A Matter of Honour

Deepak Sinha

In 2001, in response to the 9/11 tragedy, the United States, its allies and NATO, launched an attack on Afghanistan to topple the Taliban Regime and replace it with a democratic pro-Western government. They toppled the regime in just two months, by end Nov 2001, and then fought a gruelling counter-insurgency war for the next 13 years, till they officially withdrew in December 2014. While the Taliban were back in control within days of their departure, the Americans did pay a heavy price for their adventure. A total of 2400 servicemen killed and over 20,000 wounded, along with trillions of dollars spent in propping up Afghan democracy that didn’t survive their departure. The total Afghans killed in this process, by a conservative estimate, approximately 212,000.

Around the same time, in 2003, the United States and its allies, alleged that Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, that included nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, which in their view posed a serious threat to international peace and security. In March 2003, to eliminate this threat, they launched the Second Gulf War and within weeks went on to achieve a spectacular victory, overthrowing Saddam’s Regime. Ofcourse, it subsequently emerged that there were no WMDs and that it had just been a pretext to overthrow the Baathist regime. Eight years of insurgency later, in 2011, they departed leaving behind 4500 plus dead, another 25000 wounded and ofcourse, trillions of dollars expended on the war effort. Total Iraqi dead exceeded a million.

Much of the mental and social health issues and the fentanyl problems that plague America today can be traced back to these wonderful wars they won and the subsequent peace that they lost. But, one thing we can never accuse the Americans of, is not being persistent! So, now a decade or so later, here we go again. Another war, this time against Iran, to again save the World from the perils of WMDs. As is to be expected, President Trump has already claimed a spectacular victory, though it will be interesting to see how the peace that follows will go? Will it be a repeat of how things went down in Afghanistan and Iraq, or will we see something very different? It is unlikely we will have to hold our breath for too long to find out. What is truly different this time is that America has joined the Nazis. Mr. Ignoble has been played by the Israelis, who find themselves in all kinds of trouble, after having provoked the Iranians by attacking them without any provocation.

Historically, the only bombing campaign that ended a war was the one that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anything short of the use of nuclear weapons is unlikely to end this one. At the end of the day, there is every possibility that we will see the need for American boots on the ground in the coming months. Especially, if there is regional escalation as Iran targets American bases and ships in the Middle East, or interdicts oil tankers passing through the Straits of Hormuz. If history is any indication, this coming conflagration will damage us all and result in humungous casualties in the region, including that of American Servicemen. While the American and British leadership may have no difficulty in letting their servicemen die because of Israel’s foolhardiness, it is unlikely that other European Nations will be so accommodating.

Where does it leave us in all of this? Now that Mr Modi has been utterly humiliated by President Trump, following Operation Sindoor, he may well be less supportive of the Israeli-American position. One understands the difficulty we have in speaking up and doing the right thing. After all, most of our top leadership have their children aspiring for American green cards and work visas, and our top corporates are inextricably linked to the Jewish lobby in the West. But the truth of the matter is that we are seeing old school colonialism in action in all its arrogance and brutality.It would be a real shame if we, having suffered two hundred years of colonial debauchery, are unwilling to stand up and be counted. It really boils down to a matter of honour.