Just few days ago social media and all other forms of media were full of the horrific images that were coming out of Syria. The images were of the militated and dying children and deformed and degraded human bodies. There were condemnations of those acts of ghastly violence and all the curses were addressed to the perpetrators of the violence, and rightly so.
It ends not here and, in a sense, it moves no more beyond that, once the images move a bit down the timelines of the netizens all is forgotten. The same people who vehemently curse and condemn the acts of violence and war crimes behave as if nothing had ever happened with the people of Syria, and all other places where such things happen, subsequently.
These people, in their initial reaction, not only curse the dictator and the countries engaged in the war but also those people, and their friends, which do not condemn them. Hypocrisy is the chosen and favorite word to describe all the people who do not act in a way in which we want them to act. Once time makes a single leap forward all is gone faster than it is remembered. There are no hypocrites, no war crimes and no deaths of children, elderly and young thereafter.
Leaving the rest to the wisdom and intelligence of the reader to decide about the right and effective response in cases such as exist in Syria and other places of conflicts, time is to come to the actual issue. In this regard Syria and the Middle East as a whole is a perfect example of global mismanagement. This is the mismanagement of the affairs and relations (internal and external) of the countries in this region, the mismanagement by a country who calls herself as a global leader, and the ideal manager of global affairs.
On 1st May, 2003 the then US president George W Bush declared, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country”. The defeat of Iraq under the leadership of Sadam Hussain was presented as the defeat of one of the main enemies of the world and peace in the world. It was described as the triumph of democracy over the autocratic rule and dictatorship in these words, “In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment”.
Middle East after the Execution of Sadam Hussain, according G. W. Bush was supposed to be a safer region of the world. A pledge was made in the same speech about the role of the United States to rebuild Iraq. “We’re helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people”. These words by the President of the most powerful country of the world made the people of Iraq hopeful of a bright future after the devastating war.
The defeat of Iraq was presented as if orchestrated and commissioned by the people of Iraq themselves and as if there was only secondary role of the USA and her allies, as if there were none of her interests involved. Iraqis it was said were rejoicing the defeat and fall of Sadam Hussain, “In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement. Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices and everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear”.
Further, it was stated that rebuilding Iraq and transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, “The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq”. As per this statement and the speech as a whole everything rosy was shown to Iraq and all the threats to the people and peace of the Middle East according to them were eliminated from the bud.
After many years of the culmination of the war and defeat of Iraq it is time to analyze and rationally and impartially about the claims and credibility of the claims made. The time span that has passed since then is sufficient to prove the veracity or otherwise of the contents of the speech mentioned in the foregoing paras.
A cursory look at the events and prevalent conditions in the Middle East proves the speech as a blatant lie, a farce and devoid of any worth. The conditions in the Middle East are diametrically opposite of what was supposed to be the case. We can safely say that the war of Iraq sowed the seeds of further discord in the region. It set many other conspiracies brewing under the carpets and it is the result of those conspiracies that the Middle East is the most volatile and unsafe region of the world. Nuclear powers are at the loggerheads with each other in this region and any incident or miscalculation could activate a vicious chain from which coming out safe for any country of the world would be next to impossible, if it is not already impossible for the countries of this region.
None of the country in this region is safe and instead they are caught in mazes and vortexes of violence and instability from which it is difficult to come out. The losses to human life and unpredictability in the moves of the parties to the conflicts in the region make it a region where human cognition fails to decipher about who is fighting for what and who is getting killed for what. The global powers, it appears, are deliberately mismanaging the affairs to keep this region boiling to serve their interests and the death of humans and destruction of sovereign countries is made as a vehicle to serve those interests.
The countries, groups and people who are parties in these conflicts act as pawns in the hand of the perpetrators of the ghastly violence, they act as if their minds have been hacked and reprogrammed to behave the way they are behaving. Otherwise the interests and designs of the powerful countries of the world are hidden to none.
Since the end of the Iraqi War, and during the war too, death in this region is in a perpetual state of dance. In single incident of violence hundreds and hundreds of people lose their lives and multiples of hundred get maimed. The bodies flew in air like the pieces paper and are broken and teared into pieces. This is the most pathetic and painful type of death that no people ought to suffer but are made to suffer in this region. The bodies of little children are torn into pieces and others turn into smoke and ash. Humanity feels ashamed and humans feel disgraced by the sight of these brutal deaths but no one seems to be courageous enough to say anything.
One wonders about the gains that are forthcoming out of this uneven, unequal and one sided war. What are the crimes of these children and all the innocent people? Why are they butchered nobody knows.
If the leaders of the USA and other countries, who are engaged in the so called war against terrorism, claim that the war against terrorism, and earlier the war against Iraq, is a success then why these deaths? The situation on the ground falsifies the claims, and falsifies them in full.
In short if we take the words of the then US president George W Bush at their face value and expect some element of sincerity in those worlds then the war in Iraq has been proved as a big failure. All the promises and pledges have fallen flat. The peace and prosperity which were promised to the people of Iraq have turned out actually as destruction and decimation of human lives and nations. Somewhere the emergence of the ISIS, arrival of the USA and Russia in the Middle East are related to the FAILED Iraq war.
Even after that if we give some weight to the stated claims, then the only conclusion to which one reaches is that the Middle East in particular and the entire global affairs are mismanaged, deliberately or otherwise, under the leadership of the USA. The Middle East is the first large scale outcome of that mismanagement and the other regions may follow suit which is never a great news for the human species. Course correction is the need of the time. It is time to look beyond parochial national interests and think about the existence of human race as a whole. Once we start thinking on those lines, the situation in the Middle East is surely a bottleneck and big threat in ensuring that existence which needs immediate collective attention.
A word to the people who condemn the acts of violence, and rightly so, some consistency needs to be displayed with some concreted steps initiated/suggested. Finally, a world of caution to the people who remain silent about dastardly acts, that is that, the world situation is changing so fast who knows next time it may be you, and your near and dear ones!!!
Fayaz Ganaie can be reached at fayaz.greatstep@gmail.com
