SUPPORT FOR CRUEL REGIMES BREEDS TERRORISM
Axin Arbili – a Kurdish freelance writer
The Conservative Voice
30514.html
Jan 31 2008
NC
What have former Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, and Turkey in common besides being Islamic? A few
adjectives will sum it up. They are anti-democratic, intolerant,
repressive, brutal, despotic, violent, militaristic, fascist, and
criminal, they are states of terror and a real threat to world peace.
The causes or the common denominator for all that can to a very
large extent also be summed up in a few words: US/Western strategic
interests in the Middle East.Claiming to be the civilization of reason,
freedom, democracy, human rights, of justice, the West has in fact
been the key supporter of states of terror and crime, and the cause
of modern jihadist terrorism. During the Cold War, it continued the
divide-rule-and-exploit game of the colonial European powers under
the rhetoric of fight against communism by creating and supporting
so called moderate or secular Muslim governments; following 9/11 the
same strategy is now called "war on terror". The historical evidence
shows that the West, instead of giving open, official, unconditional
support to genuine democratic movements and parties that represent
the peoples of the region, has been playing one state against another
with millions of innocent lives sacrificed.
The driving force behind US/Western strategy are two purely primitive
and selfish instincts, commonly called "interests", that are disguised
under volumes of democracy-rhetoric, diplomatic trickery, and military
force: First and foremost, to secure the supply of oil from the region
and maintain the profitable industrial-military complex related to it;
second, to protect itself by giving financial and military support
to states proclaimed as friendly allies (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt
etc.) against states perceived as threats to its strategy (Iran,
Syria etc.). The friend or foe categorization is not eternal though,
it can change quite fast according to circumstances on the ground,
modifications to strategy, or simply because a country has changed
its attitude toward the USA. The strategy itself, however, has never
changed.
Despite all the billions of dollars in military and economic aid
for its "allies", it has never worked smoothly according to the US
grand scheme for the Middle East. In all these countries US foreign
policies backfired sooner or later, anti-American and anti-Western
hatred and aggression, as polls in any of these countries demonstrate,
rose higher and higher. America’s long-term losses turned out larger
than the immediate gains of its short-sighted interests. But this has
never caused a thorough reflection or a change of its policies, on
the contrary. Each time things were not going according to the great
master plan, the US intervened in the Middle East by consistently,
as if controlled by a masochistic reflex, betting on and supporting
the wrong horse, and the peoples of the region were left behind to
bear the consequences: war, poverty, tyranny, terrorism, genocide.
The Mujahedins were built up with billions of petrodollars
from Saudi Arabia, with US tax money and military hardware, and
military training in Pakistan to oppose the perceived threat of a
communist Afghanistan. The result was a Taleban regime, encouraged,
recognized and sanctioned by the USA and the rest, which lead
Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages. Once in power the Taleban began
to destroy everything not resembling their notion of an Islamic
society. Modern schools, universities were closed, music, TV, cinema,
radio, anything modern or Western was forbidden. Women were excluded
from the public sphere. Destroyed were also all pre and non-Islamic
art and architecture, including the great statues of Buddha. The
only economy – through the corridor and official participation of
Pakistan-Turkey-Albania – was the narcotics trade. That is still the
main source of income today. Nothing of this scale had ever existed in
any of the Muslim countries of the former Soviet Union; by comparison,
these had transformed into societies and economies based on education,
information, science and technology. There was only little protest or
action from the West. The USA reacted only when the Taleban and its
offspring, al Qaeda, threatened Western interests directly, when they
attacked American embassies, ships, cities. The military presence in
Afghanistan today is the final option for the USA to clear up the mess
it had created, the inevitable consequence of a bloody, misguided,
criminal and failed strategy. The US military toppled the Taleban but
it has not yet defeated them, and standard of living, women’s rights,
education are far from the high levels once enjoyed by all ethnic
groups when the country was governed by Afghan communists.
What is euphemistically termed "relations" is in reality nothing
but selfishness. Saudi Arabia is another clear example of Western
hypocrisy, double games and double standards. It is the key sponsor
of the Islamic resurgence movement, which some call "islamo-fascism",
it is behind Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hizbollah, etc. Billions of
petrodollars flow into spreading Wahabism and Sharia throughout the
Islamic and non-Islamic world. There is no major Islamic organization
in the West that does not receive Saudi dollars which are used to print
and distribute more Korans, to build more Islamic schools and mosques,
and to carry out more anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and
anti-freedom campaigns. Sharia means by definition the superiority of
Islam over any other religion and implies that the whole world must,
in one way or another, adhere to it. The men behind 9/11 were Saudis
who murdered and died for this goal. Saudi Arabia is key sponsor also
of the so-called Palestinians. The ultimate goal of the Palestinian
Arabs is the annihilation of Israel and creation of yet another Arab
state to be called "Palestine" which is to replace all of ancient
Jewish territory. The PLO/Fatah and Hamas are the "Palestinian"
organizations engaged in achieving this task. They could be called the
inventors of modern terrorism. All methods of deception, destruction,
murder are used and declared justified for the "final solution" of
a "free Palestine". The Palestinian jihadist ideology and acts of
terror are supported by the Saudis, the Egyptians, and naturally by
all the other Arab brethrens. Saudi support for fellow Sunni Arabs is
real and lethal. Saudi’s hand is behind the Sunni-Baath terrorists in
post-invasion Iraq, behind the murder of thousands of innocent people,
and behind preserving the artificial and hated state of Iraq in favour
of Sunni Arabs and to the disadvantage of non-Arabs.
While sponsoring terrorism worldwide, Saudi Arabia itself is managed
as a kingdom by a royal family. The king and his princes consider it,
and the oil underneath, their personal property. There are laws which
regard and treat non-Arabs and women, who have no right to vote,
as second-class citizens. As there is no theological and historical
basis for aristocracy in Islam, the whole Saudi system is rightfully
seen as Western-sponsored and thus corrupt by most Muslims. Bin
Laden’s popularity and support in the Muslim world derives largely
from his opposition to this system and its Western backers. Saudi
Arabia, although it is not a democracy and not a NATO-member, is
the second-largest recipient of US military aid. The USA maintains
military bases there, which is another crucial justification of jihad
for Saudi-bred al Qaeda that vowed to continue fighting the USA as long
as there are infidels on the "holy land" of Islam. The USA and the West
support the Saudi status quo, which enriches a few but enslaves most of
the ordinary people. The secure and continues flow of oil determines
the West’s relations with the Arab world. The Arabs use "their"
oil as an all-powerful lever with which US/Western foreign policy
can be influenced to their advantage. Thus, the Palestinian Arabs,
as well as the Sunni Muslims of Kosovo, get political and financial
support from the West through its international institutions, EU, UN,
IMF, World Bank etc. In the West’s Middle East strategy, questions
of Palestinian and Saudi terrorism, Israel’s security, questions
of morality, democracy, human rights, self-determination, in short,
the lives and fates of ordinary people are looked at and decided in
light of Western needs for Arab oil. While preaching democratic values
to Russia and criticising the Kremlin at every possible occasion,
there is a consensus in the Western governments and media to avoid
any reference to the criminal and fascist nature of the Saudi regime
and instead to present it is as an important ally against terrorism
and against Western enemies.
Saudi Arabia has been promised 20 billion dollars in military aid this
year. In case of a shown-down with Iran, the West expects Saudi’s
assistance in return. As a reminder, it came as a surprise when
the Taliban did not deliver similar expectations and turned Western
calculations upside down.
The USA and the West are now worried about the Mullah theocracy in
Tehran. They should be as there is strong evidence that the regime
has been doing everything to build the bomb. But it should also be
remembered how it came to an Islamic revolution and as consequence
to Ahmadinejad. Ayatollah’s revolution was the almost inevitable
reaction to the Shah of Iran who was judged a despot and squanderer
of the nation’s wealth by all ethnic groups of Persia, though not by
the USA and the West. He was advised by the US government on almost
every issue of how to run the country. The CIA had a second home in
Iran to make sure that the oil and gas business was firmly under
American control. The Shah eventually came to be seen a puppet of
Washington and a traitor, and the people finally had enough. Years
of cooperation suddenly came to an end with Ayatollah’s return from
exile and the proclamation of the Islamic republic. To the USA, this
was a serious blow and threat to their grand strategy – control of the
region, control of oil -, and as with Castro’s Cuba, it has remained
determined to fight Iran, to take revenge for the humiliation.
Iraq and Saddam became the new favourite. Washington suddenly
discovered the Arab minority in the Iranian province of Khuzestan
and encouraged the Arab dictator to become their patron. It came as
a further advantage to the USA that Iraq had border issues with Iran.
Saddam’s Iraq was rapidly equipped with American guns, bombs, fighter
jets, chemical weapons and made ready for war. Saddam’s relentless
Hitlerian warfare could not continue for eight long years without
the full military and political support from the USA. Saddam could
also unleash a systematic campaign of genocide against the Kurds
during this time that had no consequences for him or Iraq. It was
the second time Kurds were mass murdered with chemical weapons. The
Iraqi military, using Western technology, weapons, and gas, murdered
350,000 humans, displacing more than 1,000,000 only because they
were Kurds. Until today there is no UN recognition of the genocide,
there is no international recognition, no apology by the Arab nation,
no compensation. Saddam was conveniently executed for the murder
of 148 Shiites before he could describe the part of the USA in the
Kurdish genocide.
Saddam and the USA had hoped for a victory over Ayatollah’s Iraq,
but the truce did not change the status quo; destruction, murder,
genocide were the only results. Both the Mullahs and Saddam not only
survived, but the war actually strengthened their grip on power.
Saddam had received two decades of US support, and he would probably
be still alive and in power today if he had not challenged the overall
US Middle East objective by invading Kuwait. Oil, the lifeblood of
the West, must not be outside of US control. Iran and Iraq, previously
American allies in the Middle East, were declared dangerous enemies of
the West who had to be dealt with. As with the Taleban, the military
method was the only option left to stop Saddam.
The Kurds were fighting allies and co-liberators of Iraq, but
"Operation Iraqi Freedom" did not bring a condition that can be
called freedom in the word’s true sense: Despite 98% of the Kurdish
population voting for independence from Iraq, pressures from the
USA, neighbouring Turkey, Iran and Arab world forced the Kurdish
leaders to accept a federal solution. They have been under constant
pressures and threats to compromise or to give in on many essential
issues, such as security, status of Kerkuk, Kurdish oil fields. Those
concessions and American strategy behind can be found in "The Way
Forward" by the "Iraq Study Group" chaired by notorious former State
of Secretary and Arab lobbyist James Baker. His recommendations are
being implemented step-by-step at the expense of the Kurds. The right
for self-determination, which is being granted to 2 million Albanians
in Kosovo, is denied to 45 million Kurds in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
When it comes to the Middle East, it is definitely not about liberty,
justice, democracy. Iraq was an artificial creation by imperial Britain
to exploit the oil, now the exploitation is overseen by the USA. A
criminal, cruel, and hated state – Iraq will always be remembered as
such – is being maintained with force and deception.
It now looks as if war will probably be the last resort also in case
of Iran. The Mullahs feel encircled by the American occupation in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are expecting a similar fate. The bomb
seems to be the only deterrence and chance. It is the same apocalyptic
vision of Good fighting Evil that drives Ahmadinejad, the Ayatollah,
and President Bush. To Teheran, the USA represents Great Satan,
and Washington sees Iran acting as top sponsor of international
terrorism. Judging from their actions and past records, both are quite
right. Iran has been preparing for Armageddon since the 90s with the
help of another "reliable" US-ally and billion-dollars-recipient –
Pakistan. That allied country did probably most to equip Iran with
military hardware and provide it with nuclear know-how. As the USA
is considered by Teheran the greatest enemy of the Muslim world and
of mankind, the Shiite Mullahs have no problems cooperating with
everybody who thinks the same. They already wage a proxy war against
the West by supporting organizations, such as Hamas, Hizbollah,
and most probably al Qaeda.
As long as US strategy remains the same, and a change is unlikely
as long as there is oil in the region, the outcomes will be similar,
that is another war and consequently another military occupation.
Bush’s recent visit to the Middle East signals to that direction,
and the new deal seems to be: In return for a Palestinian state, the
Arabs will be on the Western side. In return for Israeli concessions
to the Palestinian Arabs, the West will attack Iran and destroy its
nuclear facilities. Thus, Iran’s regional power will be diminished,
the oil and gas of the region under firmer American control.
The West knows that the Mullah regime is not popular. It is rejected by
most Persians, it is hated by the Kurds, Arabs, Azeris, who suffer from
state oppression and terror. There are many dissidents and resistance
movements, the strongest of which is the Kurdish PJAK. As with the
Kurdish freedom fighters in Turkey, the PJAK were forced to take up
arms to protect the Kurdish community against Teheran’s aggression and
human rights abuses. These groups have the people’s backing, they want
the end of the Mullah dictatorship; they want freedom and democracy
for Iran. A change is possible from inside, without foreign military
force. Only if carried out by the Iranian population themselves, the
change and achievement would be seen legitimate and lasting. Although
the West talks a lot about regime change, it does not give any open
and substantial support for these groups. Although it talks about
freedom and democracy all the time, it denies indigenous peoples,
with their own distinct languages and ancestral homelands, their right
for self-determination. Millions of people continue to be suppressed
by hostile majorities in the Middle East.
This schizophrenic behaviour of the West and by the so-called
"international community" can only be explained by the objectives
governing US and Western strategic interests. Like with Iraq, the USA
is not interested in a free, democratic Iran. Fact and truth is: the
West does not want any free and democratic country in the region. The
USA wants all these countries to be dependent on the West and under its
control. Independent, sovereign powers are a threat to the strategic,
economic, neoimperial interests of the West.
Self-determined, democratic and open societies with transparent
administrations would challenge the Western hegemony over the region
and over the oil. Democracy and open societies are naturally feared
and prevented by the ruling elites as well. It would eliminate
their power and wealth, most of which has been accumulated through
cooperation with the West. Thus the West and the ruling local elites
have a common interest in maintaining the status quo from which both
sides profit immensely.
The existence of the pseudo-democratic, pseudo-secular state of Turkey,
too, is based on this understanding and cooperation. The Turkish case
is an open and empirical textbook of the murderous double-standards
and hypocrisy of the West. It is the only Islamic country in the
NATO and the only Islamic candidate for membership in the EU. While
negotiating membership, its military has been occupying the territory
of an EU-member, Cyprus. It receives billions of dollars in economic
and military aid from the West. That money and military hardware
have been used to maintain occupation of North Kurdistan, oppress and
terrorize the Kurdish population, launch raids against South Kurdistan,
to crush the Kurdish freedom movement. The Turks are supported by the
USA, EU, and UN. They call the slaughter of a defenceless people as
"fight against terrorism". Thus Western governments and their media
outlets dehumanize and demonize the struggle of 25 million people for
freedom. The Turkish tyranny and fascism, a continuation of Ottoman
imperialism, is rewarded while the natural, legitimate and honourable
resistance of the Kurds is declared a crime. Goebbels would have
envied such a masterful global deception, such a perversion of truth
and justice.
But Western realpolitik is not bothered about what is right or wrong,
it is concerned with securing resources and maintaining control. The
present deal with the Turks is about Iran. The West has given
green light to the Turkish army to attack the Kurdish resistance
in South Kurdistan. As a further treat, America might have offered
Ankara some rights over Kurdish oil fields. A full-scale invasion
in spring is now becoming a "legal" possibility for the Turks and
would not come as a surprise. For the fascist Turks, any form of free,
self-governing and successful Kurdish entity, which is South Kurdistan,
is unacceptable. The West knows that and thus can use the Kurds to
manipulate the Turks. It is not the first time that the Kurds have
been betrayed by the West. The Americans have told Ankara many times
that they will not interfere as long as the Turks are on board against
Iran. On his recent visit to Washington, the Turkish president Abdullah
Gul made the Turkish-American deal public by stating that Turkey was
opposed to a "nuclear neighbour". Big Brother believes the Turkish
military can be lead, but he is playing with fire. Turkey has learnt
the art of doublespeak and double games long time ago.
It presents itself to the world as a secular and democratic country,
but under that media-controlled surface and deception a brutal military
rules all aspects of social and political life. It wants the West to
see it as part of the Western world, and wants the East to regard it
as a fellow Muslim country when cooperating with Syria, Iran, Sudan,
and other Islamic states of terror. It can host an international
children’s feast every year and be co-initiator of the "Alliance of
Civilisations" while at the same time deny that there are Kurdish
children and a Kurdish culture. The Turkish regime can sign a military
agreement with Israel but invite the Hamas leadership to Ankara for
official talks, and allow its Muslim population, political parties
and media to spread anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda. There is
nothing "modern" about "modern Turkey". It is a republic of denials
since its foundation. It denies the genocide of the Armenian people,
it denies the existence and rights of the Kurdish people. The Kemalist
ideology, a mix of rootless nationalism and megalomania, is used by
the ruling elites as an all-justifying tool to suppress any dissent,
any attempt to liberate Anatolia from the joke of military fascism and
Islamic backwardness. Millions of people fell victim to the Kemalist
Weltanschauung, but the USA and the West see and promote it as
"modern Turkey" in their grand strategic conception.
It is clear that he peoples of the Middle East and elsewhere cannot
expect any support from the West in liberating their countries from
fascist and self-serving elites. The West and these elites form
a partnership, an alliance of evil, against freedom. The sticking
glue of this partnership is oil, and as long as there is some left
their cooperation will continue. These forces prevent a real change,
a real progress in the region. As the West has betrayed its ideals of
democracy, liberty, justice, the indigenous democratic movements of
the region should cease to look westward but instead trust and believe
in their own power only. Together they should seek to obtain and
implement their natural and God-given rights for self-determination,
which is the foundation of freedom and peace. No alliance or force
in the world can be stronger than the liberating force of truth and
justice. And the West and their local clients should know that there
will be no peace for anyone without justice for everyone!