Alternative Insight
Reinforcing the Antagonist
Al-Qaeda and the United States
Al Qaeda and the United States rightfully consider each other as their prime antagonist. Nevertheless, each one manages to assist the other to continue deadly actions. In the 9/11 attack, the radical Islamic organization anticipated the destruction would cripple the U.S. economic system. It did - temporarily.The 9/11 aftermath stimulated the expansion of the U.S. government and American industry. The U.S. government's approach to the attack: A new Homeland Security department, reinvigorated CIA and Defense departments, expanded military forces, new military adventures and pervasive security apparatus. The public approach: new technologies, easy credit, enlarged military production, widened security, surveillance and inspection industries. New jobs and less unemployment, all fueled by government deficits.
On the other side, the U.S., in its aid to the Mujahideen,during the Soviet-Afghan war, can take credit for Osama bin Laden arriving in Pakistan and establishing terrorist training camps. And just when the terrorist organization was on the ropes and ready to throw in the towel, the U.S. disposal of Saddam Hussein allowed Al Qaeda a ground for operations and salvation in Iraq.
U.S. actions motivated the formation of Al Qaeda
Although the Soviet Union already had significant influence in Afghanistan's affairs and the Asian nation was considered peripheral to the Cold war struggle, the December 1979 Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan provoked U.S. President Jimmy Carter to exclaim "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War." The Carter administration, under the direction of National Security advisor Zbignieuw Brzezenski organized a a triple threat coalition; a US-Pakistani-Saudi network; code name Operation Cyclone, to aid the insurgent Mujahideen. One overwhelming problem with this humanitarian venture was that President Reagan, who inherited the noble cause, trusted it to CIA Director William Casey. Under his able care, all donated funds were eventually disbursed through Pakistani intelligence (ISI). A Bush country Texas source explains what happened.
This allowed the Pakistani ISI to handle nearly all direct contact with the Afghan resistance, and make most decisions on how to prosecute the war and on which Afghan resistance groups to assist. The ISI funneled the largest share of aid to Islamic extremist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who later supported Osama bin Laden. Due to ISI efforts, moderate-secular groups were marginalized, and some of their leaders were killed by the ISI and its Islamist allies. Richard Murphy, Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, later admitted "We did spawn a monster in Afghanistan." In the mid-1990’s, a State Department report concluded that this war was the birthplace of the ‘transnational terrorist.’
During the mid-'80's, Osama bin Laden arrived in Pakistan to disburse Saudi funds to the Mujahideen. He also started training camps in Pakistan for foreign fighters. His later organization, Al Qaeda (the Base), emerged from the Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK), the Afghan Services Bureau, which is believed to have been founded in 1984 with the purpose of raising funds and recruiting foreign fighters for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. MAK also succeeded in establishing recruitment and fundraising offices in the United States, at the Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, and at the Islamic Centre in Tucson, Arizona.
Here we have the Carter and Reagan administrations instrumental in supporting Radical Islam, inattentive to Osama bin Laden's incipient thrusts into international terrorism. allowing terrorists to establish fundraising on its territory and never complaining about "friendly" Pakistan's role in permitting the birth of Al Qaeda. Relatives of naval personnel killed in the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole have sued Sudan for compensation, claiming Sudan assisted Al Qaeda. Considering Sudan was only a home for a peripatetic bin Laden during some years and no known terrorism formations or camps have been proven to be housed in Sudan, wouldn't the lawyers for the relatives of the Cole victims have a more accurate and reliable case if they sued the United States and Pakistan?
U.S. assistance to Al Qaeda didn't end with aiding in its development. Throughout the 1990's Al Qaeda expanded itself in Afghanistan without interference from the United States. Inability to prevent several attacks, including the 1993 first World Trade Center bombing, the 1998, bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa, the 2000 terrorist bomb attack against the USS Cole and the 9/11 catastrophe, coupled with the inability to apprehend bin Laden, increased Al Qaeda ranks and strengthened terrorists' resolve to battle western interests. The U.S. chased the Taliban and Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan, but failed to decimate the organization, elements of which found refuge in "friendly" Pakistan.
In 2003, Taliban fugitives, safely housed in Western Pakistan, had become irritated with neighboring and uncontrollable Al Qaeda members. The Taliban's friction with Al Qaeda permitted Pakistani military operations against al-Qaeda in South Waziristan. The offensive battered the terrorist group and succeeded in demolishing its training camps. At the same time, the U.S. invasion of Iraq destroyed the Iraqi armed forces and policing functions. The occupation allowed fleeing Al Qaeda members to move into Iraq, the Kurdish Ansar al-Islam terrorist group to fortify itself and move more freely throughout Iraq and foreign fighters to move into Iraq and form a new ally of Al Qaeda. They latter eventually termed themselves 'Al Qaeda in Iraq.' The Asia Times relates a part of the story.How Pakistan settled an al-Qaeda score, by Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times, May 2007.
KARACHI - Internal squabbling between the Taliban and al-Qaeda and exploited by Pakistan forced many al-Qaeda leaders to move from the tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iraq in search of new headquarters from which to operate.The U.S. thrust to counter terrorism after 9/11 indicates contradictions in the policies. Despite the CIA invasion of Afghanistan and the formation of a new "western friendly" government, the Taliban remains active and has assumed a more terrifying posture. Talban didn't previously engage in the suicide bombings that have become prominent in the Afghanistan landscape. The U.S. invasion of Iraq produced waves of Al Qaeda and other insurgents who are antagonistic to the western world. Throughout the Middle East, U.S. indirect involvement in killings of Arab peoples, whether it be collateral damge or direct effontery produce more sympathizers with Al Qaeda. And Al Qaeda reinforces the struggle.
Al Qaeda awakens the U.S. Giant
The September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center greatly injured the United States psyche - but only temporarily. The terrorist action united the American citizens in a common cause against terrorist elements, created worldwide sympathy for the American tragedy and provoked the U.S. government into a new war - the war against terrorism.This war stimulated defense spending so that six years later the headlines still read: Defense Earnings Continue to Soar. After a brief economic dip, due to the 9/11 attack, the U.S. economy transitioned from a slight recession headed towards deflation to continuous growth and mild inflation. Fighting Al Qaeda was the reason for the invasion of Afghanistan and became the excuse for continuing the occupation of Iraq. The integration of intelligence departments to form a new Homeland Security Department reinvigorated CIA and Defense departments, brought increased employment to Washington D.C. and tripled housing prices in the federal district's area. The U.S. industry followed an American maxim: Profit from Tragedy. Military forces and military adventures expanded. Security apparatus needs became omnipresent. Surveillance and inspection industries found endless markets. Military production increased. Defense strategies inspired new technologies. All of the efforts towards making the U.S. a more secure homeland created new jobs and a significant drop in unemployment.
One overlooked benefit that the U.S. has extracted from the existence of Al Qaeda is international support for the U.S. in its war on terrorism. Although disenchanted with U.S. lack of commitment to reduce global warming, U.S. contribution to elevated energy costs, U.S. military adventures, U.S. failures to achieve peace in the Middle East, U.S. exceptionalism, U.S. triumphalism. U.S. subsidies of its cotton and agriculture industries, and a general feeling of U.S. arrogance, the international community of nations has been forced to temper its feelings and motivate the U.S. to essentially use resources, finances and human capital for the war on terrorism; a maneuver that reduces the commitments from other nations.
Re-inforcing the Antagonist
The war between Al Qaeda and the U.S. has no compromise. It cannot end with exhaustion. It can only terminate when the Terminator has finished the task - the complete deaths of all of one of the antagonistic forces. Considering that each antagonist reinforces the expansion of the other, the number of killings on both sides will be huge and the length of time of the struggle cannot be predicted. The war in Afghanistan continues after more than five years. The war in Iraq continues after four years. Al Qaeda and its look-alikes battle in the East Asian nations of Philippines, Indonesia Malaysia, in almost all Middle East nations and most North African nations.Terrorists welcome death and suffocation if they can cause the suffocation of their antagonists - a phyrric victory for all. Removing the elements by which Al Qaeda breathes and planning the battle so that Al Qaeda becomes lessened by conviction rather than by only killing are auxiliary methods to clarify the war on terrorism. A dilemma: Is finding a satisfactory solution to international terrorism complicated by a U.S. government fear that its economy will suffer from an end of the war, and, for that reason, combatants disregard the human suffering?
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august, 2007HOME PAGE MAIN PAGE 
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