The United States of Fighting Terrorism

      When Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a US military psychologist opened fires on his fellow military personnel, it sent shock waves throughout America at a time when the White House was busy formulating Afghan policies. Many media networks hastily termed it as an act of Islamic extremism only to be aptly cautioned by President Obama.

    This unfortunate incident transmitted a signal to Americans that they still seem unwilling to accept. American magazines and television networks after ‘deep digging’ falsely associated this to his alleged ties with Islamic clerics. They went on further to claim that real reason behind this act can probably never be known. Really? Is it that hard to see something that is so obvious? Even without taking any psychology courses, I can rightly claim that every human being has his breaking point. For Hasan, this was his breaking point.

    If Hasan were an Islamic extremist- a ‘jihad’, he would have done things differently to cause more damage, like use explosives which is rather characteristic of ‘infiltrators’ to make a statement.  Experts and advisers to the White House have expressed clearly that the threat to a nation’s sovereignty is a stronger revolutionary force that calls for action than religious extremism. And, Hasan’s breakdown at a point when he was about to be stationed in Afghanistan testifies to the claim above. Hasan’s outburst has to be attributed to the transnational US military operations that undermine Afghan sovereignty rather than a misconstrued religious fanaticism association.

    One thing that surprises me is Americans’ reaction to 9/11 attacks and their behavior as if all of this ‘mess’, which the US calls ‘war on terror’, started with that unfortunate incident. US-backed CIA has led assassination attempts of country presidents like Fidel Castro, Sukarno and overthrown democratically elected governments in Iran and Indonesia only to reinstate US-favored regimes. US military, despite UN warnings has compromised other countries’ sovereignty by direct military attacks and other sanctions to fiddle in internal affairs, among which Gulf War, Vietnam War and Korean Wars are just a few to name. It has maintained a biased and one-sided support for Israelis backed by rich Jewish New Yorkers that discernibly angers the Arab world sparking anti-US sentiments.

    Perhaps, the US dreams of staging yet another glorious victory over 9/11 perpetrators just the way it did with Japan over Pearl Harbor attacks. But, Uncle Sam needs a word of caution here since he is not the only nation with nukes now.

   Borrowing ideas from Thomas Friedman, the US due to its misdirected policies in the past has projected itself as “The United States of Fighting Terrorism”. The US, in doing so has not only gained enemies but more importantly has lost its edge in innovation and control over global economy. Think of the glorious Cold War decade when the US maintained enormous political and economic control over the world without firing a single missile. Military offence begets hatred and more resistance. The US needs to reinvent itself as the “500 pound Economic gorilla” if it wants to maintain its stronghold because, it is economic prosperity that translates to greater leverage on global issues.

-Purushottam Shah

Note: The above article originally appeared in the Trinitonian, a  student run independent campus weekly newspaper of  Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas.