Monster of Orthodoxies

People Of The World Needs To Cooperate As U.S.A Fails In World Leadership

By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

The recent developments in Iraq where Sunni orthodox elements have captured the Mosul and Tikrit show that all is not well in the Iraq where USA had entered to dislodge Saddam Hussein on the plea of WMD though it got nothing. The country was destabilized with sectarian violence engulfing the nation and the recent outcome is the emergence of a hard core orthodoxies in the country. Perhaps USA failed to direct the government towards reconciliation with the liberal Sunni groups. The US initially aimed to eliminate Saddam Hussein in which it succeeded but it left a country with bleeding sores.

Libya was described as the brightest illustration of Arab spring when Col. Gaddafi was dislodged but the violence which followed without any control and ultimately even killed the American ambassador in Benghazi , left country in rubbles of unity. USA perhaps succeeded in eliminating its arch enemy but was never aware of the destabilizing effect.

Afghanistan- Pakistan stories are also not much different. In Afghanistan there is rise of Taliban which once destroyed the Afghan culture. In Pakistan too the attacks on airports are symbol of the emergence of hard core militancy with the capacity to cause problems in the adjoining areas.

The rise in militancy, insurgency and conservative societies are the greatest challenge which the whole world is going to face in the years to come.

The moot question is how to face these emerging challenges which are almost impacting the whole world in a highly influential manner. This challenge is more for those countries where religious minorities, ethnic groups abound. South Asia, Middle East, African countries are easy prey to the monster of orthodoxies.

The social-political life of many innocents is painful. The displacement of thousands of people from Mosul in one day is really horrible. The killing of American ambassador in Benghazi is also painful to his near ones. Equally true although is suppression by many regimes in MENA (Middle East North Africa) of the people, that is also painful. The elimination of many dictatorial regimes was good development. Many regimes in gulf region are highly conservative. They depend upon USA. USA has major role to dislodge these regimes but its national interest put a break . Thus U S A follows double standard.

The existence of these regimes and spread of fundamentalism are two major issues which will crystallize as the major challenge. The way out is not in the hands of USA which has been approached by Iraq that it should consider air strikes in the cities where militants have taken control. USA has worked in the past in these countries according to its national interest though its after effect in that particular country has been disastrous. US President Obama has talked about American leadership; perhaps USA wants a world where its voice is ultimate oracle. The idea is good for USA but not for the humanity because it brings huge pain to people.

There is urgent need at the global level to initiate a discourse on the issue of spread of orthodox elements in different parts of the world. UNO like organizations need to start the discussion and craft a policy framework for the same but U N O is weak in the implementation of any decision.

In this background the major role of the people of world has become quite crucial. The sane minds must deliberate on this issue . They must although realize that orthodox and conservative elements are present even in the successful democracies. They are waiting for the opportunity. They have succeeded in many countries. This fact makes their task more challenging.

Hence there has come a time to organize a people movement at global level to arrest the spread of orthodoxies .When nations, leaders and global organizations have failed then people of the world must come together otherwise Mosul will be repeated in many countries. The independent intellectual platforms like this one may provide a place for deliberation and consolidation.

Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava has twenty years University level teaching experience, presently Assistant Professor in CSJM Kanpur University[affiliated college],Vice Chairman CSSP, email: vpy1000@yahoo.co.in

countercurrents.org

The chickens of western warmongering and intervention come home to roost in Iraq

Lindsey German

The development of a conflict which already involves Iran and Saudi Arabia, could foreshadow a full scale middle eastern war, with incalculable consequences for Israel and the Palestinians.

More than a decade after the most contested military intervention of modern times, the fall of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, to Islamic fundamentalists ISIS, underlines the disastrous consequences of the Bush-Blair war in Iraq.

As Iraq disintegrates, Barack Obama's statement that he doesn't rule out anything in dealing with the crisis, shows how little he recognises US and western responsibility for the chaos now spreading across the region.

It beggars belief that there are still voices calling for bombing or more intervention to deal with "a terrorist threat". Wasn't this one of the reasons we were given in 2003 to justify the war on Iraq? Was it ever more obvious that the "war on terror" has done nothing but increase exponentially the amount of terrorism in the world?

The Bush-Blair war on Iraq is the root cause of the instability and disintegration we are now witnessing. The "shock and awe" devastation of the country was followed by years of destructive occupation, and the continuing wilful refusal of its main architects to adopt any other course of action. This was despite vast international opposition to the war and mass resistance to the occupation by Iraqis themselves.

The invasion and occupation destroyed the Iraqi state totally -- something not even done to Nazi Germany or Mussolini’s Italy at the end of the second world war.

Despite pronouncements of bringing democracy, the US and its allies were responsible for the barbarous treatment of the people who resisted. Far from winning hearts and minds, the bombing of Fallujah and the atrocities in Abu Ghraib led millions of Iraqis to oppose bitterly the occupation.

Up to one million died as a result of the war and occupation. Four million were driven from their homes as refugees. Add to this the hostility Iraqis suffered from the occupying forces, the neo liberal privatisations, the collapse of even basic services, like access to clean water and a functioning sewage system, and it is not hard to see the roots of the many grievances destabilising the country.

One response from the occupiers was the deliberate fostering of sectarian tensions in order to divide and rule the population. And we see today the effects of that policy.

In case anyone thinks post intervention societies are flourishing elsewhere, consider that this week also saw the Taliban launch a major attack on Pakistan's main airport, Libya continue to descend into effective partition and civil war, and a candidate for the presidential election in Afghanistan narrowly escaping a bomb attack that killed many of his bodyguards.

What is happening in Iraq and Syria is likely to redraw the boundaries created by the European imperial powers nearly 100 years ago. Then, as the old Turkish Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end of the first world war, Britain and France -- with the collusion of Russia -- carved up the region under the secret Sykes-Picot agreement.

In Syria, the past three years of civil war and intervention by outside powers have made the Sykes-Picot borders porous, particularly between Syria and Iraq, but also in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and even Turkey.

ISIS has been in control of the west of Iraq for some months and now controls much of the north. A sign of further disintegration of the country is the Kurds takeover of Kirkuk, the capital city in the oil rich Kurdish area in northern Iraq.

There is already a huge refugee crisis as people flee the war torn areas, with an estimated half a million fleeing Mosul, which Save the Children called the largest and swiftest mass movements of people in the world in recent memory.

The Iraqi state, headed by Prime Minister Maliki, is visibly disintegrating, with the army and police abandoning towns without fighting, and the parliament unable even to achieve a quorum to call a state of emergency.

War on sectarian lines across the country is now likely, and the development of a conflict which already involves Iran and Saudi Arabia, could foreshadow a full scale middle eastern war, with incalculable consequences for Israel and the Palestinians.

Two points need to be reiterated time and again, although you will search in vain for them in most of the mainstream media.

The first is that those of us who marched against the war in 2002 and 2003 were absolutely right when we predicted that the invasion would make the situation worse for the Iraqi people, and for the wider middle east.

Secondly, no one can say we don't know where western intervention ends up. But, despite all the catastrophic consequences so clearly visible in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and beyond, we still hear calls from the likes of Michael Gove and John McCain, for western intervention in Syria and Ukraine.

Eleven years on, western leaders should hang their heads in shame at what they have created. And surely now, Tony Blair must lose his job as envoy for peace in the Middle East.

But whatever happens, as Owen Jones writes, this calamity must never be allowed to happen again.

Source: Stop the War Coalition

stopwar.org.uk