The West has been losing the propoganda war. It is a difficult war because even winning the hearts and minds of 90% of the population leaves 10% of the population as fertile ground for recruitment. And there seems to be many columnists, even in this publication, that are willing to run the fool's errand of siding with the terrorists logic - even regarding 9-11. I regret that eventhe American newspaper, the LA Times, seemed to be sympathetic to terrorists in India. In the long run, the key is to not bow to the terrorists and their logic of violence. The Spanish withdrawal from Iraq strengthened the terrorists logic of violence. It will take much courage. I don't think blaming Toni Blair for terrorist attacks is a way to discourage terrorism at all!
a good one from u Mr raman.howeever it would have been great if the possible solutions were also included.i had the oppurtunity to talk to former foreign minister shri jaswant singh on the subject matter. the great man's prediction and possible outcomes of situation were true to the last word.repeating what he said was," americans are gonna stay there forever and the situation is not going to be resolved in our life time". the problem with the iraqis is not just the americans, once anti west feelings are doused out then there will be kurdish aspirations,then shiites and sunnis and you can't write off bathists for whatever they are.
The best prescription for Iraq is based on a long tested and proven thing called 'Truth'. USA invaded Iraq on false stories of WMD's and the so called threat they may pose to US interests(Please note , it was never the Global Interest). As it is clearly evident now that it was a false assumption , USA should QUIT IRAQ with an apology for the blunder they had committed provided OIL is not the reason as widely believed to invade Iraq in the first place.
What do you feel, is the objective of the terrorists ? 1. Drive the Americans from Iraq ? or 2. Stop them from pumping out Iraqi oil & selling it ? If they wanted to stop the Americans from being in Iraq, they could have stopped them from getting there in the first place. None of the Arab nations seriously opposed them on that. The killing of the local Iraqi's there by suicide bombers is probably being done to keep the Americans occupied, so that they do not succeed so fast in doing what they went there for in the first place.
Apropos "A prescription for Iraq" dated July 5 by B. Raman, I have certain suggestions for correcting the information and mind-set reflecetd in his article. His views and analyses share the thought of the Americans and Zionists. He fails to distinguish between the resistance and terrorism in Iraq ignoring the ground reality that Iraq was inveded and occupied in violation of international law. If his logic on terrorsim is taken then all the fights of nationalist forces in colonial South Africa, India, Palestine and Algeria and Turkey against the foreing forces would be terrorism.
Mr. Raman is ill informed about the activities inside Iraq. Not only Sunnis but many Shiites are fighting against the foreign occupation. Iraqis know less about Zarqawi and Laden. They have only heard about them. Resistance forces in Iraq and Palestine are free from foreign forces. They are like Turks who founght on their own after fove allied powers have invaded Turkey in 1919-1920. In fact, zarqawi's name is being used to prolong war crimes against Iraqis. Resistance forces traget the Americans whereas the American managed car bombings strike at public places.
I Guess Mr B Raman has gone out of his head. I dont know who he is and his individual views are just for him. Why has rediff printed such an article of such a guy. I suggest him to keep his views to himself.
It's good to read real details about what's going on in Iraq and the other affected areas of the Persian Gulf. There is so little reporting of the inside story in our media. Not even George Bush himself knows what's going on there...
