No one underestimates Washington ‘s immediate ability to deliver ‘shock and awe’ that mostly is time fixed in April-May this year, however, what one doubts is the US ability to deal with post ‘shock and awe’ scenario at regional and global level.

Unfortunately protagonists of US hawkish policies have not yet been able to calculate the fallouts of yet another adventure in the Gulf albeit their fanatical zeal is always prodding and prompting Bush to go ahead with his Middle East vendetta.

On the other hand Mr. Bush whose Jewish connection goes far beyond the perimeters of US national interests, sitting on the most-fire-power of the world would not stay for a moment to reflect upon the disastrous consequences of his any such act upon humanity at large.

It is not like appealing to human sensibilities of the most failed president of the US to avoid a disaster in the making, rather an eye opener to the US nation to come forward and shoulder their responsibility to fellow citizens of the globe and tame this president who is doing everything to prove himself ‘a bull in a china shop.’

Mr. Bush has floundered American wealth so heartlessly whereas he has achieved nothing so far in return except some satisfaction to his and his cronies’ jingoistic spirit. His war expenditures are running into the fourth quarter of a trillion dollars with the human cost whose full impact will take years to be fully realised. Iraq this generation has mostly been destroyed whereas the second generation will require a miracle to come to its own sorts.

Despite all the damage done to the regional peace in the name of
democracy, liberty and freedom in and around Iraq , his refusal to learn lessons from past mistakes and to give ear to saner voices at home and abroad not to go beyond the dictates of wisdom and rationality, makes him the most dangerous president in the US history.

His singular insistence on playing second fiddle to Israeli interests in the region, inviting harshest criticism from all quarters in the lands of Islam and thereby compromising US national interests drastically paints him a demagogue who has no interest in how history would judge him; he has a mission to accomplish that he must howsoever weird it might look to others. How different he is from Osama Bin Laden of the East is everybody’ s guess. Now the West needs to take care of its own OBL before the end of his term.

The real issue at hand in the Gulf is not the removal of suspicion over Iran ’ s nuclear programme. It is the neutralisation of Iran ’s growing influence in the region. As Iran cannot be won to the US side under the present Islamic establishment and the regime change being yet another impossibility, Iran’ s influence must be neutralised by creating a phantom of Nuclear Iran to the regional states so that a perception is created that would make aerial strikes on Iran feasible to forestall the progress of the nation by bringing death and destruction to them.

However, the forces of nature are at work. The US will have to leave the area sooner or later. Some power in the Middle East must emerge to balance the US influence in the region. With Taliban and Saddam gone Iran stands stronger in the region than it was in pre-Gulf war times. Both threats from its Eastern and Western borders gone with pro-Iran regime in Baghdad and Hazaras being part of government in Afghanistan , Iran ’s influence in the region is growing day by day.

Iran did not vie for it. It finds itself in a position of strength to strength as a result of US disastrous policies in the region. To many Tehran seems natural leader of the region. Allama Iqbal, the poet of the East, rather considered it the natural leader of the East when he wished ‘ Tehran (to) become Geneva of the Nations of the East’ He believed that it would transform the fate of the whole world.

Already Tehran is in a pitched battle on diplomatic fronts with the so
called  Inter-natio-al Community to help Ummah break free from the
inertia of past despondency it was thrown into by the West in conni-vance with corrupt, despotic and unscrupulous rulers at home.

Tehran is solidifying its influence around by reaching out to neigh-bouring nations offering an open handshake of love, consideration, practicality and worldly wisdom: mutual national interests are good enough cementing bonds to catalyst change of heart towards each other. Recent visit of Dr. Ahmedi Nijad should be taken in this context. Already Iran is offering extensive financial support to rebuild Lebanon.

Further, despite the US unsubstantiated rather false claims of Iran ’s
negative engagement inside Iraq , Iran ’s across-the-board support for Iraq ‘s government is unconditional and absolute. At a broader level Dr. Ahmadinejad is emerging as the defining voice for disenfran-chised Muslims: his appeal cuts across national boundaries and simmers down beyond official circles and reaches up to man in the street all across the lands of Islam.

He is the most heard and highly respected person because of his sincerity, integrity, humility and veracity in the whole Islamic world. Other demagogues in the lands of Islam are now trying to catch up with him by siding with their masses shunning away their old masters in the West. No wonder Gen. Musharraf of Pakistan as well as King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia along with Hosney Mubarak of Egypt and others sound angry and disenchanted while talking about the US and the so called ‘International Community.’

The US has been persistently aggressive while dealing with Iran since
Bush junior moved into the white house. Even though completely bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq Bush would not let go off his old style in diplomacy and must shoot from the hip. Presently, nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz with its battle group of destroyers and guided missile cruisers is about to join USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS JohnS Stennis by the end of this month. Already patriotic missiles batteries arestationed in the Gulf.

The only problem that Bush and Tony Blair have is that the world at large has refused to trust and support them for any other adventure in the Gulf. Even so Mr Bush is not discouraged and would keep the heat up. A lot depends on the wisdom, acumen, tolerance and sense of responsibility on part of Iran ’s diplomats as they have ever shown in abundance in the past.

They need to employ aggressive diplomacy yet again with a greater sense of urgency and understanding to ‘take the bull by the horns’ and save the region from yet another cataclysmic upheaval of unknown magnitude. The writer is a noted columnist and analyst presently teaching at a foreign university

Information

It is not like appealing to human sensibilities of the most failed president of the US to avoid a disaster in the making, rather an eye opener to the US nation to come forward and shoulder their res-ponsibility to fellow  citizens of the globe and tame this president who is doing everything to prove himself ‘a bull in a china shop.’ 

First appeared in Pakistan Observer on 24th April, 2007