Compounded Waste

Witness the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Or what happens in Russia’s Palestine, Chechenya. The Basques in Spain. The Kashmiris and Naxalites. The Baluchis and the Shias of Gilgit. The Moros.

AFAIK, the Naxalites don`t do suicide attacks. They usually blow up Police jeeps and other government vehicles using remote-controlled landmines. Even the Kashmiris haven`t used suicide bombing in the classical sense. Instead, they resort to Fidayeen attacks, where they usually storm Army/Paramilitary force/Police camps and shoot and kill a few soldiers before being shot themselves.

Temporal you pose a pertinent question:

````As a Muslim I cannot decide what is worse the US intransigence or Osama’s arrogance. Or the reverse``

But are US intransigence and Osama`s arrogance not two sides of the same coin ? Both are hunters with hungry intent. Any diplomat attired to the nines who embarks on the strange voyage of war can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The soft-spoken statesman who yields to war is as much a villain and a precursor as the bearded caped-crusading tyrant cocooning in caves.

Countless are the calculating eagles who descend from the Pentagon and Mazar-e-Sharif to live with moles that they may know the secrets of the earth and wreak havoc. A tongue-tied President or a suicide-tied beard ? Both lieutenants of lunacy. Surely the tailor sees the two erroneous sides of the cloth that he weaves ?

Perhaps, in his infinite wisdom, Mahatma Gandhi, had answered your predicament years ago:

`` What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the Holy name of liberty or democracy?

Mahatma Gandhi, ``Non-Violence in Peace and War``
Indian ascetic & inspirational leader (1869 - 1948)

# 4 by ozerkhalid

Ozer,

Good post.

Re: # 6

Gracias Harish. Your comments on Kashmiris and Naxalites are spot-on.

temporal,

Both sides in this conflict are to be blamed: institutions that helped create Saddams and Osamas, as well as the ummah that continues to hail monsters as heroes. Who deserves more blame is a close call.

People do not easily forget wrongs done to them, and settle old scores even after centuries and millenniums. This is why Islam encourages every possible alternative … even putting up with a long spells of oppression … before allowing armed retaliation.

Urstruly,

This is not an underdog issue … rather who has wronged who and how can this cycle be contained. Jumping to rash conclusions while raising calls for jihad will only feed this frenzy … enough is enough ... don`t you see ...?

t

you should make up your mind. Either you are with the underdog or against it. i don`t think that there is any room for neutrality left now.

``The innocent Iraqi civilians continue to pay the debts of an imposed war with their blood twice over.``

why is any nation or people innnocent? Iraqis had a god-given wealth of oil which they squandered over fighting with Iran. dont blame one ``dictator``.. iraqi nation just failed to accomplish peace and prosperity inspite of the oil-wealth. why are they innocent? why not accept some responsibility?

``As a Muslim I cannot decide what is worse the US intransigence or Osama’s arrogance. Or the reverse``

remember, pehle insan?