People's Democracy

A Year After September 11

Prakash Karat

THE whole world remembers those who died in the horrific attacks on September 11 in the United States a year ago. It is an occasion to reaffirm that such terrorism motivated by extreme religious fanaticism has to be combated with determination. But the September 11 event has not changed the world in the manner depicted by the US ruling circles and the powerful monopoly media controlled by the West. What has happened in the past one year is that the US has launched a more aggressive quest for global domination. As the anniversary of the September 11 attacks is observed, President Bush and the US ruling circles are poised to launch a devastating war against Iraq. As the United States remembers the victims of the terrorist attacks, many more innocent people will perish in the ongoing "war against terrorism" launched by the United States.

The global war against terrorism is without any end, according to Bush, a convenient pretext to extend and consolidate American hegemony. First came the war on Afghanistan. The savage bombing led to more civilians being killed than the number who died in the World Trade Centre in New York. According to an estimate carefully compiled in the US, there were around 3,500 civilian casualties in Afghanistan as a result of the American military operations. The next military operation in the war against terrorism was in the Philippines where the US sent its special forces to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf group. In doing so, it violated the Filipino Constitution which prohibits the stationing of foreign troops in the country.

The United States had set-up military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan during the war on Afghanistan and they continue to remain there. The "war on terrorism" is being fought in all corners of the globe and the United States is stepping up its military assistance to the Colombian government to fight the FARC guerillas. The ring of repression being built up by the US in the name of countering terrorism is now extending to Indonesia. After cutting off aid to the Indonesian military for its human rights violations in East Timor, the US administration has now decided to re-forge military ties with the Indonesian armed forces to fight terrorism. The US administration has already asked the Congress to approve $8 million to train a counter terrorism unit of Indonesian soldiers and police officers vetted by the FBI.

The United States has fully backed the murderous Sharon regime in Israel in its war against the Palestinian people. Bush justifies the use of US-made F-16 bombers and helicopter gun ships by the Israelis in the name of fighting Palestinian terrorists.

The corollary of this global war is the huge increase in US military expenditure. The increase in the previous year's defence budget amounted to $50 billion, the highest ever increase. The National Missile Defence (NMD) programme is being pushed through on the pretext that rogue states can launch sneak missile attacks on the US. Both in terms of developing new high-tech weapons and military expenditure, the US far outstrips the defence expenditure of major countries like Russia, China and the European countries. The Nuclear Posture Review has advocated the more aggressive policy with regard to the use of nuclear weapons. It explicitly lists Libya, Syria, Iran, Iraq and North Korea as potential targets for the nuclear forces of the United States. This means that the United States will be prepared to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states too, if it feels threatened.

Throughout the year, despite the best efforts of the US administration, not an iota of proof was found involving the Iraqi government in the September 11 terrorist attacks. But, as Bush proclaimed, the war has to go forward against the "axis of evil" and Iraq is the next target. A full-scale war against Iraq would mean destruction of a magnitude much more than in Afghanistan, both because of the bitter fighting which will take place with the Iraqi armed forces and thickly populated urban centres. Given the overwhelming military superiority of the United States, the outcome is not in doubt, but the price will be terrible.

In one year of the global war against terrorism, the United States has set in motion forces which it will find difficult to control. Despite the ouster of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the situation is unstable there. The Hamid Karzai regime's writ does not run outside the surroundings of Kabul. Karzai himself has to be guarded by the US special forces. The recent assassination attempt highlights the tenuous nature of the order established. As per the admission of the Americans themselves, a big part of the leadership of the Al Qaeda and the Taliban have escaped and are sheltering in Pakistan and scattering themselves in different parts. The blind support to the Sharon regime has inflamed Arab popular feelings and hatred for the arrogant might of the Americans is widespread. A war on Iraq will exacerbate anti-American feelings to a higher pitch. Conditions in the Arab world will be fertile for the very terrorist forces whom America wishes to suppress.

September 11 has created the awful phenomenon of a United States which is brazen about the use of its military power trampling upon all international norms. No country's sovereignty is safe from this marauding superpower. America will go to war against Iraq simply because Bush is determined to overthrow Saddam Hussain and institute a "regime change".

The war against terrorism is unleashing authoritarianism and repression around the world. In the US itself, draconian anti-terrorism laws like the USA Patriot Act had been passed. In country after country, taking advantage of the US stance, legislation like POTA in India are being adopted.

Those who died in the terrorist outrage of September 11 have to be mourned and remembered. At the same time, the United States has to realise that the scourge of terrorism cannot be eliminated by imposing its military might and indiscriminately killing innocent people, violating national sovereignty and devastating whole countries. Recently, Russia and China have presented an alternative framework for international security and countering terrorism. Terrorism, according to the joint communique, poses a common threat to the international community. Any anti-terrorist strike should be undertaken only on the basis of international law and observance of the UN charter.

There can be no double-standards in fighting terrorism such as the United States displays. Terrorism to suppress struggles for national liberation and social justice cannot be supported while targetting extremist or fundamentalist groups who use terror as a weapon. All forms of terrorism must be equally condemned and combated. One year after September 11, it is all the more necessary to reiterate that both terrorism of the variety witnessed on that day and the imperialist aggression which wreaks havoc have to be both opposed and fought back.