One Week Later

Unfortunately, the latter option of the final paragraph seems to have been the one that has come to pass.


It would be nice to record the fact that I was incredibly rash last week when rambling about the onset of WWIII. It would be even nicer to report that Dubya has proved me entirely wrong and is currently, much to my surprise, acting in a manner that blends the best aspects of statesmanship and war leader. And it would put the icing on the cake to be able to sit here and write about the opportunity for world peace that has arisen from the ashes of the World Trade Centre.

Yes, it would be lovely to say all of that. It would, alas, be complete bollocks of course but it would be nice. Today is a Tuesday, and it is my personal belief that all of the most dreadful things in the world happen on a Tuesday. After all, at least Monday has the saving grace of being immediately after the weekend and so one can talk to ones colleagues about it. Wednesday is the middle of the week, Thursday is almost at the end, and Friday...well, I don't really need to say any more about that. Saturday is of course marvelous and Sunday, whilst boring, does have the advantage of allowing one to recover from ones hangover. But Tuesday just squats malignantly midweek, too far away from the previous weekend to justify tales of past glory and drunkenness, and far enough away from the coming Friday to allow excitement to build. My relationship with my fiancee ended on a Tuesday, my friend's marriage effectively ended on a Tuesday. Another close friend was hospitalised the Tuesday before last, and I hardly need remind you of the previous Tuesday's events. So what is the state of play this Tuesday?

Well, firstly I think for a change I shall look at the positive side of things first of all. The people of America as a whole have surprised and delighted me with their response to the atrocity. In general their responses have been calm and measured. Certain members of the government and legislature have fulfilled their roles admirably. Mayor Giullianni of NYC in particular has emerged as an heroic leader, being both compassionate to the loss suffered yet tough enough to order police protection for the city's Muslim and Asian populace in case of revenge attacks (as a side note, I also see that a man in Dallas murdered a Sikh garage attendant and attempted to murder 2 more because he was a "patriot". That's as may be, but only if the definition of patriot is given as "murderous, ignorant redneck". If you are unsure as to just why I find the murder of a Sikh in retaliation for the crimes of Muslim fundamentalists darkly amusing, try calling any Sikh gentleman a Muslim and see what happens. I guarantee that you will be given a unique opportunity to discover just what the ceremonial knives carried by Sikhs can be used for).

The Muslim world, save for a few dissenting voices, has been united in it's condemnation for the act of terrorism. I'm making a point of saying "the act" because a lot of Islamic states quite understand the motivations of the terrorists. These were alluded to in Question Time last week, where the general message was that America was getting what it deserved. The likes of Iran have basically said that America's policy of supporting Israel come what may whilst condemning any form of Palestinian response was bound to provoke an act of terrorism and they (Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia etc.) condemn that act unreservedly. In fact the head of the Sunni Muslim religion (the major Islamic faith, with Shi'a being the minority. The Taleban and Osama Bin Laden are theoretically Sunni Muslims) stated that America is right to retaliate according to the Koran. So the fear of a conflict between the Western and Islamic worlds has been assuaged somewhat.

Finally, Israel is finding itself somewhat isolated as it tries to use this situation to brutalise the Palestinians still further (incidentally, the latest news of Israel’s attempt to round up people suspected of involvement in the WTC attack has seen their security forces murder a man with the mental age of an 11 year old). America has basically told them to resolve the Palestinian conflict by peaceful means, and above all to do it NOW! Not that they're listening right now, but I welcome being proved wrong on this point as you may have noticed that I have something of a bee in my bonnet about Israel and Palestine.

Okay, now let's dally with the flip side for a short while. What about the negative repercussions of last week? I should start (naturally) with the man whose job it is to give America's response to this tragedy. What a pity it is then that their response is being given by a man who is completely inept and, it has been said more than once, looks like he would be more at home swinging on a tyre whilst eating a banana. Dubya has...well, not been appalling because his advisors (Colin Powell et al) are very talented men. I don't agree with their politics, but they do know how to run a country (apparently they know how to do it better in a time of war...). I'll not criticise him for the flitting about the way he did on the day of the attack either. After all, he is more than just the president; to all intents and purposes he is the United States of America and I quite understand the desire to keep him safe.

What I will criticise him for is his pandering to the hawks in his government who want to wage an all out conventional war against...well, pretty much whomever sticks their head up over the bunker. He seems to have either misjudged world opinion or he simply doesn't care. He's endangered Muslim support from the off by referring to the retaliation against Bin Laden as a crusade. In the Muslim world, the word "crusade" has powerful resonance. It means the bringing of the Cross to the Muslim world, the forcible conversion to Christianity or death. It is precisely the sort of term that would give those radical Muslims ammunition to feed their claim that America is simply waging an indiscriminate war against Islam. For all that most of the people in the world agree that America should give a strong response to the attacks last week, the majority do not want to see an attack on any country that Dubya can't spell.

And speaking of Afghanistan and Pakistan, their situation is growing rather dire. Afghanistan, a desolate place at the best of times, is undergoing a famine that will kill perhaps 5 million people. In response to the attacks last week, all food aid has been cut off. There is now no food going into the country and precious little being produced there. Somehow I don't imagine that the terrorist camps will suffer from lack of food. In fact, I rather think that it will be the poor sods that are trying to eke out some kind of normal life that will bear the brunt.

Pakistan is on the verge of a civil war. Their leader, General Musharraf, has stated that he will aid America in whatever way he can which presumably includes stationing NATO troops there if there is a war against the Taleban. However, a huge number of Muslims led by Sami Ul-Haq are ferocious in their support for the Taleban. As well they would be considering that the Taleban take their religious schooling from the Talib schools that litter Pakistan. Many of them learnt their twisted view of Islam under the auspices of Sami Ul-Haq. They have sworn to wage war against their government if America is given any support at all. America has sworn to wage war against Pakistan if they do not align themselves with the USA. Add the fact that Pakistan is the world's only Islamic State with Nuclear weapons to the mix and we have some interesting times ahead.

All in all, I would say that the world is precariously balanced between a war that will lead to a lasting peace and an end to fundamentalist terrorism, or a war that will see a cack handed and brutal attempt to suppress terrorism and lead to it's proliferation. Either way, it's war.