Bring Out the Nails

Bring out the nails because in Afghanistan, the first Neo-colony of the American Neo-Conservatives, the Taliban are on the rise a la the fabled phoenix rising from the ashes and where they once again control most parts of southern Afghanistan openly setting up shadow administrations there and where the coalition forces are getting a beating of their lives from the rag tag Taliban and where the whining and griping among the coalition forces over their looming defeat is increasing with each passing day and where on the Pakistani side too, the supremo General Musharraf has beaten a hasty retreat from the bordering Waziristan rather than trying to reinforce failure. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because, drunk with delusions of grandeur and self-adulation, the Empire seekers made a bad choice in Afghanistan as the launching pad of their dream by ignoring the warning of Sir Olaf Caroe, the last British governor of North West Frontier Province of bordering Pakistan, who said: "Unlike other wars, Afghan wars become serious only when they are over." Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because the Empire seekers failed to understand, and still do not, that it is not the Taliban phenomenon that is writing the epitaph on the grave of their Empire building dream, that being a mere label, but it is the Pathan culture that is responsible for their imminent demise and which they failed to study enough and of which the British knew only too well but chose not to inform their gullible partners. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because the Empire seekers tried to defeat with brawn what should have been conquered with brain and did not realize that though the Afghan Pathans’ loyalty to Islam is severe, their culture often seems to supersede Islamic convention and that the rise and fall of Taliban was but one brief twist of history in this rugged part of the world and that Taliban or no Taliban, resisting foreign occupation of their land is a way of life for them and that after the exit of the Soviets from Afghanistan, the Taliban experience could hold their interest for only as long and that if there were no foreign occupiers soon enough, the Pathans would have had to invent some to go on with their way of life. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because the Empire seekers did not comprehend that the Afghan Pathans may have been subdued for brief spans of history but have invariably bounced back on their enemies with renewed strength and malice, that they are renowned as equally for their loyalty to friends as for their fierce blood feuds and hatred of enemies. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because the Empire seekers refused to learn from history that in their blood feuds only, the Afghan Pathan’s patience is known to be as great as their mighty Hindukush, that they are one of the most resistant tribal peoples on earth having withstood the military might of Alexander the Great, Mogul Emperors, the Soviets, and the British in the past and that considering death as not too high a price to pay for their honor is a part of their culture. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because the Empire seekers ignored the wisdom passed on to them from other Europeans since the days of Alexander that Afghanistan is a vast expanse of desolate plains and untamed mountains, ferocious warriors, uncompromising Islam, vicious tribal rivalries, and a political complexity that entwines bloodlines, chivalry, religion, and history into an eerie unfathomable mix making it a land of great mystery that should have been left alone to find its own natural stability. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because in Iraq too rigor mortis has almost set into the corpse of the Empire building dream with a sense of finality that was never there in the past four years of occupation of that unfortunate country and that success in Iraq now no more means defeating the sandal footed resistance fighters but holding long enough for something or someone to come relieve the bogged down, war-weary, and de-humanized American troops in the trouble spots. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because the recently declassified National Intelligence Estimate is now calling Iraq as the ‘cause celebre’ not for resisters to American occupation but for ‘terrorists’ and that this deliberate attempt to confuse the two is likely to cost the Empire seekers dearer and dearer with each passing day. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward tells Mike Wallace in an interview to be broadcast this Sunday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS that the Bush administration has not told the truth regarding the level of violence, especially against U.S. troops, in Iraq and that attacks against coalition troops are getting to the point now “where there are eight, nine-hundred attacks a week. That's more than 100 a day. That is four an hour attacking our forces," and that a key intelligence report predicts the insurgency will only grow worse next year. Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails because according to Woodward in that same interview, the president and vice president have started to often consult with Henry Kissinger, that war criminal and author of the Cambodian Bombing campaign that contributed so significantly to the civil war there, who thinks that in Iraq ‘victory is the only meaningful exit strategy’ and who believes that ‘the problem in Vietnam was we lost our will.’ Bring out the nails.

Bring out the nails to hammer into the coffin of the Empire dream but keep a silver bullet handy should the monster make one last-ditch attempt to escape from its eternal grave.

Bring out the nails.

Anwaar Hussain