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India urged to avoid Bush-Cheney road
DUBAI: Sections of the Arab-supported media and academics are urging India to avoid the approach adopted by the Americans after 9/11 in the wake of the carnage in Mumbai.
| Boy howdy there's a surprise. The Arab media wants the Indians not to gob-smack the Paks like we did the Taliban and Saddam. Whoda thunk ... |
An editorial in the Middle East Times also exhorted the "silent majority" of Muslims the world over to speak out against the attacks. "The Muslim community around the world needs to wake up to the fact that there is no longer room for the silence of the silent majority. It is time for the leaders of the Muslim world -- and the people of the Muslim world -- to become vociferous. It is time for all Muslims who feel strongly about what happened in Mumbai to speak out against the violence."
| Yup, this would be a good time, since the civilized world will eventually run out of patience ... |
However, slamming the U.S. war on terror, the editorial appealed to India to "avoid falling into the same trap that led to the world's remaining superpower to adopt measures that were not in line with the democratic principles they wished to spread around the world."
| Other than establishing two new democratic governments and freeing 50 million people from tyranny ... |
It added: "India should not enact laws similar to the USA Patriot Act, establish Guantanamo-like camps and turn Pakistan into another 'Iraq'; even if the attacks on Mumbai do represent another 9/11."
| The Islamic world, if given a choice between Gitmo, a Turkish prison, and a Pak prison for their own incarceration, would choose Gitmo every time ... |
In his blog, Informed Comment, leading West Asia expert in his own mind Juan Cole has stressed that New Delhi must not go down the "Bush-Cheney road".
| Even though it's kept America safe since 9/11 ... |
He points out that it might be erroneous on New Delhi's part to assume that the terrorists were sponsored by the Pakistani state.
| It might be. Then again, if one is a betting man, one would put money on the ISI, the L-e-T and Dawood ... |
"Many Indian officials and much of the Indian public is falling into the Cheney fallacy. It is being argued that the terrorists fought as trained guerillas, and implied that only a state [i.e. Pakistan] could have given them that sort of training." He adds: "But to the extent that the terrorists were professional fighters, they could have come by their training in many ways... They needn't be state-backed."
| But it's easier if they are, as bin Laden demonstrated in Afghanistan. And they appear to have been. At the very least the Indians have to require the Paks to come clean, which of course the Paks won't -- can't -- do. |
Dr. Cole says that in its response, India has to ensure that, "Muslims in general must not be punished for the actions of a handful of unbalanced fanatics. Down that road lies the end of civilization."
| The end of civilization would also most assuredly come if the 'fanatics' get their way, and Dr. Cole doesn't seem to offer any advice on preventing that ... |
He also advocates that India should address the flaws in its security system, while keeping its civil liberties strong. A war or a right-wing shift in domestic politics would further deepen the malaise of terrorism.
| Addressing the flaws, check. Keeping civil liberties strong, depends on whose definitions you're using. Since Dr. Cole is way to the left of the ACLU, the Black Panthers and the Comintern, we can imagine his ... |
Posted by: john frum 2008-12-01 |
