By  Mowahid Hussain Shah

January 05, 2007

The War Not Being Fought

With the dawning of 2007, the Bush Administration continues to bloviate about the global war on terror. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the terrorism generated by violent crime continues to surge ahead in America.
The FBI’s Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report, based on statistics submitted by 11,535 law enforcement agencies, depicts that, overall, violent crime – including robbery, homicide, aggravated assault, and rape – has accelerated. These statistics vindicate the posture of many law enforcement officials who have maintained that the Bush Administration, by overly focusing on international terrorism, inadvertently has given space for domestic crime to flourish in America.
This has been the largest crime increase in 15 years. The biggest increase in murder rates has been in big cities.
Increasingly, however, the so-called global war on terror is being exposed as a weapon of mass distraction to divert attention from colossal failures on the domestic front.
There is a pervasive righteousness in the Bush Administration propelled by a sense that “we are better”. This arrogance is one important factor in driving this misdirected war. A little bit of self-scrutiny would be most refreshing.
Within America itself, there are a myriad of socio-economic issues including but not limited to poverty, loneliness, homelessness, out-of-wedlock births, loss of parental and teacher authority, youth delinquency, which requires immediate redress. All of these represent the darker side-effects of a modern developed society.
An outside visitor to US hospitals is immediately struck at the sight of so many elderly patients lying alone and dying alone, bereft of family presence and support. America needs to take a closer critical look at its existing domestic trends and family values.
For any society, all of the above would be a blight. For a rich, developed society which feels that it has the luxury to spend billions of dollars to fight foreign demons abroad, this is unacceptable and untenable. The resources squandered in the so-called ‘war on terror’ could have been better deployed in the war against poverty and socio-economic inequity.
This point, in effect, was made by Dr. Muhammad Yunus during the December 10 award-giving ceremony at Oslo, Norway, where he, along with his Grameen Bank, were jointly awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. Yunus is the originator of the micro-credit movement, which has enabled the poor in Bangladesh and elsewhere to fight poverty through self-empowerment. This idea has inspired the world, including former US President Bill Clinton, who championed this concept in his home state of Arkansas.
The war on terror has already proven to be a wrong war. That war has been the war of choice. It has, among other things, isolated the US, caused huge civilian casualties, killed and maimed the cream of American youth, radicalized its foes and antagonized its allies. All of this for a non-cause. The Bush Administration has no exit strategy nor does it have a persuasive rationale for sustaining its involvement.
The right war would be to re-direct resources and energies to fight against the afore-mentioned social evils. It is a war that has to be fought right now.

PREVIOUSLY


Clash or Coexistence?

The Radical Behind Reconstruction

POWs & Victors’ Justice

Islam on Campus

Community of Civilizations

Rule of Law or Rule of Men?

Unpredictable Times

The Quiet One

Turkish Model & Principled Resignations

Live and Let Live

Leadership & de Gaulle

Dark Side of Power

2002: The Year of Escalation

Whither US?

Politics, God, Cricket & Sex

The Company of Friends

Missing in Action : The Kofi Case

Accountability & Anger

Casualties of War

A Simple Living

The Nexus & Muslim Nationhood

The Kith and Kin Culture

It Is Spreading

Road to Nowhere

Misrepresenting Muslims

The value of curiosity

Revenge & Riches

The Media on Iraq

The Perils of Sycophancy

Legends of Punjab

Mind & Muscle

Islam & the West: Conflict or Co-Existence?

The Challenge of Disinformation

Britain on the Backfoot

Paisa, Power and Privilege

The Path to Peace

On Intervention

Countering Pressures on Pakistan

A World at War?

Raising the Game

The Argument of Force

Affluence withtout Influence

The Shawdow of Vietnam

Heroes of '54

The Imperative of Human Decency

Hollywood and Hate

Living in Lahore

Fatal Decisions

Singer or the Song

Arrogance

The Power of Moral Legitimacy

The Trouble with Kerry

Green Curtain

A Nation Divided

Election 2004: Decisive but Divisive

Muslim Youth & Kashmir in America

The Big Picture: Wealth without Vision

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Punishing the Punctual

Change without Change

Don’t Be Weak

Passionate Attachment

The Confidence of Youth

The Other Side of Democracy

Campaign of Defamation

Pakistani Women & the Legal Profession

A Pakistani Journey

Farewell to Fazal

Mukhtaran and Beyond

Revamping the OIC

7/7 & After

Nuclear Double-Standard

Return to Racism

Hollywood – The Unofficial Media

The Sole Superpower

The UN at 60

A Slow Motion World War?

Elite vs. Street

Iqbal Today

Macedonia to Multan

Defending our Own

2006 & Maulana Zafar Ali Khan

Error against Terror

The Limits of Power

Cultural Weaknesses

Aggressive at Home, Submissive Abroad

Global Storm

The Farce of Free Expression

The Changing Mood

Condi & India

Xenophobia

Looking inward

Re-Thinking

A Tale of Two Presidents

Close to Home

Flashpoint Kashmir

The Spreading Rage

Confronting Adversity

The Illusion of International Law

Other Side of Extremism

Five Years after 9/11

The Educated Ignorant

The Decline of Humor

Icons

Six Years of Insanity


2001

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
© 2004 pakistanlink.com . All Rights Reserved.