There is no denying the fact that after 11 September 2001, The United States and Europe perceive the so called “Islamic Fundamentalism” as the major threat to their fundamental way of life, interests and security. Rightly so, and one is even prepared to condone the excesses committed in Afghanistan as a reaction to what happened in New York and Washington. However, as events unfold, it is becoming clear that America’s ambitions go much beyond “The fight against terrorism” and is clearly playing our a careful plan of world domination through coercion and control of oil supplies, as manifested in America’s desire to occupy Iraq. What the American leadership does not realize is that “elimination of terrorism” and “world domination” are totally divergent aims as for achieving the former it is imperative to have a collective response while the latter will isolate the US. The question is whether the US is using the pretext of the “war against terrorism” to achieve her long-term goals? The answer is an emphatic “Yes”. Will they succeed? The answer must be “No” unless they plan on wiping out half of humanity.
“The only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn anything”. History has shown mighty empires crumbled because their leaders thought that they had achieved invincibility and could force their way through to perpetuate their dominance. The leadership of the US now intoxicated with the position as the sole super power, fails to grasp the dynamics of the Muslim extremist movement, which thrives on actions such as in Afghanistan and the envisaged attack on Iraq. The occupation of the Palestinian lands has given birth to so many radical groups that the whole region has been thrown into turmoil. Surely any attack on Iraq would make the world more vulnerable to suicide attacks. The process of such a backlash is already visible with religious parties gaining ground in the recent elections in Pakistan. Surely the American policy makers understand this. Then why is it that the leadership wants to attack and occupy Iraq?
One theory is that operations in Afghanistan were basically aimed at installing a government, which would enable laying an oil and gas pipeline from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea through Afghanistan and Pakistan. This oil has to be taken out and shipped to the West for which huge investments are required. For attracting these investments the price of petroleum must go up which can be accomplished by turmoil in the Middle East. But America’s ambitions go beyond the obvious. Control of Iraqi oilfields has to be the first step in ensuring hegemony over the region, the recent comments by Donald Rumsfeld about Iran notwithstanding.
As previously mentioned the objectives of the “War on Terrorism” and the “Attack on Iraq” are at odds with each other. The US must decide whether it wants to eliminate “extremism” and ensure security of its people or strive for global dominance, which surely will produce a backlash that would be difficult if not impossible to control. In case security of the US mainland and it’s citizen through elimination of “extremism” and “terrorism” is their objective, the American leadership must:
Eliminate extremism in their policies.
Strive for eliminating the root causes of extremism in the Muslim world.
Invest in education and poverty alleviation in some of the poor Muslim dominated countries to accrue additional long-term dividends.
Some of the policies recently adopted by the US administration are individualistic, highly detrimental to US interests and, as such, beyond ones comprehension, giving the impression that either these are based on obsession or some hidden forces are pulling the strings. It is high time that the US leadership rises above their petty ambitions and some sanity is brought into the US’s policies. Being simple, straightforward people, Americans can be swayed by a well-orchestrated media campaign into believing that Iraq poses a threat to the US. However, the world understands the actual motives, and hence today America finds itself isolated (barring the support of a stooge). It is time that America’s leaders realize the role their country is envisaged to play as the leader of a uni-polar world, behave maturely and heed to the advice of other nations or soon they will suffer a humiliating fall from their prestigious status.
