بیشترتوضیحاتافزودن یادداشت جدید Characteristics of Post-September 11 War Immediately after the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, US Secretary of State Collin Powel made the declaration that the United States was in a "state of war with terrorism." When Powel spoke these words they were received with the common feeling that this war against terrorism is really something akin to wars against organized crime or drug trafficking. In other words, most felt that the call for employing all available means for the war was against anti-social and fearsome acts and operations. But one must be aware that when a "war" is declared in this way, it does not have only legal ramifications, but that it has deeper and very dangerous effects. For instance, when a government declares war, it immediately conveys all mental effects of being at war. This, in turn, immediately puts on the table all questions related to expectations and even demands for some extraordinary military action against some recognized foe preferably an enemy government and leads to also quite extraordinary and critical results. Therefore, the use of force will not be seen and recognized as the last solution; it will be used at the first opportunity and a "sooner is better mentality" will come to prevail. Of course, this would lead to total war involving all nations; any country could, with the slightest of excuses go to war. This is specially dangerous in view of the fact that our world is also armed with high electronics. The war proclaimed by the United States and called a "war on America" is different from all previous wars. In most other wars recognizing the true enemy and introducing him to everyone as such and determining its special characteristics, power and potential are deemed necessary for planning a sound war strategy. International wars used to take place between nation-states and the enemy and its allies were readily identifiable. But in this new war, a war seemingly declared on terrorism, we encounter a rather new phenomenon terrorism itself remains undefined and real terrorists have not been introduced. It seems that George W. Bush has broadened the extent and realm of his enmity so that one can easily include any government, group, or individual among the "enemies." This perceived enemy can be found in the form of governments, social groups, or even individuals. Since it's impossible to distinguish between these all, the US government takes it upon itself to consider every person everywhere with suspicion since terrorism has no defined boundaries. Interestingly, the Bush administration has used this very excuse to introduce some of the most severe forms of control and search for the American citizens. Even a critic of how the US is run can be branded a "potential terrorist." Another matter that is specially important is the kind of weapons used in this war. While the US government is fully equipped with the latest and most sophisticated military armaments planned for and useful against a similarly- equipped superpower such as Russia the other side, that is terrorists who are bent on fighting the US power and military prowess, possess the simplest, yet the most effective, equipment. Accepting the risk of almost certain death for themselves, they can hit their enemy's security apparatus with fearful results. It is quite conceivable that any September 11 type of operation can totally disable the electric power system of a country such as the US with its interconnected networks all crashing one after another, or an attack on a nuclear power plant can lead to a tragedy far worse than what occurred in Chernobyl and there may not be any effective countermeasures against this kind of foe. Bearing in mind that currently US leaders are looking for their enemy among Muslims, and have already selected the Islamic World as the enemy, it is rather difficult to study and calculate the power of each side in the old, classic manner. One reason being that the number of warplanes, submarines, naval fleets, army, and air forces of the two sides are simply not comparable, therefore a kind of "asymmetrical balance" must be considered when studying and calculating each side's abilities. A man who has been an advisor to US presidents for years, Patrick Buchanan, has indeed done such a study himself and reached a surprising conclusion: If we really consider a war between the Western Civilization led by the Unites States, and the Islamic Civilization, a likely occurrence, then we should know that the losing side in such a war will be America. True, the United States has the power and the wealth, but these are not enough to defeat Islam, and they won't prevent the eventual collapse of America, as they were not enough to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, nor were they enough to prevent the collapse of the Roman and Persian empires in their encounters with the early Muslims. This is because Muslims possess two powers, which are undefeatable, their faith and belief which has lasted over 1400 years, and they are quite ready to sacrifice their lives for their religious beliefs. If the West was able to defeat Fascism, Marxism, and Japanese militarism, it should not think it can also defeat Islam, for Islam is simply not surmountable. The second factor is population. At a time when Muslim population growth rates seem sharply on the rise, European and North American populations are in fact shrinking and in decline. There is much lamentation in the West over having to risk a person's life, while in the Islamic world, where death is definitely not considered the end of "life", it is not surprising to see that Muslims welcome honorable death and martyrdom; therefore, here is a power not even a superpower can overcome. Furthermore, if the Unites States continues with its current policy it will have to trample upon and ignore all recognized rules and regulations in international law, and has indeed thus far, ignored many of its treaties and obligations and seems likely to end up isolated in most international and global organizations. Among US actions after the 9/11 tragedy was to further develop and expand its intelligence services under the guise of fighting terrorism. Not only new appropriations have been approved for this policy, but the Bush administration shepherd bills through Congress, giving much freedom and more power to the intelligence agencies to even snoop further. These organizations in order to combat terrorism now have the right and power to arrest and jail anyone they think suspicious, torture him, and even worse, murder him. The lucky ones are tried in military courts.[ix] In effect, after September 11, the US government takes its mask of a democratic system off, and begins setting up a kind of totalitarian government to prevent anyone from daring to protest its violent actions and policies and confront them in any manner. Let us quickly review the first few days and weeks after the attacks on September 11, 2001: Continuous TV broadcasts of terrifying scenes of buildings collapsing, the heart-rending pictures of people jumping from upper floors of burning buildings, the death and destruction of thousands of human beings in a mountain of fire and smoke, accompanied by painful, worried faces of their relatives and loved ones, and the selflessness and heroism of the firefighters and thousands of anonymous volunteers who had rushed to pull people out of the rubble, help the wounded, or recover the bodies of the dead. On the other hand, we were all witnesses to a barrage of pictures being shown again and again on TV screens, repeatedly accusing some Middle Eastern men as the culprits for the carnage. This was of course, accompanied by poisonous, opportunistic commentary by some who seemed to relish the chance to vent some latent hate of Muslims and Islam. This frenzy of hate, death, and continuously venomous media commentary caused an unprecedented wave of hate toward Muslim and anyone who looked or dressed like them. Top administration officials including Bush himself only helped exacerbate the mass hysteria and hate-filled atmosphere with their speeches and comments. This specially poisonous air created in the first few days led to attacks on Arab, Muslim, Indian, and Pakistani-owned businesses the Sikhs were also targeted because their turbans seems to have reminded some people of Osama bin Laden. At least three people were shot and killed by hate-filled assailants. Mosques were also desecrated, attacked, and set on fire. Suddenly a massive wave of terror and fear washed over every Muslim and Arab community in the United States. Women with Islamic dress or scarves and men clothed in Arabian dresses dared not step out of their homes. According to the statistics, at least 700 incidents of religious and racial violence against Muslims, Middle Easterners, and South Asians were reported in the first few weeks alone. In the midst of this orgy of lawlessness, the US leadership unabashedly used the opportunity for its own policies and purposes, and in declaring the tragedy a "war on America," instead of a crime against the American people and the hapless victims, it seems to have used "fighting terrorism" for the following dual aims: Domestic objective Through creating fear and terror among the people against a foreign enemy, and fueling people's fears and feelings of vulnerability, and portraying the role of the US government as the "savior" and "leader" of every breathing American, it tries to cover the vast differences in class and income levels, race, religion, and ethnicity. Therefore diverting attention from chronic problems such as high unemployment and job insecurity, ever-lower real wages for the vast majority of Americans together with an historically unprecedented concentration of wealth and unimaginably wealthy few among the many, the gradual and general destruction of most ecosystems, continuation of the very ugly reality of racism and the spreading of poverty among "non-white" Americans and an attempt by the government to turn their attention away from their true concerns and instead focus their attention on "very important" matters such as "national security," "defending the American way of life and Western civilization against aliens who, George W. Bush said, are "barbarians who can't tolerate seeing American advances, freedom, and democracy, and in their hateful envy, are trying to destroy American liberty and prosperity." Paradoxically, the same George W. Bush who would not dare enter New York city prior to September 11, 2001, was taken to the ruins of South Manhattan as the city's hero soon after the tragedy and the rescue workers and volunteers thunderously cheered him and waved US flags. International objective -- The US leadership is pursuing the following aims in its global policies: A To once again get as many countries lined up behind itself and its policies and as the next step win domination over these same countries and strengthen and advance its sole and unquestioned control over ever larger parts of the globe. B Once solidly on this part, it will also continue its policy of labeling countries not subservient to it among "rogue countries," "havens of terrorists," or "supporters of terrorism," and use these labels in well-orchestrated political and economic pressure campaigns and if they do not produce the desired results, a military attack will quite likely follow. C Increasing US military bases throughout the oil-rich Persian Gulf, and using it as a stepping stone to spread its influence in Central Asia and the newly-occupied Afghanistan further, and thus infiltrate and create a zone of American influence between Russia and China in addition to surrounding and containing these two and Iran in this critical part of the globe. D Total domination over Afghanistan as a safe route for oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia to the Persian Gulf in a bid to insure easy access to huge energy resources found in these areas. E Pulling itself out of its current political isolation and leaving behind its notoriety as an aggressor country which tramples upon people's rights and throws away international treaties at its will and whim, and trying to succeed in its pretensions and public relations campaigns that it is the aggrieved party that is owed a huge debt by the international community. Should these US plans and policies succeed, American leaders will not even bother to maintain the facade of support for "freedom" and "humanitarianism" in the world, and we already observe that it does not care much when it is expelled from international humanitarian organizations. The important question which comes to the fore here is whether with these deep political, military, and even psychological changes and developments both inside America and internationally and virtually caused by the US leadership alone in the first few weeks after the 9/11 incidents will be successful in achieving the aims and goals which were just enumerated here? In fact if the United States and its close partners such as Britain and Israel succeed to change the conditions in their own favor in the short run, what we will observe in the long run will be on the one hand the deepening of structural contradictions from within and without, and on the other, the awakening of the masses in Europe, United States and in the Third World. On the international level, as will be discussed below, the US will face a number of challenges. Not only the US does not have serious supporters in its policies, but must pay heavy costs in order to win the support of such governments as Israel and Britain. Once the sympathy for the 9/11 abates, we will observe a torrent of opposition and even confrontation with this policy.
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