Shia News published this one with two disclaimers...
By Ali Abbas
After the Iranian revolution of 1979 the Shias in Pakistan and other parts of the world began to echo the Iranian slogan of "Death to America" without considering its consequences in the long run. The slogan wishes death and destruction to America and Americans all over the world. However when we consider the present day ground realities we will find that things are quite different.
| "Ahah! Legume! I may have found a clue!" |
In the last 22 years since the Iranian revolution America as a country and as a nation has gone from strength to strength. At the time of the revolution there were two super powers in the world namely Soviet Union and America. The Soviet Union has since been dismantled leaving behind America as the sole super power of this world.
| Making faces and jumping up and down is fun, but to what purpose? Opposition for the sake of opposition could be termed stoopid, if you don't own a turban... |
On the other hand when we look at the Shia world we will find that the Shias have suffered enormously, they have faced death and destruction, they have been killed, brutalized, massacred and displaced from their homes.
One just has to look at the three countries surrounding Iran i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. These are the three principal countries where majority of the Shias live outside Iran. Let us briefly look at the recent past for each one of these countries.
Iraq
After the 2nd Gulf war there was a massive Shia uprising in Iraq to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein. For a period of almost two weeks Shias had full control of Southern Iraq and were poised to take over Baghdad. The success of the Shia uprising sent alarm bells ringing in Washington which feared an Iranian style of anti-American government in Iraq. At the time of the Shia uprising America was at war with Saddam Hussein but it still did not allow the Shia uprising to be successful as it considered Saddam to be better of the two evils. The Iraqi Shias were never anti-American, their main enemy was the regime of Saddam Hussein which had terrorized the Shia population for over three decades. But due to Iran's anti-American slogans, Shias all over the world are seen as enemies of the West and America. As a consequence the Shia uprising in Iraq failed and resulted in the massacre of around half a million Shias and displacement of some two million Shias by the forces of Saddam Hussain. These Shias are still living in misery in the refugee camps at the Iran-Iraq border. If Shias were not perceived as anti-American or anti-Western then today we would have Shia rulers in Iraq and it would have been a very strong and vibrant Shia country.
| Possibly. But the problem in the wake of Gulf War I wasn't so much America's fear and loathing of Iran is its entanglement with the UN resolutions, which authorized the liberation of Kuwait but not the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. We didn't really have anything against Iraq's Shias, but had we sent troops in to support the uprising we'd have caught stink from the rest of the world, which was still bipolar. At the time, the Soviet Union was still in business and still looked like a going concern, chock full of glasnost' and perestroika — the August coup was still in the future. |
Afghanistan
The CIA in Washington gave a go ahead to Pakistan's ISI to form Taliban in order to control Afghanistan and keep a check on Iran's Influence in the region. The Taliban were deliberately chosen as Wahhabi extremists who would cut down the Shia influence in Afghanistan and Central Asia. In the civil war that followed after the Taliban's take over of Afghanistan almost 50,000 Shias have been killed so far. The biggest Shia massacre took place in Mazar-e-Sharif when Taliban captured the city and killed around 21,000 Shias in just four days. Again the Shias of Afghanistan were not anti-American or anti-Western, all they wanted was to live in peace and dignity. But unfortunately Shias are always linked with Iran and are considered as threat wherever they live.
| We'd also have to plead not guilty to the charge of fostering the Talibs. They weren't set up with our permission — Pakland went ahead and did it and we didn't pay any attention. Our Taliban sins were sins of omission. And it wasn't only Shias who were slaughtered under the Talibs, but anyone who didn't toe the Pashtun-Talib line. The Pashtun master race imposed itself on the rest of the country, and the resistance was "everybody else." When we took the Talibs apart, we had to form a "southern alliance" of Pashtuns, which I'll admit was a crummy idea, though it didn't look bad at the time. |
Pakistan
In Pakistan Shias had always lived in peace and harmony but all of this changed soon after the Iranian revolution. Some Shia organizations in Pakistan deeply inspired by the revolution began to chant the anti-American slogans. As a result the late General Zia-ul-Haq, a Deobandi/Wahhabi by religion, formed Sipha-e-Sahaba to counter the Iranian threat and to nullify the anti-American feeling in Pakistan. Sipha-e-Sahaba with the support of General Zia and the blessing of American CIA began to propagate its anti-Shia message from every city and town of Pakistan. This has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Shia Muslims. Shia doctors, lawyers, writers, religious leaders, bearcats and politicians have all been targeted.
| Have to plead not guilty to this one, too. As far as I know, CIA had no involvement with the birth process of any of the Pak jihadi or sectarian groups. Our involvement was limited to propping up Zia's regime in general, while the ISI plotted and planned and machinated for its own purposes. I think even those of us who try and follow Pak internal politix closely regard them as nearly incomprehensible, since cause and effect and six or seven other laws of nature or logic don't seem to apply. |
The anti-American slogans have cost the Shias dearly in Pakistan and they have lost the cream of their community at the hands of Sipha-e-Sahaba and its militant offshoot Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. From the above discussion it is clear that the anti-American slogans and rhetoric has not been of any benefit to Shias but instead has been a recipe for disaster.
| And not disaster at the hands of the Americans. At the most, they've simply made the Americans yawn when the poop's hit the fan. The slaughters have been carried out by Sunnis, specifically Wahhabis and Deobandis. Yet the Pak Shias still tromp around hollering "Death to America." It's that cause->effect deficiency again... |
Simply shouting "Death to America" and burning American flags may serve as an outlet for our emotions but it does not achieve any other goal. America's foreign policy depends on its interests around the world. In fact, America has no permanent friends in this world nor does it have any permanent enemies. Anyone that serves American interests would become its friend and anyone that threatens its interests would be perceived as an enemy.
| Actually, we do have some permanent friends and even a few permanent enemies. But cause/effect would seem to dictate that when someone picks a fight with us they go on the enemies list, and when they kiss and make up they go back on the friends list. To me, that's logic. But if I owned a turban it'd probably be pretty murky... |
For instance America backed Iraq in its war against Iran but when Saddam invaded Kuwait, the Americans went to war against their former ally and librated Kuwait to protect their interests in the Gulf. Similarly the Taliban who were formed by Pakistan's ISI with the consent of American CIA have now become America's biggest enemy.
| Actually, we've never been particularly fond of them. We always had more sympathy for the Northern Alliance, even though Rabbani was pretty much a goof. Masood was a very sympathetic figure — one of the few who was able to think his way out of a paper bag, which is why he was killed. The money flowing into Pakland for the muhaheddin (not the same as the Talibs) was mishandled, with more going to Hekmatyar than should have, while he played footsie with the Soviets and did his best to undercut everyone else. |
America sees Taliban's extremism as a threat and a destabilizing force for the oil rich states of Central Asia. Taliban have also refused to handover Osama Bin Laden who is responsible for the bombing of American embassies. So once former allies have now become archrivals.
| That's pretty simple cause and effect to me. Anything I'm missing? |
It is high time that we the Shias consider changing our anti-American strategy.
America is not the real enemy of the Shias, it is not against the school of Imam Jafer as Sadiq (AS). If anyone is against the Shias then it is the Taliban, the Saddams and the Azam Tariq's of this world.
As the new millennium begins to take shape where new alliances are being forged and the old ones crumble away, we should not turn a blind eye to these changes and we must reconsider and analyze our anti-American or anti-Western stance. This is the only sensible way to approach the present crisis facing the Shia world.
| If the Shias as a school can do that, we can reconsider and analyze the difference between a Shia based dictatorship in Iran and Shiism in the rest of the world. A single Shia-based theocracy is a driver behind a major part of the terror machine, but the sharp point of terrorism is Wahhabi-based, and specifically Qutbist. There's room for accomodation with non-extremist Shiism and room for mutual benefit. There's no room for accomodation with the Wahhabi school. |
|