Tariq Ali on Pakistan

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Will Pakistan Jump to US Demands?
"Get Us Bin Laden" Order from Bush Could Spark Pakistani Army Mutiny

By Tariq Ali

On a trip to Pakistan a few years ago I was talking to an ex-General
about
the militant Islamist groups in the region. I asked him why these
people,
who had happily accepted funds and weapons from the United States
throughout
the Cold War, had become violently anti-American overnight. He explained

that they were not alone. Many Pakistan officers who had served the US
loyally from 1951 onwards felt humiliated by Washington's indifference.

'Pakistan was the condom the Americans needed to enter Afghanistan', he
said. 'We've served our purpose and they think we can be just flushed
down
the toilet.'
The old condom is being fished out for use once again, but will it work?
The
new 'coalition against terrorism' needs the services of the Pakistan
Army,
but General Musharraf will have to be extremely cautious. An
over-commitment
to Washington could lead to a civil war in Pakistan and split the Armed
Forces. A great deal has changed over the last two decades, but the
ironies
of history continue to multiply.

In Pakistan itself, Islamism derived its strength from state patronage
rather than popular support. The ascendancy of religious fundamentalism
is
the legacy of a previous military dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq who
received
solid backing from Washington and London throughout his 11 years as
dictator.

It was during his rule (1977-89) that a network of madrassahs (religious

boarding schools), funded by the Saudi regime, were created.

The children, who were later sent to fight as Mujahedeen in Afghanistan,

were taught to banish all doubt. The only truth was divine truth. Anyone
who
rebelled against the imam rebelled against Allah. The madrassahs had
only
one aim: the production of deracinated fanatics in the name of a bleak
Islamic cosmpolitanism. The primers taught that the Urdu letter jeem
stood
for 'jihad'; tay for 'tope'(cannon), kaaf for Kalashnikov and khay for
khoon
(blood).

2500 madrassahs produced a crop of 225,000 fanatics ready to kill and
die
for their faith when asked to do so by their religious leadersDespatched

across the border by the Pakistan Army, they were hurled into battle
against
other Muslims they were told were not true Muslims. The Taliban creed is
an
ultra-sectarian strain, inspired by the Wahhabi sect that rules Saudi
Arabia. The severity of the Afghan mullahs has been denounced by Sunni
clerics at al-Azhar in Cairo and Shi-ite theologians in Qom as a
disgrace to
the Prophet.

The Taliban could not, however, have captured Kabul on their own via an
excess of religious zeal. They were armed and commanded by 'volunteers'
from
the Pakistan Army. If Islamabad decided to pull the plug, the Taliban
could
be dislodged, but not without serious problems. The victory in Kabul
counts
as the Pakistani Army's only triumph. . To this day,the former US
Secretary
of State, Zbigniew Brezinski remains recalcitrant: 'What was more
important
in the world view of history?' he asks with more than a touch of
irritation,
'the Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? A few stirred-up Muslims
or
the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?'

If Holywood rules necessitate a short, sharp war against the new enemy,
the
American Caesar would be best-advised not to insist on Pakistani
legions.
The consequences could be dire: a brutal and vicious civil war creating
more
bitterness and encouraging more acts of individual terrorism. Islamabad
will
do everything to prevent a military expedition to Afghanistan. For one
thing
there are Pakistani soldiers, pilots and officers present in Kabul,
Bagram
and other bases. What will be their orders this time and will they obey
them? Much more likely is that Ossama Bin Laden will be sacrificed in
the
interests of the greater cause and his body dead or alive will be handed

over to his former employers in Washington. But will that be enough?

The only real solution is a political one. It requires removing the
causes
that create the discontent. It is despair that feeds fanaticism and it
is a
result of Washington's policies in the Middle East and elsewhere. The
orthodox casuistry among loyal factotums, columnists and courtiers of
the
Washington regime is symbolised by Tony Blair's Personal Assistant for
Foreign Affairs, ex-diplomat Robert Cooper, who writes quite openly: 'We

need to get used to the idea of double standards'.

The underlying maxim of this cynicism is: we will punish the crimes of
our
enemies and reward the crimes of our friends. Isn't that at least
preferable
to universal impunity? To this the answer is simple: 'punishment' along
these lines does not reduce but breeds criminality, by those who wield
it.
The Gulf and Balkan Wars were copy-book examples of the moral blank
cheque
of a selective vigilantism. Israel can defy UN resolutions with
impunity,
India can tyrannise Kashmir, Russia can destroy Groszny, but it is Iraq
which has to be punished and it is the Palestinians who continue to
suffer.

Cooper continues: 'Advice to post-modern states: accept that
intervention in
the pre-modern is going to be a fact of life. Such interventions may not

solve problems, but they may salve the conscience. And they are not
necessarily the worse for that' Try explaining that to the survivors in
New
York and Washington.

The United States is whipping itself into a frenzy. Its ideologues talk
of
this as an attack on 'civilization', but what kind of civilization is it

that thinks in terms of blood-revenge. For the last sixty years and more
the
United States has toppled democrat leaders, bombed countries in three
continents, used nuclear weapons against Japanese civilians, but never
knew
what it felt like to have your own cities under attack. Now they know.

To the victims of the attack and their relatives one can offer our deep
sympathy as one does to people who the US government has victimised. But
to
accept that somehow an American life is worth more than that of a
Rwandan, a
Yugoslav, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Japanese, a Palestinian...that is
unacceptable.