By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
October 15, 2001
Since September 11th, the president that many ridiculed as inarticulate and unable to even read a good speech properly has been on television and radio almost daily leading, comforting, giving orders as the nation's Commander in Chief, bringing the nation together and charting a very different course for American than anyone had dreamed of before September 11. Not only has he emerged as a great American leader, he has emerged as the leader of the entire world in incredible large and small ways.
A report in the Pakistan Observer, published in Islamabad, Pakistan, perhaps hints at why the Pakistan government is standing with President Bush, in spite of many in the country who hate Ammerica. The report was written by Dr. Gulshan Haqiq Mirza, a physician who was in New York on September 11th He planned that morning to attend a meeting at a hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania where is son, also a physician, would deliver a lecture for the medical staff. Along with millions watching on TV, he watched the second plane hit the second World Trade Center tower and the report of the third plane striking the Pentagon.
He wrote:
"It was an unbelievable, unprecedented, rather unimaginable. ...The sudden news of the aerial attack on the World Trade Centre (symbol of US commerce) was a real shock. I switched the TV on, and saw the most horrible and dreadful scene of my life while the second jetliner was passing around and hitting the second World Trade Tower. The clouds of smoke and red and orange high-rising flames, then the loud noises of people screaming and crying were the aftermath which we were looking at again and again. Then came the news of a third airliner attacking the Pentagon. We just kept glued to the TV, stunned, horrified, and confused. By eleven O'clock we gathered ourselves and proceeded to the hospital, and to our amazement, the hospital's routine was not disturbed, and the lecture proved a real success." ... "The days of the first week were named. Days of Terror and Days of Hysteria. Marked criticism was going on by the people, intellectuals, and retired personnel to know the causes of the failure of intelligence services of such a high calibre which were supposed to be a pride for the nation. People all over the country got scared of all public places, expecting suicidal bombings everywhere, and biological or chemical war next.
"Moods of the people moved from the state of shock to grief, and then anxiety, depression, and anger prevailed all over. Who dared do it? Who can be so powerful to conduct and implement such a highly technical and sophisticated plan in such a successful manner? (How the operation succeeded was a big question), and then there was demand for urgent retaliation and revenge. In the meantime, Osama bin Laden came to the minds, and continues to haunt them. War craze and war phobia, all intermingled, was a dominating feature, causing insomnia and nightmares. The churches, the bars, and the psychiatry centres kept quite busy all those days.
"The second week after the event was a period of turmoil and turbulence. Display of patriotism showed in the chanting of slogans and waving of the American flag by a nation in mourning. The focus on Islam and Muslim terrorists became the hot topic everywhere, which still lingers on. Muslims all over the world became the targets of suspicion and doubts. Even the Muslim American citizens got scared and cautious because of the reactions of people, and the Muslim women and girls who wear hijab were asked to stay at home. It is amazing that the people of this part of the world are so ignorant about the happenings in the rest of the world, and seem to be totally unaware of their own government's foreign policies, that they are asking, "why do they hate us?" Since they claim to believe in peace and justice, freedom and liberty.
"Relief work is in progress in a speedy manner, security measures to look after the Muslim families and mosques are quite satisfactory, and complaints of harassment though still alarming in number are declining. It seems that the government is focusing more and more on domestic problems, especially of airlines, unemployment, the huge economic set-backs and fear of recession and volatility in the stock market. It is appreciable to know about the decision of some American non-Muslim women that, as a gesture of solidarity, they are willing to wear the hijab for one day. This was, carried out last week in Illinois and then Michigan, where free scarves and white ribbons were handed out to those who support the cause of peace and brotherhood.
..."At this juncture, the world can rightly presume that this most sensitive event is going to have a significant impact on international politics and on the attitude of the US toward Muslim countries. The people of the US, the US media, and higher authorities are getting anxious to know the secrets of Islam and the extreme conviction of its followers.
"... At this crucial hour in history, it is to be realised that the grave onslaught of terror and wreckage on September 11, 2001 is not only striking blow to the US but it has somehow become a challenging test of faith and reminder of responsibility for the whole Muslim world to move toward a just and peaceful globalisation."
And, to whom is the world looking for how Americans will respond? George W. Bush. Americans who travel in foreign lands know that there is a very widespread love-hate relationship toward America and Americans throughout most of the world, even among our political friends. The 'why do they hate us?' question is possible only because most Americans really DON'T know what is going on, and has gone on, in other lands. Most Americans, it is true, thanks largely to their disinterest and the American media's policy of only writing what people are interested in, know little about what is going on in the rest of the world. On the other hand, most foreigners think they know exactly what is going on in America. Their papers are full of stories about America, many of them inaccurate and critical.
Teachers at the University of Karachi, spouting old socialist philosophy, stated in a press release: "The real causes of terrorism in Afghanistan are poverty and social instability, which are due to interference of world powers in that backward country. This interference results in terrorism and war, which is not a solution to the problems. Until Afghan people are allowed to decide about their own future there would neither be peace nor terrorism would come to an end." The teachers demanded that the war against Afghanistan be stopped and Pakistani government end its "cooperation in terrorism and war."
Of course, the grand leader of the terrorism emanating from Afghanistan is Osama bin Laden, born to an immensely wealthy father in Saudi Arabia. Osama inherited millions of dollars when his father died and now have many more millions.
Terrorism and war is part of the culture among Afghans. As flawed as British colonialism was, what the British army found on arrival in the Indian peninsula in the 1700s was a land torn by "incessant strife that had from time immemorial devastated the country, and were only now restrained by British power. The aggressive Mohammedans waited to overrun the gentler followers of the Hindu faith. The fiercer races were ever ready to spring upon the less fierce. The native governments were little better than organizations for the plunder of their unhappy subjects, save where they were laid under beneficent restraint by the strangers. All around us were bandit princes, whose barbaric splendors had been maintain till now by the hereditary policy of rapine." (From The 19th Century - a History -by Robert MacKenzie - published in 1895 in London)
The British army took Kabul in Afghanistan in 1839, then, like now, a nation of warring tribes. They established what they believed to be a better local government with a less oppressive native prince, and three years later, the Afghans attacked, forcing the British living in Kabul to flee the 90 miles to Jalalabad to the British Garrison there. Of 16,500 who fled, only one person, Dr. Brydon, survived the attacks of the Afghans who killed men, women and children indiscriminately. The horrified British retook Kabul only, in the words of historian Mackenzie, writing 106 years ago, to later "evacuate it and leave Afghanistan to its habitual anarchy."
There was a reason Osama bin Laden chose Afghanistan for his headquarters. The people there are used to living with terrorism.
Of course President Bush's move to clean out the dens of terrorism in Afghanistan through military action is absolutely necessary. His building of a worldwide coalition to dry up sources of money terrorists use is a brilliant example of Bush's skill as a worldwide leader. While the Clinton foreign policy was almost totally based on "nation building", Bush firmly states ""We're not into nation-building," That shows his knowledge of the area and his wisdom. How, from thousands of miles away, do you build a nation out of a group of warring tribes with centuries' old history of anarchy? Somalia showed us the answer: You don't.
That leaves us to two actions taken by President Bush that I think go far beyond brilliant. They are inspired. They may not turn everything around in the short run, but may save the Afghan people in the long run. First he has ordered dropping thousands of food packets to feed starving Afghans. The food in packets is typical Western food, which, we are told, some of the older Afghans are feeding to their donkeys. On the other hand, the youngsters are thankful for anything to eat and are eating the raisins, peanut butter and bread in the packets. The pasta and beans in the packets that need to be cooked will also be eaten, if the adults get hungry enough. The Taliban, of course, say they are gathering the American food and burning it.
Secondly, President Bush has asked all of America's children to send $1.00 to:
America's Fund for Afghan Children
C/O The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
That fund, from the children of America to the children of Afghanistan, which has the lowest per-person food intake in the world according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, may teach Afghan's children another view of Americans than the one they have been taught, while also raise the compassion level of America's children. Once the military action rids breaks Osama Bin Laden's and the Taliban's powerful control over the land, it will be possible for the $320 million in aid set aside by Bush to be brought in by trucks and distributed by responsible humanitarian groups, such as the Red Cross.
It is not going to change the Afghan's often violent culture overnight but many children and women in Afghanistan will probably conclude that anything is better than what they had and perhaps those weird Americans who bomb you and then feed you and offer a helping hand to rebuild your country are not so bad after all.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com