December 24, 2015
By Saeed Qureshi
The emergence of
ISIS in the Middle East landscape is a mind boggling phenomenon. How
Al-Baghdadi and his cohorts could amass such a committed and huge force of
heartless crusaders to rampage in the length and breadth of Iraq and Syria,
fight the traditional regular armies and entrench doggedly either to kill or to
be killed in return.
Thus far the mighty
air power of many countries including both USSR and USA has been unsuccessful
to dislodge and scatter the ISIS militia which in fact is a worrisome dimension
for the world at large. ISIS is causing more destabilization of Iraq and Syria
than the previous wars both internal and external.
The sordid fact
is that in the Middle East, in the littoral states of Gulf and in the Arab
peninsula there have never been a political government established through the
will and franchise of the people. By and large these have been tribal dynasties
and family dictatorships.
The Arab spring brought in its wake, significant and
formidable transformation in the system of governance or democracy elsewhere
but not in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and Emirates remained unaffected by
that historic watershed change. Yemen, Libya Iraq and Syria entered into a
phase of civil war that is still raging ferociously. In Iraq and Syria this
civil war is between the ISIS and the incumbent regimes.
In an atmosphere
of political and social stagnation the dictatorial dynasties like Saudi Arabia,
Iraq and Syria and even Egypt draw their strength and legitimacy either from
religion or military. These regimes lack legitimacy to rule as these are not
born out of the people’s mandate given through ballot.
Since these family or
sectarian based dynasties or military outfits are backed up by the foreign powers such as Syria by USSR
and Iraq by the United State, a third force has emerged with the slogan of
establishing an Islamic Emirate in Levant territories similar to that of Taliban created in Afghanistan for a few
years( 1996-2001).
In 2003 the so
called Coalition Allies led by the United States eliminated the Iraqi Baathist regime of Saddam Hussain. Since then Iraq has a fragile and sectarian based
democratic governments. In Syria the Alawite government
is under a family dictatorship using all brutal means against
their people especially the Sunni population.
Although there has been a
simmering civil war going on in Syria, the Arab Spring that swept across the
Islamic countries of Sahara and Middle East generated since 2011 a new wave of
civil unrest in Syria which is apace now.
Ironically the
deadly wars have been thrust upon the people of these lands either by local
tyrants or by foreign interventions have shaken these societies upside down.
Now the Taliban and Muslims crusaders or jihadists who fought for the west in
Afghanistan against the former Soviet Union later were treated as terrorists
and a new war was started against them in 2001. Thus the heroes became terrorists.
But woefully the label of terrorism exclusively used for a limited group of
Taliban started being used for the entire Muslim world. In the context of Middle
East those challenging the autocratic regimes are also being dubbed as terrorists.
In case of such gruesome
incidents as in Paris, San Bernardino or 9/11 the label of terrorism should be
exclusively used for the specific groups of terrorists who carried out these horrific
acts and not for all Muslims. That trend is leading to a clash of civilization
based upon religion as predicted by Professor Huntington.
It should be in
order if the Western World particularly the United States and politicians
should correct this misconception because Muslims have stood by America in Afghanistan
in defeating the former Soviet Union: the arch enemy of capitalism or the free
world.
At the same time
the international power brokers and super powers along with the UNO initiate a
process of democratization of the Muslim countries that are still under the
domination of family autocracies or the religious outfits or else under the military
junta rule. That is going to be the best and a most preferable solution to
bridle and nail terrorism.
The United
States and its allies and Europe should use their clout and influence to change
the regimes and ensure choice of the rulers through a genuine democratic
process. We can see that in Tunisia the Arab spring was successful. The
people’s uprising was aimed at a genuine cause which was the change of the
rulers and a dysfunctional and corrupt government.
The United Nations would rather
move to ban the autocracy in any form and for that objective the Security
Council and the world powers should play a decisive role. If the islands of autocracies
and ruthless dynasties and dictatorships are dismantled to be replaced by
governments chosen by the people, the society and government would be stable
and accountable.
The use of brute force to sustain proxy governments and sham
regimes is a recipe for turmoil and chaos as we can witness all over in the
Middle East, barring Morocco and Jordan.
The anti Muslim
rhetoric and outlook has been there in the west, but of late this has assumed
vitriolic proportions. Truthfully merely Muslim bashing and vilifying them
en-bloc for isolated and odd incidents like San Bernardino and Paris would be
counterproductive and an exercise in futility.
Rather it would create ill will
and tension between 1.6 billion Muslims and the Christian West which would be
detrimental to the creation of a world free of terrorism, militancy and hatred.
It would be a saner policy to take the peaceful Islamic states along to root
out the menace of terrorism and for peaceful world.
At the same time
it is also inevitable to debilitate the radical militants as Taliban and ISIS
to pave way for the regime change from autocracy to democracy. In that regard the
strategy unfurled by president Obama can be decisively effective and definitely
result-oriented.
He has submitted a Draft resolution to the Congress for
permission to go ahead with his anti ISIS plan. President Obama doesn’t want
American ground troops in Iraq and Syria because in his reckoning that was what
ISIS wants and the America is not going to commit that blunder.
He wants to
break their command and control system, block their channels of funds, recapture
the oil refineries under their control and stop sale of oil. Both Hillary
Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the front runner Democratic presidential candidates
have expressed their support for that approach.
About domestic
ill will towards the Muslims, Hillary Clinton has asserted that “we must
work more closely with Muslim-American communities. Just like Martin, I met
with a group of Muslim-Americans this past week to hear from them about what
they're doing to try to stop radicalization. They will be our early warning
signal. That's why we need to work with them, not demonize them, as the
Republicans have been doing
Sanders
opined, “I believe in action in which we put together a strong coalition of
forces, major powers and the Muslim nations.”
These are the
saner voices that goad caution and restraint and not to dub, discriminate or
profile the Muslims as terrorists as it would not only be a violation of the American constitution but would also
isolate the United States from the entire Muslim world by way of interaction
and adverse impact on the mutual trade and cooperation.
Currently USA
and Russia are seeking the Security Council’s approval to build up an
international coalition for action in Iraq along the same lines that United
States had earlier formed twice in Iraq. The first was the Operation Desert
Storm built in February 1991 consisting
of 34 nations led by the United
States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation
of Kuwait.
The second was "shock and awe” that led to the invasion of Iraq and
collapse of the Ba'athist government, capturing of Terrorism, Muslims and United States in December 2003 and his execution by a military court three
years later.Such a coalition was built in Afghanistan in 2001 under the title of “Operation
Enduring Freedom” to dislodge Taliban.
The United States officially withdrew in
2011 from Afghanistan after the fulfillment of the mission but became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition.
The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of Diplomatic Times
and a former diplomat.This and other articles by
the writer can also be read at his blog www.uprightopinion.com.
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