Can it Survive the Test of Time?
By Engr. Mansoor A. MalikRumsfeld’s Pentagon had novel ideas of their own. With people like Dick Cheney in the White House to oil his ego and his boss the President who knew only childhood cowboy’s tricks, had a free hand to think and act on his own. The somber and popular Secretary of State, Gen Collin Powell was made to look like a comedian in a Greek Tragedy Drama. The checks and balances which the US Congress had put in place after the Vietnam War debacle was conveniently set aside after the 9/11 fiasco and the Pentagon’s young Turks like Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and other likeminded skewed intellectuals in their Policy Planning committee was unleashed to the world in general and our world in particular.
The Shock and Awe of Mr. Rumsfeld’s War on Afghanistan was in full display for the whole world to see. The Daisy Cutters and heavy bombardment of B-52 bombers from the air on dilapidated mud houses in Afghanistan and on the ground the troops from the US Special Forces riding on horse backs and mules along with the Northern Alliance troops entering Kabul appeared to be projected out from the American Comical Characters of yore. The Lone Rangers had
Earlier, the Israeli lobby with Uncle Sam’s blessings had penetrated the Dardanelle Straights of Turkey in order to establish their hold on the old champions of the Muslim World. Professor Erbakan, head of the Islamic Rifah Party in the early 1990s’ and an Opposition Leader in Turkey realized this onslaught and his Policy Planning team put up a strategic paper on the concept of the Developing Eight (D-8) Muslim Countries Grouping i.e. Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangla Desh, Egypt and Nigeria as a counter weight to the growing influence of Israel entering our region on an American horse. The first D-8 Summit was soon held in Turkey when Mr. Erbakan became Turkey’s Prime Minister in the mid 1990s’. The last Summit was recently held in Abuja, Nigeria. The present leadership of Turkey is indebted to the role played by Prof Erbakan in bringing back this country to the fold of the Muslim Nations. The recent aggressive mis-handling of the Turkish Humanitarian Flotilla by the Israeli sharks near the Palestinian lands only aggravated the feelings amongst all sensible and sensitive people of the world at the high handedness of the Israeli government and their backers sitting thousands of miles away in their Comfort Zones.
After Israelization of Iraq and Indianization of Afghanistan what is next on their agenda? This million dollar question has to be addressed by every member of the D-8 lest one by one each of them are reduced to a surrogate status. It appears that the appetite of the wolves has not been fully met after the annihilation of the Babylonian lands and the rich Persian Empire may now be under their focus. Malaysia under Dr. Mahathir barely survived the Economic onslaught a few years back along with the political crisis of East Timor in Indonesia. Nigeria and Egypt the only two D-8 countries from the African Continent are undergoing their political leadership transition crisis. Pakistan is under the anvil of Destabilization and Distortion of its image as the first and only Nuclear power in the Muslim World. Bangla Desh has been absorbed by the Indians in South Asian politics and is not free to look elsewhere. We are, therefore, left with only Turkey and Iran in the D-8 countries with Space and Time in their favour, although Iran is in a nut cracker situation under the Most Sanctioned Regime. These are the fault lines within the leading players of the Muslim World which are being fully exploited in the present Power Equilibrium.
Destroying Muslim lands through the American Shock and Awe under the watchful Indo-Israeli nexus could be carried out by high altitude B-52 Bombers flying from Safety Zones but what next? Iraq is no more a country within the grip of its own people while its forty years of development has been overturned into rubble; Afghanistan already a medieval country stuck in the Middle Ages has been unleashed to make other countries in its close vicinity look similar. The division of the Victor and the Vanquished soon disappears when militaries are fighting whole nations. American Military appeared victorious in the Vietnam War till the Rescue Helicopters from the US Naval Fleet were positioned at the roof tops of the Presidential Palace in Saigon to evacuate the marooned Americans and Pro-American leaders from the Palace before their capitulation to the Viet Conges. The Soviets with their draconian Heli-copter Gunships were routing out their enemies in the mountains of Afghanistan till their open and frank leadership of the time admitted and called their Afghan Campaign a “Bleeding Wound” and withdrew from Afghanistan with whatever was left of their pride. The Israelis launched their Armored Pride into Lebanon in the not too distant past only to be check mated for the first time by the rockets fired from the most novel and mobile rocket launchers mounted on motor bikes of the Lebanese volunteers. The historical victors of the First World War may have got the vanquished Germans sign the “Treaty of Versailles” but within twenty years had to face the onslaught of Hitler’s Blitzkrieg in all of Europe. Nations cannot be won by militaries alone. This lesson was very much known in Confucian China of old and in modern times of Jean Paul Sartre’s France, during the Algerian War. Will think tanks in Washington and their cohorts in Tel Eviv and New Delhi draw a lesson or two from the past? Only time will tell.
Mansoor Malik, is Member Board of Advisors, Opinion Maker. In brief, he has been Director General with over 33 year
Senior Engineering Manager, PAF Project where he was responsible for the smooth induction of F-16 Aircraft Weapons System in the PAF and making them fully operational.
His experience is very versatile in different fields of technology and education. He is consultant to number of organizations and the Universities of Pakistan.
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