If the George W Bush
administration in the US were wise, it would have waited
for the current holy fasting period of Ramadan of the
more than a billion Muslims of the world and their Eid
festivities to be over before launching its
much-publicized and much-hyped offensive to pacify
Fallujah, the Sunni stronghold in Iraq, which is
apparently perceived by the Pentagon as the nerve center
of anti-US resistance and jihadi terrorism in Iraq.
But wisdom has rarely been the hallmark of
the Bush administration, whether it be in the so-called
"war against international terrorism" or the continuing
war to pacify Iraq. Insensitivity to Muslim feelings
and a shocking ignorance of Islam continue to be
the two constants in US policymaking since September 11,
2001.
Heavens
would not have fallen if the US had waited
for another week or 10 days until the fasting period
and the Eid festivities were over. Instead, by launching
its offensive even before the fasting period was
over, the Pentagon would have strengthened the widely
held perception of the US all over the Islamic
world as anti-Islam. It would have equally strengthened
the urge for martyrdom in the minds of millions of
Muslims all over the world.
The most important
objective of any counter-terrorism campaign is to dilute
the motivation of the terrorists and weaken their
feelings of solidarity against a common enemy. Instead
of attempting to do so, the US has, since September 11,
again and again indulged in inept and unwise actions,
whose only outcome could be to further strengthen their
motivation, feelings of solidarity and urge for
martyrdom.
Like the United States' original sin of the invasion
of Iraq of last year, the current Fallujah operation is
based on a mix of deliberate disinformation, illusions,
wishful-thinking and inept psywar. What has been the
outcome of this?
The perception that Fallujah is the source of
all the evils confronting the US in Iraq. This is similar
to the perception created before the invasion last year
that Iraq was the source of all the evils confronting
the US in West Asia. The occupation of Iraq did not lead
to peace and the end of terrorism in West Asia. It only
made them even more elusive. Similarly, the occupation
of Fallujah, which should not pose a major military
problem for the US, is unlikely to lead to peace and an
end to anti-US resistance and terrorism in Iraq. The
occupation of Fallujah will lead to more Fallujahs, and
not to peace.
The perception that Fallujah is controlled by
terrorists. There is no credible evidence to show that
this is so. The defiance of Fallujah until now has been
due to Iraqi anger over the US occupation and not due to
the control of the area by the terrorists. There are
terrorists, many of them of foreign origin, operating in
Fallujah and elsewhere in Iraq, but they are not in a
majority. The bulk of the resistance has been from
Iraqis.
The perception that there is a central command
and control guiding all acts of violence and terrorism
in Iraq and that its general headquarters is located
in Fallujah. There is as yet no credible evidence of
any such central command and control operating
from Fallujah. Most of the resistance and
terrorist operations all over Iraq seem to be autonomous and
not subject to centralized control. The seeds of
this strategy were sown by Saddam Hussein and
the International Islamic Front of Osama bin Laden,
acting separately of each other and not in tandem, even
while the former was in power, as I pointed out in my articles even
before the US invaded Iraq. The seeds have since bloomed
into thousands of resistance fighters and foreign
terrorists.
The creation of an image of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as
if he is a master strategist of jihadi terrorism who
has proved himself to be more than a match for the
strategists of the Pentagon. This is similar to the
image the US created of bin Laden post-September 11
as if he is the Napoleon Bonaparte or Bernard Montgomery
of international terrorism. The United States'
over-projection of bin Laden and his prowess ended up
unwittingly creating in the minds of millions of Muslims
all over the world an image of an omnipotent,
omnipresent and omniscient strategist and a desire to
follow and emulate him. A similar image of Zarqawi has
now been created. Bin Ladens may come and bin Ladens may
go. Zarqawis may come and Zarqawis may go. But the
images of them created by the US will endure for a long
time and continue to motivate hundreds, if not
thousands, of Muslims all over the world to seek
martyrdom in a holy jihad against the US.
There
need be no doubt about the US ability to reoccupy
Fallujah. But that will be neither a beginning nor the
end. It will be only a continuation of the bleeding of
Iraq and the bleeding of the US.
B Raman is additional secretary (retired), Cabinet
Secretariat, government of India, New Delhi, and
currently director, Institute for Topical Studies,
Chennai, and distinguished fellow and convenor, Observer
Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter. E-mail:corde@vsnl.com.
