The Terror Against War

There is a dread , a fear, an aspect of human nature that abhors the thought of being at war .We, as rational human beings like to believe that we are against war . Ask any decent or even indecent person you like. Go to the most hardened convicted murderer in a prison cell and spend a few minutes exploring this crucial philosophical debate and you will see that nine times out of ten you will find yourself agreeing that war is the most degrading , horrific, 'inhumane' (whatever that word means I can never understand) ,sickly , futile ,non productive , wasteful , cruel way of solving anything ,let alone bringing security or happiness to the people of the world. You will even find that if you speak to individuals who are members of opposing forces within a present conflict, you will again see the same truth. This may be a sign of hope? this is The Terror Against war .

So bad is our terror against being in a war or witnessing a war that quite recently , in the last decade or two ,our leaders have informed us that there are people out there that are against our way of life , our 'freedom and democracy' that they are trying to destroy us. This came to head when 2001 when several hijacked aircraft were rammed into the world trade centre buildings in New York and and other targets in America . Such an audacious and horrendous attack resulted in the grotesque and cruel deaths of thousands of innocents.This crime was watched virtually as it was unfolding on television sets throughout the world. This unprecedented attack on territory of the USA ,was the point where the terror against wars was transformed into a cause against such terror: this was to be the beginning of what is known as :The War Against Terror . With the war waged against terror , it was believed we would defend ourselves against terrorists throughout the world and thus ameliorate our terror against war once and for all.
The war against terror is still on .How one fights a war against an abstract noun such as 'terror ' is still a mystery . We are told that 'The International Community ' is united against these terrorists wherever they are and also any 'rogue' states that harbour them. Now The 'International Community' a very all inclusive term, a construct of many happy peace loving people, me you and our neighbours . This is us : The international Community , yet when this mysterious group decides to do something such as bomb a country it is usually a few lone figures from one of the few countries that are instigating all this defensive action in the name of this elusive force called the 'International community'
So we have an entity called the international community which is now engaged in a war against terror.Two indefinable, ineffable forces at war with each other .

The culprits of this major crime against civilians in New York were members of 'Al Qaeida' whose head quarters we were told was based in Afghanistan There was no
going back , the regime of the Taliban , an ultra orthodox ,fanatical ,fundamentalist Religious group of war lords running Afghanistan were blamed for giving safe haven to the leader of Al Qaeida : Osama Bin Laden.

October 7th 2001 ,was to be the first phase in this war, the main objective was , we were informed by our leaders and a compliant media , to capture Bin Laden bring him to justice and to wipe out all terrorist training camps which would prevent him unleashing any more mayhem.
Afghanistan was invaded , and the apologists of the war derided those against this war , it was 30th January 2002 that the USA announced formally that the Taliban had been ousted and defeated.

And President Bush of the USA as well as British prime minister at the time Tony Blair, USA's, trusty guard dog, supported a new regime which was also to liberate the people of Afghanistan and bring democracy to them.
Many of us were against the war , claiming that it would be long and drawn out , that Afghanistan would be a difficult country to conquer , after all history supports this claim, Yet we were wrong : in several weeks the Taliban was subdued and a 'Broad Based Government ' representing various ethnic groups and political causes was installed. This 'government' is still there. The leader President Karzai lives in fear ,in hiding , surrounded by body guards , mostly American marines , and he makes deals with various unelected vassals within the chaos that is Afghansitan.
The war didn't last long . Where are we now ? it is 2008 and the 'Nato Alliance ' consisting again mostly of American and British troops is still fighting an invisible enemy . The war against terror continues . Every so often we hear of fierce battles where our heroes fight bravely , defending our freedom, many have died there. The war continues and the 'Taliban' or who ever they are , whether disparate groups of bandits, angry men, al qaeida, mujahadeen , Islamist fundamentalists, Jihadis , rebels,villagers and their dogs refuse to be beaten by effectively what are seen as foreign occupying forces attempting to impose their will upon the local population .Meanwhile throughout the period of our war against terror , we did not in fact succeed in stopping several serious acts of terrorism throughout the world.These are just a sample of terrorist attacks that have happened since our terror against war had transformed into an all out 'war on terror ':


December 2003 - Istanbul, Turkey:
Attacks on the British Consulate and HSBC bank offices in Istanbul kill 27 people.

November 2003 - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
A bombing kills at least 17 people at a housing complex a few kilometres from Riyadh's diplomatic quarter.

July 2005 - London, U.K.:
A series of bombs explode in London’s underground killing at least 50 people.

December 2004 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia:
An attack on the American Consulate kills five staff members and leaves four militants dead. The Saudi wing of al-Qaeda claims responsibility.

April 2004 - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
Attacks in downtown Riyadh kill 10 people.

March 2004 - Madrid, Spain:
A chain of suicide bombs on a Madrid train kill more than 200 and wound more than 1,800.

As horrendous as it sounds , these attacks and others no less devasting although not mentioned have all taken place after the the invasion of Afghanistan whose main purpose was to to put an end to this fear of terrorism and win the war on terror by bringing to justice Osama Bin Laden and thereby being able to live in peace with our cherished democratic way of life unhindered. So either we are losing the war against terror because its leader in not only nowhere to be found ,but his name doesn't even get mentioned as he sinks into insignificance .Or our armed forces and intelligence agencies are doing such a good job that without such a war on terror
there could have been even much more bombings. If the second argument is right , it is strange that our armed forces are fighting the: ' Taliban there ,to prevent them from fighting us here!' as our present leader ,Gordon Brown said only recently after a spate of killings where several young British soldiers , barely old enough to vote for a general election came home in coffins . Did the 'Taliban' ever attempt to indulge in international terrorism? it was within Afghanistan that they imposed their iron will and oppressive brand of Islam.Or has Al qaeida been replaced by Taliban?

So this war continues with its own momentum and it is clear that the reasons are next to meaningless the present middle Eastern 'Peace Envoy ' , Tony Blair , when prime minister , shortly after the London bombings took place IN 2005 ,was quick to rebuke his critics that claimed the reason for the bombings was our aggressive foreign policy. He shunned the idea saying that the fanatical muslim terrorist attacks had nothing to do with foreign policy as there were terrorist attacks before the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. He said this with what appeared such sweeping omniscient arrogance that one could even be mistaken that he was genuinely expressing his views. He had the temerity to tell us what Mohammed Sadiq , the London suicide bomber had in mind when committing his crime. Blair said it was 'nothing at all to do with foreign policy!' it was the work of fanatics that do not like our way of life with its freedom and democracy , that they want to destroy us.
One would think that a little notice would be taken of a misguided fanatic that Sadiq was in order to listen to why he did what he did. He clearly stated in his 'martyrdom 'video that the sole reason for his act of 'martyrdom ' was the anger of British and American invasion and killings of what he called 'his people'.
How ever warped and fanatical a killer he was ,it would be worth listening to and believing his own reasons for the bombings rather than the interpretation of them by a former prime minister, it must be said,who many believe had even less honesty than the brain washed fanatical bomber .

So the 'War on Terror' continues and the more one explores what is happening the more meaningless the whole campaign and how it is being prosecuted appears . Whilst writing this dozens of British and American armed forces personnel have lost their lives and hundreds of Afghans ,innocents as well as combatants.


We heard of the first British female soldier's fatality , Sarah Bryant , dead only several weeks ago. A young, bright , beautiful and well trained member of the intelligence corps. She apparently spoke Pashtu , one of the main languages of Afghanistan. The tribute her bereaved husband gave was heart rending.Yet the underlying message was one of acquiescence to the ruling classes and their doctrine. The humble soldier again lain to rest and called a 'hero' as if the trauma and meaninglessness of the wasted life has to be explained by the fictitious belief that this , yet this war was necessary and that the sacrifice somehow has saved us from the war on terror.
With all the respect in the world to the deceased victim and her family , she has gone ,a talented person ,with the ability of speaking Pashtu . Such a skill could have been utilised in such a different way, but alas the opportunities in the military gave her a job of spying on the enemy and arranging counter attacks etc.

The soldiers , their enemies and civilians continue to die ugly deaths in Afghanistan, and maybe , just maybe in some kind of quasi mystical , mathematical equation only understood by such a nincompoop as our present leader Mr Brown , the fact that soldiers are fighting guerrillas in Afghanistan today somehow has
prevented further terrorist bombs in London ,New York ,Madrid and elsewhere .
Or maybe the two phenomena are ,and always were ,totally independent of each other.

Boundaries are blurred , rhetoric revised , words in the English dictionary literally raped and their meanings murdered, such is the prosecution of the 'War on Terror ' and whilst this gerrymandering goes on at the higher end of the establishment , on the ground, in the front line of Afghanistan and in the imaginations of many people in western nations the 'Terror against war 'is getting more frightening and real as the sabres are being rattled once more against another nation called Iran,and the case for war is being made whilst the masses stand by and watch powerlessly .


This very day whilst finishing this piece of writing, 50 people have been reported dead after a series of explosions hit the city of Ahmedabad in India .The BBC world service radio reported that seventeen explosions actually took place in India ,and further more two other bombs exploded in Instambul , Turkey . It is proving difficult to keep up with the speed of this war......

Both the 'war against terror ' and the 'terror against war ' continue.........and merge into each other as fuel and fire .....