After nine years of the war on terror, perhaps it's time for the US and the West to examine the real sources of the conflict, writes Aijaz Zaka Syed Journalists are suckers for anniversaries. After all, it's our job to chronicle the world's deeds, both good and bad. Has anyone noticed, though, that it's nine years since Afghanistan was invaded? Does anyone even remember? Does anyone care? The Afghans still get killed like flies on a daily basis. Big deal. They have always been. But what is interesting is that the Americans and their comrades-in-arms from other "freedom-loving" nations too are dying in droves and no one, including the American people, seems to care two hoots. Afghanistan, a la Iraq, has been consigned to the collective bin of American amnesia. No one seems interested in being reminded about the far war and why it's being fought or when it's likely to wrap up, if it ever does. Right now the Americans have far more important, and far more serious, things to worry about, like the jobs, for instance. The world's biggest economy is still stuck in the hole our friend George W Bush buried it nicely. All the financial stimulus and pushes and shoves by the US government haven't been able to get it out. So who's got the time to worry about a distant, disastrous war, thank you very much! The neocons assured us that this war was absolutely vital to the future of America and survival of the civilised world. With us or against us was the stark choice W offered to the world. And the world couldn't say no, especially when the offer was made with the world's mightiest army holding gun to all heads. We were told that a country still living in the Stone Age from American standards of progress and the rag- tag band of the Taliban with their ancient weapons were a "clear and present danger" to the civilised world. It matters little if no Afghan was involved in the attacks on New York and Washington, the purported pretext of this war. So what has the Coalition of the Willing achieved with this new crusade? If this war has already been won and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have been beaten, what is the West still doing in the Wild East? These questions are important and must be demanded of Americans and countries whose forces are fighting along side the US in the world's most hospitable terrain for guerrilla wars. And much of the economic mess on Wall Street that feeds, drives and fuels the world economy is directly and indirectly linked to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Where do you think those trillions of dollars in the taxpayer's money have gone? They have gone up in smoke in the killing fields of Afghanistan and Iraq, that's where they have gone! President Barack Obama had a historic opportunity to end these unjust, unreasonable and unwinnable wars and clear the mind-boggling mess gifted to him by his predecessor. As someone who had the courage to oppose the disaster that was to be Iraq war in its nascent stage, Obama should have turned his back on the shame of these wars and the larger so-called war on terror. Instead he ended up with Bush's baby in his hands, having enthusiastically adopted his predecessor's illegitimate brood. Okay, maybe it wasn't possible for America's first non- white president with a Muslim middle name to cut and run from the wars being waged in the name of fighting "Islamic terror" immediately after taking over from W. But why does our hero, who has so repeatedly talked of exploring "a new way forward" with the world's Muslims, fail to see that these wars are not just fuelling hatred and anger against the US and the West around the world but may very well be producing generations of ready recruits for groups like Al-Qaeda? The shockingly callous drone attacks deep inside Pakistani territory on a daily basis have killed hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of innocents over the past few years. And yet Pakistan is supposed to be America's ally and friend! With friends like these, as the Persian saying goes, who needs enemies? Ironically, the attacks have seen a sudden upsurge under the Nobel Peace laureate president. If the Pakistanis have now taken to setting fuel tankers headed for US-NATO forces ablaze, they are doing so to cool the cauldron of cold fury and frustration blazing inside their hearts. And this crackling inferno of anger is now spilling over far beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan's borders. The case of the Times Square bomber, who was given a life sentence this month, and this new European terror plot may only be the tip of the iceberg. What about many others who haven't appeared on the radar? Or those who might have got away? Despite the circus that goes on these days at airports around the world in the name of security, surely you can't always succeed in catching all plotters? Meanwhile, it has occurred to no one that maybe they should pause and look at the factors and forces that are sending wave after wave of angry young men to attack Western targets. You know, cause and effect? And even when they seem to realise the source of the strife, as US commander General David Petraeus recently did in his appearance before the US Senate, little is done to check it. Let's face it. Awfully tragic as the 9/11 attacks were, the US has used and exploited them to turn the entire planet into a battlefield where just about anyone and everyone is a terrorist and "a clear and present danger" to world peace. The 11 September attacks claimed around 3,000 lives. And in the retribution that followed, over a million people have already paid with their lives. This is truly an asymmetrical war, if there ever was one. And there's no end in sight. How long will this go on? How many more innocents have to die before the world says enough is enough? When would this bloodletting end? I believe Obama when he says there's a great deal that is common between the West and Muslims and the so- called clash of civilisations can be and must be avoided. However, when you see Israel continuing to persecute the Palestinians with Western connivance, and defenceless women and children are killed in the name of fighting terror in Afghanistan-Pakistan, it's a little difficult to believe in the grand cause of civilisational dialogue. Meanwhile, liberal Europeans and rednecks in America's heartland are competing with each other to make their Muslim communities feel at home. After the storm over the Manhattan mosque and Florida outrage against the Quran, it seems Muslim-bashing is now part of mainstream America, with assorted Republicans, Zionists and Fox News of course joining the fun. Across America, they have taken to the streets declaring, "Muslims are not welcome!" Across the Atlantic, the Swiss have banned minarets and Belgium and France have made wearing the veil a crime. If this is the state of affairs in countries like Belgium, home to the European Parliament and EU headquarters, and France, the land of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité," imagine the situation in societies like Denmark and the Netherlands. It is no coincidence that two Muslim-bashing parties are about to taste power in Sweden and the Netherlands, the latter belonging to the lunatic Geert Wilders, notorious for his obnoxious film on the Quran. Where's all this confrontation going to end? The answer has to be sought by both the West and the Muslim world. This dangerous gulf can be bridged only when you identify the source of the rot. After nine years of fighting phantoms, perhaps it's time for the US and the West to do that.
