U.S. continues humming contradictory tune<\/p>\n
Harry Bhaskara, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, New York<\/p>\n
Public attention here has mostly shifted to the U.S.-led
\nmilitary attack on Afghanistan, two months after the Sept. 11
\nattacks; and both the government and the people are slowly
\ngaining their composure amid uncertainties and confusion in the
\nimmediate future.<\/p>\n
An Iranian student who studied in San Francisco said: \"I don't
\nsupport terrorism but neither the bombing. On the social level,
\npeople are people. They couldn't do anything about this, people
\nin Afghanistan are suffering so much.\"<\/p>\n
The fall of Kabul Tuesday into the hands of Northern Alliance
\nfighters marks a new era of war in the troubled country rocked by
\nyears of war with Russia and the civil war that followed.<\/p>\n
Afghanistan is not alien ground for the United States.<\/p>\n
In the words of Dr. DeVere Pentony, former dean of
\ninternational studies at San Francisco State University, the U.S.
\nhad no strategic plan when it left Afghanistan in the mid 1990s
\nand let it descend into anarchy.<\/p>\n
Unless United Nations peacekeeping forces are immediately
\ndeployed, the world is risking an historical repeat of past
\nAfghan tragedies.<\/p>\n
Osama bin Laden is but the stepchild of American intelligence,
\ngroomed in Afghanistan about a decade ago to fight the Russians.
\nFrom this perspective, the Sept. 11 attacks were, partly,
\nhomegrown.<\/p>\n
The recent BBC television reports that President George W.
\nBush might have past business relations with bin Laden's family
\nmembers has further complicated matters.<\/p>\n
Such is the irony of a country in which foreign visitors would
\nfeel totally accepted right from the first day they arrive
\nbecause of the congeniality and empathy of the average American.<\/p>\n
Yet, this sincerity of an open society somehow does not
\ntranslate into the country's foreign policies. The Central
\nIntelligence Agency, whose moves are often felt as double
\nstandards by many countries, mocking its famed democracy at home,
\nhas earned no less than a notorious image.<\/p>\n
Bringing terrorists to their knees can be accomplished by
\nother means such as through diplomatic, humanitarian, legal and
\nfinancial means, exactly the way the U.S. described its approach
\nin the campaign's early stages.<\/p>\n
Continuous bombing, especially during the holy month of
\nRamadhan and the upcoming winter, would not be perceived well in
\nmany Muslim countries and would risk many more innocent lives.
\nIn the week following the Sept. 11 attacks Newsweek magazine
\nreportedly received a total of 12,000 letters from the U.S. and
\nabroad, including those from European non-Muslims, expressing
\nresentment toward the United States.<\/p>\n
The question of why Saudi-born terrorist bin Laden, accused of
\ndirecting the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
\nPentagon, seems to be more successful in conveying his messages
\nfrom a cave in Afghanistan compared to President George W. Bush
\nfrom the White House, is a disturbing one.<\/p>\n
Bush has reasserted that the war against global terrorism,
\nunder his leadership, is not one between the West and Islam. In
\nthe recent past the U.S. has fought in defense of Muslims in
\nKuwait, Kosovo and Bosnia Herzegovina.<\/p>\n
And yet protests against the U.S. in Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt,
\nPalestine and Indonesia has somehow reflected that bin Laden's
\ncalls to fight the \"infidels\" has wide acceptance.<\/p>\n
As leader of the global fight against global terrorism, the
\nU.S. must find the answer; the more so when Bush claims that
\nIslam is not the enemy in the war on terrorism.<\/p>\n
But the newly issued U.S. visa restrictions on Muslim males
\nfrom 25 countries, according to reports on Monday, has undermined
\nthe Bush claim. This could be a political set back to Bush's
\nadministration in the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
Despite all these uncertainties, voices of reason do prevail
\nin the U.S.<\/p>\n
\"We will be studying this case (the Sept. 11 terrorist
\nattacks) even 12 months from now,\" said Matthew P. Daley, deputy
\nassistant secretary at the State Department in Washington.<\/p>\n
Daley holds that being a free society, the U.S. will always be
\nvulnerable.<\/p>\n
\"We will never be able to protect ourselves from terrorism.
\nEven a totalitarian state can't protect itself from terrorism.\"
\nAnswering a question asked by many -- sound evidence of bin
\nLaden's involvement in the crime -- Daley said that a good
\nportion of it comes from intelligence sources.<\/p>\n
Hence, once the evidence is made public the sources might end
\nup being killed. The second reason was the American legal system.
\n\"At some point we will have to put all this information before a
\ncourt,\" Daley said, adding that in case of information changes,
\nwhat could be admitted in U.S. courts could sometimes be
\ncomplicated.<\/p>\n
However, Daley says, much of this information has been shared
\nwith the U.S.'s allies.<\/p>\n
The writer was a participant of the recent Fall 2001 Thomas
\nJefferson program of the Honolulu-based East West Center.<\/p>",
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