Magsaysay and Manzur Elahi
It was nice to listen to so many distinguished speakers on 17 December, 2005, at the BIAM auditorium,when Matiur Rahman, editor of Prathom Alo was honoured by the Dhaka University Alumni Association .
Like many of those present among the audience, I was deeply shocked to see the news item not appearing on the subject in most of our news papers this morning (18 December 2005) or partially reported only, totally omitting or ignoring a very significant as well as bold and courageous statement by Syed Manzur Elahi in his speech.
The former advisor to the last caretaker government in his address categorically stated: ‘Those who do not believe in the spirit of '71 have no place in this country and they must therefore get out and go wherever they wish’.
One wonders as to how many of the reporters present could miss the above mentioned meaningful statement in their reports. Or were the news items in some dailies designed and tailored to suit the convenience of time and the people in power?
Z Rahman
Gulshan, Dhaka
Endless war
President Bush in a televised address to American public has asserted ‘we are winning ( the war on Iraq)’. How convincing is the claim?
There is a myth making the rounds that American troops cannot leave even though the American people wish an early withdrawal. Why? Because according to the US administration, that would mean ‘abandoning’ the people of Iraq who need protection. This is perverse propaganda. For the American troops are defending the security of the American contractors who are in dangerous territory to make profits (read plunder) from both Iraqi and American money. These troops are not there to protect the Iraqi civilians.
Secondly, the fuel that keeps the insurgency alive is the foreign occupation, the presence of trigger-happy troops, the insult and indignity heaped upon ordinary civilians. No need to search for evidence as there is plenty of it already. It is an irony that the American independence war against British rule was fought by militancy, yet the Iraqi militancy is condemned.
Thirdly, who said Iraq wished for a kind of ‘democracy’ thrust upon it by bombs, guns, and missiles? The condescending attitude of the American president is galling to say the least. People around the world no more trust the likes of Bush, Blair, not even the United Nations, nor development messiahs like the IMF, WTO, the World Bank, which are instruments of global capitalism, whose prescriptions have aggravated the disease of poverty and inequity in the third world
This American occupation shows no sign of abating; not at least till the next US presidential election. Perhaps the presence of US troops and advisors will extend for over decades more, in the interest of tuition in democracy and development not only in Iraq but also in the greater Middle East. Meanwhile, a war of attrition is becoming inevitable; a second Vietnam, updated perhaps, is also inevitable by present reckoning. American troops are trained to kill, to shock and awe, not to win hearts and minds.
That will not change by pouring money into the Pentagon's research-analysis and training outfits, nor by pouring more ‘allied’ troops into Iraq, not even if they were ‘Muslim’ troops which is highly unlikely anyway.
No government, howsoever elected, will be truly sovereign, will enjoy high popular trust, and enforce sectarian divisions- divisions that were sown by the occupation administration in the first place. None of this bodes well, either for America or for Iraq. It is agonizing to think that the sacrifice of thousands of Iraqi and American lives might well have been in vain. America clearly is not winning, no matter how much gloss is put upon elections and coalitions. Iraq is not winning; its infrastructure is ruined, basic services are dwindling, the economy plundered by foreign adventurers, its secular ethos is under dire threat. That leaves the insurgents much aligned and vilified though no more doubted they are essentially indigenous Iraqis. They win by not losing, by not being isolated from the people, by prolonging the very occupation they wish to end eventually, not by polite ‘civilized’ negotiation but by ruthless ‘uncivilized’ attacks. How do you fight with literally bare hands against an enemy who has formidable firepower and is ready to use it indiscriminately?
Husain
Dhaka
MAIN PAGE | TOP
|
|
