| by Mahboob A. Khawaja
“The hell of human suffering, evil and oppression is paved with good intentions. The men who have most injured and oppressed humanity, who have most deeply sinned against it, were according to their standards and their conscience good men; what was bad in them, what wrought moral evil and cruelty, treason to truth and progress, was not at all in their intentions, in their purpose, in their personal character, but in their opinions.”
(Professor Robert Briffault. The Making of Humanity. London, 1918)
( December 25, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Leader across the globe use the Xmas and the New Year’s Eve as convenient opportunities to echo festive messages of peace and optimism as if they long the humanity. Despite the inherent wickedness of warmongers and institutions, the global community is tolerant and open to listening to the abstract and absurd alike. Analyzing critically and objectively, there is hardly any international leaders capable of articulating an effective and credible message of hope and change under the present global affairs. No matter where you look to the East and West, South and North, forces of darkness and evil go unchecked as if the mankind was just numbers and digits and nothing else in reality. How strange in the 21st century knowledge-based informed age, large segments of humanity are being targeted by planned violence, displacement, aerial bombardment, traumatization, displacement and daily bloodbaths all extensions of the US-led bogus war on terrorism. The sadistic madness appears at its peak. America and its puppet Arab rulers are enlarging the scope of the nominal sectarian divides - Arab killing Arab, Muslims committing massacres of fellow Muslims, and Shias-Sunnis engaged in cold blooded murders. They are not fighting for truth, Islam or to protect the rights and dignity of the people. Rationality cries out loud against perpetuated insanity over the entire Arabian landscape. Nobody knows what is the end game? They are active and cash paid agents of death squads manned either by foreigners, or Iran, ISIL, Syria or Iraqis. Now, it is the coalition of the willing of 12 countries actively engaged to destroy the living humanity to ensure improved management of the oil supplies and to counteract any possible threats of imagined extremism in the Arab Middle East. There is no distinction of rights or wrongs. Who will be hanged and who will be spared, the coalition Arab leaders are uncertain about their futuristic destiny. To post 9/11 time, Al-Qaeda was the name and stigma; now it is newly formed ISIL – a convenient replacement. Everywhere, no question asked, the few authoritarian Arab rulers lacking legitimacy and the US dominated NATO members enjoy free access to victimize the innocent Arab people. The American inquisition explains Professor Michel Chossudovsky (9/11 and the “American Inquisition”, Global Research, 9/11/2008):
The American Inquisition as an ideological construct which is, in many regards, similar to the inquisitorial social order prevailing in France and Spain during the Middle Ages. The inquisition, which started in France in the 12th century, was used as a justification for conquest and military intervention. An inquisitorial doctrine turns realities upside down. It is a social order based on lies and fabrications. But because these lies emanate from the highest political authority and are part of a widely held “consensus”, they invariably remain unchallenged. And those who challenge the inquisitorial order or in any way oppose America’s military or national security agenda are themselves branded as “conspiracy theorists” or outright terrorists.
Global Leaders and Institutions are a Menace to Peace
The UNO and its major organs are spectators and debating clubs subject to approval of the Five Permanent Members of the Security Council. The idea of the UNO is self propagated prophecy that no longer has the persuasive power to stop aggression by one of its own member states. The mankind is left with no rational choice to challenge the institutionalized extremism except to cry out against the perpetuated insanity flourishing in the Arab Middle East an elsewhere. If we believe to be living in One World, the One Humanity must stand together to oppose the cruel reality against the human nature and expectation for peacemaking. American war strategy is aimed at large scale deaths and destructions of the entire Arab region enabling American corporations to attain direct control over the oil reserves and exports. Another vital aim of the strategy is to camouflage the freedom of Palestine. America is not engaged in wars of humanitarian principles and values of any kind or to promote liberty and democracy. Those opposing the American intervention in Iraq-Syria know well how much America is feared and hated by the common Arabian folks. President Obama does not have a strategy to “defeat and destroy ISIL” in the Arab Middle East. If he claims to have crafted a new strategy by launching air strikes on the civilian population across Iraq-Syria and enlisting coalition of the worst than useless Arab authoritarian leaders, he is in a political quagmire of his own. America will lose more by military interventions in the complex societal conflicts overwhelmingly dominating the Arab world. Professor Michel Chossudovsky (“America’s Holy Crusade against the Muslim World. Global Research: 8/30/2010) points out that: A “war of religion” is unfolding, with a view to justifying a global military crusade. In the inner consciousness of many Americans, the “holy crusade” against Muslims is justified. While President Obama may uphold freedom of religion, the US inquisitorial social order has institutionalized patterns of discrimination, prejudice and xenophobia directed against Muslims.
American news media reports of an estimated 32, 000 innocent citizens are gunned down yearly across the US homeland. If America cannot deal with its own domestic problems of security, unusual violence, killings of the innocents, natural disasters and fear-mongering politics, how could it be helpful to few puppet clients in the Arab world? One wonders, what went wrong with America? William Boardman (“A Country At War With An Illusion.” Information Clearing House: 8/19/2013) spells out that America is at war with itself: “We are waging war on terrorism even as we embody terrorism. …No wonder we seem sometimes to be at war with ourselves, and have been for most of the 21st century….No American Under 12 Has Lived In A Country At Peace….America’s Main Enemy Is Nameless, Shapeless, “Associated Forces”… The American Enemies List Is Decided Anonymously and Secretly.
The warmongers go freely to massacre innocent women, children and rape the youngsters - a prevalent culture of infested crimes across the Arab regions. Despite moral and intellectual capacity, nobody takes up initiatives for talks to conduct conflict management and crisis management. Leaders appear more of insane egoistic character than peacemakers. They are unmindful of the consequences of their own vicious thought and priorities simply to double the imagery of popularity number games. The question is, how would such large scale military operations achieve any aims of peace to avoid future mishaps? For over a decade, in Iraq, Afghanistan and its spill-over drone war into Northern Pakistan tribal areas, millions and millions of people have been targeted, displaced and charcoaled by the US failing war strategy.
Towards Conflict Management
All man-made conflicts are manageable through dialogue and peaceful negotiations. If the coalition of the willing had working intelligence, they should engage ISIL in a political dialogue to determine the future of the Arab Middle East. Obviously, ISIL’s cold-blooded killings of few foreign prisoners cannot be accepted as precepts of the Islamic behavior and values of the Muslim world, but the group is gaining ground and attracting large number of recruits across the Arab countries. President Obama claimed diplomacy to deal with global problems and nations with varied perspectives. But nothing is initiated out of the fixed strategy against ISIL. “It is Perfectly Reasonable to Negotiate with Villains like ISIS So, Why Don’t We Do It to Save Some Lives” The Independent: 9/28/2014), asks reputable international journalist Robert Fisk. President Obama said, No at the UN and adds, we do not negotiate with Evil. An impartial observer would question President Obama if the Evil is one-sided. No wonder, why America is using the logic of power and not the power of logic to respond to a critical global humanitarian crisis. Wars suck out positive human thinking and creative energies to articulate a sustainable future. How should the global humanity view the contemporary Arab societies, their war-torn bloody cultures operated by foreign mercenaries and few authoritarian dictators? What kind of message of civility, moral and intellectual values do they convey to the watchful eyes of the global humanity?
War Negates the Essence of Xmas and Peacemaking
When was the last time any cruel monsters opted for a public dialogue to co-exist with rational people? Would Bashar al-Assad listen to voices of reason? Do other authoritarian Arab rulers show any flexibility to share power with the people? Most Arab rulers lack the intellectual capacity and political legitimacy to conduct any public negotiations with the opposing parties. The auspices occasion of the Xmas and New Year stand for peace and co-existence amongst diverse segments of human societies. The continuing bombing of the innocents, sectarian bloodbaths and aggressive military operations contradict the spirit and meaning of the Xmas. The crush for war is instinctively part of human ignorance and arrogance. Wars contradict the human Nature and the Nature of the living Universe. It is co-existence and peace that brings people and nations together and helps to flourish life and relationships befitting to the human Nature and the Nature of planet Earth and the larger Universe. Civilizations grow out of peace not conflicts. Dave Lindorff (“Eleven Reason’s I’m Ashamed to Be an American.” Counterpunch: 12/10/2014) is a founding member of ThisCantBeHappening!, and is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, and extends courageous statement on the current global affairs: I am ashamed to be a US citizen. This doesn’t come easily, because having lived abroad and seen some pretty nasty places in my time, I know there are a lot of great things about this country, and a lot of great people who live here, but lately, I’ve reached the conclusion that the US is a sick and twisted country, in which the bad far outweighs the good….. It’s not just the latest release of a heavily redacted report on the Bush/Cheney administration’s deliberate program of torture, launched in 2001 in the wake of 9-11, and carried on for years against not just alleged terrorists, but even against people known or suspected to be completely innocent of anything. It’s that nothing has been done, or likely will be done, to punish those who authorized and advocated for these war crimes and crimes against humanity.
If there were any responsible global moral, spiritual and intellectual powerhouses, they should have taken initiatives to find peaceful ways and means to end the authoritarian hostilities and massacres of the innocent civilians. The history speaks loud and clear that few powerful rulers with individualistic absolutism and most often, mentally retarded persons have always driven the mankind to large scale slaughters, victimization, deprivation and long term scars of unforgettable consequences – the massacres of innocent humanity and destruction of irreversible human habitats - the Two World Wars never ended - the killing goes on and on across the Middle East. God the Creator of the Universe knows who is peacemaker and who warmonger is. The messages of Torah, Bible and The Qura’an are clear and candid: God favors those who strive to bridge the human differences, bring people together and make peace. The humanity is at great loss even the Xmas occasion could not change the favorite perversion of the blood thirsty leaders to rethink of their role and aims within the global mankind.
(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, May 2012)