CURRENT TOPICS: Worst case scenario

9/11 was an apocalyptic event not just for America but also for the world in general Washington's rage and haste for revenge was miscalculated. Instead of restoring peace it has intensified terror, violence and bloodshed as never before. Afghanistan was shattered and subdued but has not been tamed.
Three years after the change of regime, there is no sign of stability. Al-Qaeda and Taliban, though ousted, remain not only active but also determined to carry on war of vendetta. Hamid Karzai the US installed head of the Kabul government in Afghanistan may be a good guy but he is in tight spot sandwiched between the warlords on the one side and the terrorists on the other.
Election through Jirga manipulation has failed to provide him leeway to stamp his authority on administration. A country where every second man is armed and considers himself above the law, bodes ill for peace and progress.
It seems that Bush and his neo-cons misread the military victory in Afghanistan as a triumph of their jingoistic policies and jumped into fray with Iraq. Saddam was a brutal and tyrannical dictator, but despite defeat in Gulf War, he stayed put and was holding his country together notwithstanding multifarious sanctions imposed.
CIA did its nefarious best to topple him through a domestic revolt but failed miserably. In desperation Cheney, Rumsfeld and company prevailed upon Bush to remove him by naked aggression in pursuant to imperialistic agenda. Apart from the fact that the defiant Saddam was a pain in the neck, their eyes were on Iraq's oil wealth and overall designs in the Middle East to protect Israel.
Senior Bush had formed a coalition of world powers before attacking Iraq in 1991 on Kuwait issue. Following the footsteps of his father Jr. Bush too invited the international community to join him. But he was rebuffed by all except UK. The Arab and Muslim world was vehemently opposed, while the European powers, Russia and China were wary of the superpower's expansionist designs. In order to justify the attack, Washington raised the bogey of nuclear and bio-chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in possession of Iraq. But there were no takers in the absence of evidence. Nonetheless US launched a solo pre-emptive strike with UK in tag. While British troops inched along north from Kuwait to Basra, Najaf and Karbala, US 'awe and shock' bombing blitzkrieg on Baghdad wound up the war in just three weeks. Now all was over bar Vietnam to plague America.
Most Iraqis were relieved to see Saddam's back but were not enamoured of the Yankee face and refused to accept the conquerors as liberators. For Bush it is no longer "I came, I saw, I conquered" but it can be better described as "I came, I saw, I conked out". Belatedly Saddam family is in the bag - Saddam alive and his sons dead. But the deadly resistance in and around Baghdad with US soldiers hunted day in and day out makes mockery of victory. It is the worst-case scenario for Bush trying to justify war to win the election. I won't go to the extent of saying that US occupation forces are completely paralysed in Iraq, but they are certainly engulfed in a quagmire and find it difficult to accomplish an honourable withdrawal. No wonder UN is being entreated to save their skin. US may be earning the wages of its sins, but it has dragged the international community in the situation of the worst kind. Everywhere stability has been shattered. Terrorists are rampaging all around the world and not only in Iraq or Afghanistan. With gargantuan security set up mainland America has thus far escaped repetition of 9/11 but Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan seen as US supporters, are bearing the brunt of al-Qaeda wrath.
Quaid-e-Azam the founder of Pakistan was gravely ill during the last few years of his life. But he survived by sheer will power till the achievement of his mission - his dream of a Muslim nation. Unfortunately for us he did not live long enough and passed away within a year of independence - perhaps saddened by the massacre that took place following partition. Since then we have made a mess of the country. There is no doubt that the Quaid wanted Pakistan to be a modern, democratic, secular progressive state. After 56 years we are neither truly democratic nor fully secular. The clerics who worked against creation of Pakistan are today clamouring for power to make the country a theocratic state opposed to any type of modernisation and progress. Their fundamentalism has led to sectarian violence and terrorism to the detriment of the country. Our prestige is low internationally because we have failed to make a success of democracy and have succumbed to dictatorial rule time and again. Admitted some of the military rulers have been benevolent and have contributed to progress, but however, beneficial, a totalitarian power curtails civil liberties and cannot be preferred over the government of the people for the people and by the people.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf's reform agenda has improved economy and U-turns in foreign policies have saved Pakistan from ruination time and again since 9/11. But the recent nuclear scandal has brought him to the end of his tether. The attempt to cover up our past and present sins by some clever manoeuvring has brought temporary relief but the danger is not over. The storm would keep on brewing and we would be deluged at one false step. Indeed it is a worst-case scenario for Pakistan.