America: Neither a villain nor a savior 

By Ali Sina 

     America is but one country in a world of over 200 countries.  Like any country, America looks after its own interests first. In its dealings with other nations, it has often demonstrated a disturbing willingness to sacrifice human rights for the sake of political expediency and its own material interests. Despite this, can you name one country that would not, given the requisite political and economic power, act in a similar fashion? All countries in the world have been guilty of some abuse of human rights, if not have also engaged in outright genocide against either their own citizens or those of other countries. America is not alone in this regard. The law governing the International relations is the law of the jungle. In jungle each beast is after its own interests. 

    Therefore to blame America or only certain countries for the ills of the world is failing to see the trees because of the jungle. To continue to do so can only fuel already existing hatreds as it fails to define the problem and by so doing limits the opportunity for any real and lasting solution.  Certainly it can be argued as well as shown that America is guilty of many crimes. For instance, it was America that enabled Saddam to poison Iranian children. I saw those children, in their mended shoes and dirty faces, and remember them running after a plastic ball playing soccer on the dirt roads of their villages. In thinking back, I can still hear the sounds of excitement and yelling, particularly their glee when shouting gooooal. I also remember the many shy little girls, who clutched their plastic dolls that often were missing a hand or an eye, hiding behind their mothers, peeping from behind their long skirts with their large eyes. Those little children are all now dead. They were killed by Saddam�s chemical and biological weapons.  America is in part to blame as it was they who assisted Saddam by providing him will all the satellite information and weather reports to inflict maximum harm and massacre the Iranian children in remote frontier villages.   

Yes this boils my blood. Yes this makes me angry. But instead of placing the blame and anger solely at America�s feet for what happened, let us retrace this history to see how it actually unfolded.  When in 1979 the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) took American diplomats as hostages and millions of Iranians were shouting �marg bar Amrika� , or death to America and were saying �Today Kabala, tomorrow Qods (Jerusalem)�, Iran was at the beginning of a revolution that would turn it into a rogue nation. The mullahs, or spiritual leaders of Iran, were not withholding or covering up their expansionist, political ambitions for Islam. Out of this revolution this new country, now the Islamic Republic of Iran, became upfront in its goal of exporting this revolution to other Islamic countries. In so doing this Iran suddenly became a threat to the peace and the security of the Middle East as well as to the rest of the world.  For this reason the IRI had to be contained or the consequences would have been too devastating.  For this reason America was forced to choose sides.  America chose to back Iraq, and its leader, Saddam Hussein.  Though America had little choice but to make a bad choice, this does not excuse it for it becoming an ally and eventual partner in crime with Saddam Hussein. Such is the reality of politics where each country pursues their own interests.

It is true that America has supported many dictators and evil characters. The Taliban, the Contras and the terrorists in Nicaragua, were allies and agents of America. And the list goes on and on.  But America like any other country of the world is after her own interests. America is neither a villain nor a savior. It is a player, trying to make the most in an anarchic world. This is the world we live in and this is our reality. If you don't like it, don't blame America; let us instead change the world. America is playing by the same rules that your country and my country is playing, i.e. no rules. We are all abiding by the law of jungle. If it is not America it will be other countries.

However, given the fact that America is a democracy, it is still better than most other countries. Imagine if Russia were the sole superpower of the world? Do you think the Russians would have respected human rights more than the Americans? What do you think would have happened if the Chinese were the sole superpower? What if an Islamic country had the power that the America has today? Can you imagine the disaster? Some of us would be dead as Kafirs and other would be paying jizyya as dhimmis. Suppose America stopped meddling in the world affairs. What do you think would be the scenario for the Middle East then? Madmen such as Saddam Hussein would be allowed to engage in their reign of terror virtually unfettered by outside control.  Under such a condition people by the thousands would likely be killed, on a daily basis. Don�t forget that this man killed more than 30,000 Shiites in Southern Iraq and massacred innumerable Kurds after the Americans stopped bombing him in 1991.

Let me say I hate America�s bullying as much as anyone else, but I dread even more to think what would happen were America to wash its hands of world affairs. Then nothing can stop the maniacal Saddams, Kims, Bin Ladens and Khomeinis of this world from indulging in wanton terror.

     Calling America�s military intervention in Iraq (both in 1991 and 2003), in Yugoslavia and in Afghanistan terrorism is like saying that domestic police forces in every country are also terrorists because they bully the criminals and use force to subdue them.

    The solution is contained in the problem. The world needs an international police force. In the absence of such a legitimate, worldly acknowledged peacekeeping authority, America is forced to assume that role. This is on one hand a burden on America and on the other hand a source of resentment for other countries. Despite this, America remains our last best chance for the majority to live in relative peace. So, if you are tired of seeing America being a bully, think of the alternatives. Without America the world would fall into the clutches of maniacal dictators like Slobedan Milosevic, Saddam and their ilk. This would bring far more death and destruction than America�s bullying alone.  Therefore if you really care about justice, if you want equal rights for everyone, if you are interested in peace, and if you hate to see one country deciding the destiny of the rest of the world, strive to establish the World Federalism, and try to bring law and order to the international level. Work towards the demilitarization of the world and its disarmament. Make every effort to establish a word tribunal and endeavor to create a world peacekeeping police force. We cannot insist on anarchy and expect to have security at the same time. World Federalism means, every nation will maintain its autonomy but gives up the right to amass armaments and have military. Instead a new International body would be created that would protect the sovereignty of of all the nations, guarantee the democracy within every country and safeguard human rights worldwide.   

The problem facing humanity is disunity among nations and the solution to that is unity and that can be achieved through the creation of a federation of nations. Such unity will not be possible if there is no authority there to protect human rights and ensure justice. Just as there can be no justice or human rights if there is no authority protecting them. We need to revamp our thinking, revise our vision and begin thinking out of the box. If we have wars, it is because we have anarchy. Don�t blame America for starting a war to put an end to a ruthless dictatorship. If we do not do that now, for every life that may be saved today, thousands of people could be killed tomorrow. If you really care about peace, let us work towards world federalism, get rid of this lawlessness and let us establish the new world order. Let us make justice among nations a law. There is peace and order within democratic countries because there are laws that prevail and out of this also comes respect for human rights. So knowing what works, why would we as intelligent people allow our relations at the international level to be governed by the law of jungle? Therefore let us redesign this world so that the right becomes might and not the reverse, as it is today.  

  Reply to Ali Sina  by Nalinaksha Bhattacharyya