims were born in the eye of the storm to destroy the technological progress or to undermine the EU secluded landscape after the WW2. To Muslim societies, a crisis situation requires critical thinking not hasty actions of jumping into fireballs, verbal outbursts and burning of others flags. Public demonstrations and competing shouting slogans achieve nothing except wasting time and opportunities for practical solutions.  The crises deserve critical thinking and mature actions to resolve the problems.
 
World is not as it is sensationalized on the media screen, Arabs or Muslims are not the “terrorists” and all the Western leaders are not the individualistically insane “warmongers. There is truth and facts of life outside the news media’s box and glued labels of extremism warranting serious contemplation to evolve our attitudes and perceptions as conscientious citizens in the 21st century changing global affairs. People of knowledge and intellect must initiate presence to clarify the delusional and monstrous mindset of the minority ruling elite across the globe.
 
 Paradox of History If the Europeans Wish to Recall
If living history is a valid reference point, Islamic civilization and diverse Western civilizations have co-existed for centuries in peace, harmony and productivity. For eight hundred years (longest time in human history), Islam and Europeans collaborated in Al-Andulsia (Spain) for intellectual Renaissance and industrial progress. Many Western politicians pretend like actors and show no understanding of Islam and its primary values to deal with others. The voices of reason and human conscience must speak out loud and clear. The American led occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq were the real reasons for the current bloody sectarian rivalries in the Arab region.  With unstoppable cycle of political killings, sectarian massacres and daily bloodbaths emerging across the Arab world  - Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen, and spill-over impacts to other oil producing Arab nations - and reactionary militancy against the authoritarian rule and dismantling of the socio-economic infrastructures:  is the Arab world fast approaching to the end of history? Millions have become homeless and refugees in their own backyard. Those few millions fled to Turkey and other neighboring Arab societies face miserable conditions for survival. None of the Arab countries have moral, political and physical capacity to deal with this magnitude of catastrophic humanitarian crises. What if the global political systems were meant for the mankind and organized as morally and intellectually conscientious people working together to understand the delicate but complex nature of global politics. If the Arab leaders had any intellectual foresight they should have refused to join ‘the coalition of the willing’ to support Obama’s war plan in Iraq and Syria. If the theory of the Clash of Civilizations had any purpose and meaning to be clarified, it is becoming more apparent that President Obama and some of the Western European leaders – British and French in particular, are allied to re-invent a new age of Crusade against the Arab world.  The American, British and French military actions against ISIL in Iraq-Syria will provide coverage to their long-terms strategic ambitions to destabilize the Arab region and ultimately to take control of the oil resources and management of the Arab States. This plan is meant to overshadow the relevance and vitality of the freedom of Palestine as an independent State and normalization of relationship between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
 
Fault Lines between Western Policies and Practices and the Need for Global Change and Harmony
 
Divergent scenarios flourish to manifest lies and deception about the real aims of the “War on Terror.” The re-emergence of European neo-conservative political activism against Muslims and Islam sets its own agenda. The hoax of “Islamization of Europe’ is more linked to planned isolation and exclusion of the enthusiastic young generation of Muslim entrepreneurs who are actively contributing to societal peace, progress and future-building. Yet, some egoistic politicians view them as a threat to the futuristic shape and form of political configuration in Europe. The myth of ‘Islamization of Europe’ assumes a perversion to poison the minds and hearts of Europeans against the presence of Islam in Europe. Ironically, the same Europeans have embarked on re-conquering the Arab-Islamic world with thousands of ground troops and technologically advanced firepower. The goal is clear to control and manage the oil resources and landscape of the Arab Middle East. How strange, they are not called “terrorists.” British, French, Dutch and Italian Empires used Arabs and Muslim colonized people to fight their own wars of ethnic superiority, nationalism and sketchy borders. Imperial French army massacred 1.5 million freedom fighters in Algeria; millions were uprooted and killed in Morocco and Tunisia fighting for national freedom. Even French used them to fight in Vietnam. In both WW, French and Britain Empires used millions of colonized Muslims to fight their wars. British recruited Arabs and Asians to fight against the Ottoman Empire. Both manipulated and exploited the Muslim world natural resources and manpower when needed in global warfare.
 
With overwhelmingly secretive police apparatus, planned and manned by American and European masters, the oil exporting Arab authoritarian leaders flourish in complete disregard to the interests of the masses. It is a tragic convulsion ripe for more bloody revolutions and abrupt change of the Arab political landscape as going on in Egypt. The 57 or so inept OIC member Islamic states have nothing to relate to Islam as a system of governance. The Arab League and the GCC are paper-based dry ink titles floating around. There are no public institutions of security and conflict resolution across the Arab world to deal with critical analysis of peace and conflict management.  If the Arabs were organized and had the Unity of Faith and moral and intellectual leadership, they could have been a force for international peacemaking and global order. How should the global humanity view the contemporary Arab societies, their war torn bloody cultures run by few authoritarian figures?  What kind of message of civility, moral and intellectual values do they convey to the watchful eyes of informed global community?  Some Western leaders could rush to attend King Abdullah’s funeral in Riyadh for improved sales pitch of military hardware but could it change the policies and practices in place against the Muslim world. While Islam taught Oneness of God and Unity of the believers, Muslims are divided, leaderless and dispersed in antagonistic sectarianism across the Arab world - a typically neo-colonial landscape governed by ignorant and intellectually bankrupt rulers, subservient to the Western military dictates. Authoritarian Arab rulers wanted protection and America and Britain are leading the bombing campaigns resulting in civilian carnage. Ironically, Shiite and Sunni sectarians are waging bloodthirsty encounters in Iraq, Syria and Yemen; it is not for Islam, democracy or truth telling. The worst is taking shape as Iran, Iraq and Yemen are increasingly fuelling Shiite-led warfare against the Sunni population. They are engaged in a self-destructive warfare to win the strategic outcomes not understanding how history will judge them. They are the wrong people, with wrong thinking and doing the wrong things. For sure, there is no “terrorism” in thoughts and in words of the prayers and no Arabic- Islamic vocabulary exists of “extremism” or “terrorism” to reciprocate the Western accusations and mass media propaganda campaigns of Islamophobia.
 
Would the American and British political leaders learn any lessons from their failure in the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?  For over 13 years, they were not engaged to promote democracy or to protect human dignity and rights or any logical discourse against the ruthless authoritarianism. They are leading anew Crusade against the Muslim world. Every beginning has its end. It is just that most transgressors do not know about it when they crossover the limits of the Laws of God. The Roman, Austro-Hungarian and British Empires collapsed after they violated the limits of Laws of God governing the Earth. Nazis claimed to run the world for thousands of years, but ended up just in 12 years after killing millions throughout the Western hemisphere. Fascism met resistance at its early stages. Every beginning has its end. On the continuing daily massacres of the civilians in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen and across the territories under ISIL, perhaps, Shakespeare (Julius Caesar) knew more about the futuristic human ignorance and arrogance and to have imagined the 21st century’s favorite political perversion:

 
And let us bathe our hands in blood, up to the elbows
And besmear our words
Then we will walk forth, even to the market place.
And weaving our red weapons o’er our heads
Let us all cry “peace, freedom and liberty.”
 
(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international relations - global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, May 2012).

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