OT: Unslaked Thirst for Revenge

[Guest guest]

Arnaud de Borchgrave

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

 

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. -- Leftwing American opinion as reflected in

" alternate " media — to call it liberal would be insulting to liberals —

is getting a lot of traction in the developing world where it is fusing

with the Islamist view of the U.S. It gets reported back by " expats " and

naturalized U.S. citizens from Muslim countries as " fact. "

 

The latest canard to grow legs comes from Jason McQuin, editor of

Columbia Press C.L.A. in his tract " Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed "

as reported by U.S.-based Pakistani " researcher " Tayyaba Zia Cheema. It

has gained currency from Egypt to Nigeria and from Saudi Arabia to

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

 

One of Mr. McQuin's gems says: " The profits of U.S. business

corporations depends on the plundering of other countries' economies as

the U.S. government and the military have the propensity to impose wars

against all the countries, Parties, people, tribes and men who challenge

U.S.

domination. "

 

According to these " facts, " President Bush and his policies were

responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the U.S. is

" the most dangerous terrorist organization ever devised. " Alas, these

views are widely shared among " Third World " journalists and

intellectuals where a more benign view of America is shunned as

" right-wing thinking. "

U.S. " alternate " media, they say, reports the " truth " that is being

" suppressed by mainstream media. "

 

" No American is willing to say something against its mainstream media's

policy on the 9/11 incident, " columnist Mary K. Feeney is quoted as

writing in the Hartford Courant.

 

The anti-U.S. drumbeat about Uncle Sam's ulterior motives is

unrelenting, interrupted with the occasional off-key pro-American piece.

This dangerous twaddle is reminiscent of Soviet propaganda at the height

of the Cold War when the KGB's " dysinformatzia " department concocted

similar " facts " .

 

" Earth First " is an environmental favorite stick to beat up on American

policies. Its photographs of 30 " Most Wanted Eco-Terrorists include

corporate America's top executives from Apple's Steve Jobs to Walt

Disney's Michael Eisner. America is willing to sacrifice the world for

its own enrichment, goes the " alternate " line.

 

Bush 43, of course, has to complete Bush 41's unfinished agenda — e.g.,

" the recreation of Southwest Asia for corporate profitability, but

Islamic fundamentalism threatens his plan. " It keeps going downhill.

 

According to the twisted logic of left-winger Ms. Cheema, " If [saudi]

King Fahd is killed or an attempt is made to destroy the U.S. nuclear

program, then the possibility of U.S. Army control over the entire world

is there. " Hard to believe this kind of drivel can be given a hearing,

but the

woman says her research is based upon " important articles and analyses

that have appeared in leading world publications recently. " Norm Chomsky

of the Nation appears frequently in Third World publications

 

New International, published in Oxford, England, which Ms. Cheema claims

has branches in important cities throughout the world, including the

U.S., quotes Pakistani Labor Party Secretary-General Farooq Tariq that

the post-September 11 mindset was " very pleased that someone had done

it. " In

other words, America had it coming.

 

There is a convergence of such nonsensical lucubrations with what

Pakistan's Islamist friends of Taliban are putting out since that

regime's total collapse. Their most influential spokesman is retired

Gen. Hameed Gul, a retired chief of the all-powerful ISI (Inter-Services

Intelligence agency). He acts as " strategic adviser " to Pakistan's

religious extremist political parties and has emerged as the leader of

the " disloyal " opposition to President Pervez Musharraf.

 

Rabidly anti-American, Gen. Gul now says " the only way to restore true

democracy " in Pakistan is with " The Jihad, " or holy war.

 

Toppling Mr. Musharraf violently is now the openly stated objective.

Once in possession of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, Gen. Gul says the

Talibanization of Pakistan will become possible as well as the creation

of an Islamic empire that would include Saudi Arabia and the oil

resources of the Gulf.

 

That has been Gen. Gul's message to pro-Taliban Pashtu tribal chiefs

whose tribes straddle both sides of an unmarked 1,300-mile-long

Pakistani-Afghan border. Back in Islamabad, a tad more circumspect Gen.

Gul said Pakistani

volunteers who answered the call of the mullahs to cross the border in

recent weeks to fight for Taliban " knew it was Musharraf's policy to

support Taliban. " But now, he added, the entire nation knows Mr.

Musharraf's decision to compromise that support was to accommodate U.S.

plans to destroy Taliban. Next, Gen. Gul predicts, " Taliban is already

rising again on the Pakistani battlefield. "

 

The thirst for Islamist revenge is unslakable. While worrisome, the

nuclear ambitions of ignorant mullahs are blocked by a military loyal to

Mr. Musharraf who is also army chief. But the mullahs' " strategic

adviser " Gen. Gul remains a popular legendary figure in ISI. Ten years

after he relinquished command of ISI, his former subordinates are now in

charge. And the mentality of ISI remains profoundly anti-American and

pro-Taliban, the extreme manifestation of Islamist extremism that the

agency nurtured and supported covertly ever since the late President Zia

ul-Haq launched

the Islamization of Pakistan in 1977.

 

U.S. intelligence agents say they enjoy " excellent relations " with ISI.

At the same time, however, a regional ISI director has been warning

tribal leaders known to this writer that the U.S. will not stop with

Afghanistan.

" Pakistan is next, " he warned.

 

While laughable to informed people, some Islamist tribal leaders are

both ignorant and paranoid about Western influences. Moreover 20 percent

of the Pakistani army officer corps is fundamentalist, according to a

recent

confidential survey by military (not ISI) intelligence.

 

The United States and its allies and new friends have no choice but to

play the role of global cop and teacher, bearing in mind that what's

good for the U.S. is not necessarily good for world civilization.

Moderate Islam has much to offer. The alternative to building a new

global order together is the apocalypse with weapons of mass destruction

in the hands of religious fanatics.

 

Pakistan is already paying a high price for being a U.S. ally. The

country is losing $2 billion in foreign trade this year alone (out of an

estimated $8 billion prior to September 11). Exports, the country's

lifeblood, have

nose-dived 40 percent as orders were cancelled and freight and insurance

charges raised. Direct flights in and out from Europe have been

suspended. The ranks of the unemployed keep growing.

 

(Butch's Note: I'll add here that Turkey has long paid a high price for

being a U.S. ally. Our inflation will reach 90% this year .. Turkey has

lost over $25 billion dollars due to support of the US in the Gulf War

and now has committed to support America again when they go after

Saddam.)

 

More generous U.S. assistance in the context of an overall economic

recovery plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan is an imperative and urgent

necessity. The alternative is to weaken the government's commitment to

the coalition against terrorism and to drive impoverished, desperate and

disenfranchised masses into the ranks of Gen. Gul's extremist bandwagon.

 

(Butch's Note: I'll add that two days ago, there was occasion to have a

visit to my office by a War Lord from Tajikistan .. who is now in exile,

protected by the UNHCR, and who had led forces against the Taliban for

more than ten years. He strongly believes that the Talibanization of

the area is not over .. he thinks we have just driven it from

Afghanistan.)

 

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This article was mailed from The Washington Times

(http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20011213-21086444.htm)

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