Use a cockroach to catch a cockroach

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>vaidika1008 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com >[bJP News]: Use a cockroach to catch a

cockroach >Mon, 17 Sep 2001 13:23:14 -0400 > >USE A COCKROACH TO CATCH A

COCKROACH > >by B.Raman > >It would be a mistake to identify Osama bin Laden as

the principal or the only source of threat to the international community. The

principal threat is the new kind of International Terrorism as advocated and

propagated by the so-called jehadis from the soil of Pakistan and Afghanistan

for the last 20 years. > >The advocates of Jehadi Terrorism hold that the

jehadis have an extra-territorial right and obligation and a religious duty to

wage jehad anywhere in the world against any nation, Muslim or non-Muslim, and

against any Government. They also hold that they recognise and respect only the

frontiers of the Ummah and not national frontiers. > >These were the most

pernicious ideas to have come out of the human mind after the Second World War.

Unless these ideas are countered and its advocates in Pakistan and Afghanistan

defeated by the international community, more September 11s are likely. Bin

Laden is a product of these ideas and a leading terrorist, who seeks to have

these ideas enforced, but there are many others who have taken to terrorism for

the same purpose, with equal cunning and ferocity. Unless they are neutralised

too, the battle would have been vainly fought. > >This is the time to show

solidarity with the US and its people and not the time to analyse why September

11 happened and apportion blame. Yet, it needs to be said that September 11 was

made possible, not by the failures and negligence of the US intelligence and

national security establishments alone, but also by the failure and reluctance

of the American political leadership to recognise the force of this new evil

and to counter it effectively and in time. The coming war has to be a war

against International Jehadi Terrorism and not just against bin Laden and his

Al Qaeda. > >One should not overlook the role of Pakistan as the nursery and

cradle of this new evil, in one's anxiety to secure its co-operation in waging

this battle. Using a criminal to catch a criminal may help in dealing with a

single crime, but not in wiping out crime as a menace. Using and rewarding one

evil (Pakistan) to end another evil (bin Laden and the Taliban) may help the US

in avenging September 11, but will not prevent more September 11s unless evil

itself is eliminated wherever it is present (Pakistan, Afghanistan or

elsewhere) in whatever form. > >One should not overestimate the capability of

the US Armed Forces, with the most powerful weapons in the world, to overcome

this evil. The US intelligence and security establishments with financial,

human, technical and technological resources the like of which no other country

in the world can dream to have for another 50 years were unable to anticipate,

smell, sense, detect and neutralise the insinuation of this evil into the

vitals of America. This was because they deliberately closed their eyes to the

evil for political reasons and failed to analyse and realise its true

dimensions. > >This is an unseen, elusive evil, which insinuates itself with

stealth and strikes with cunning and ruthless ferocity. The war against this

evil has to be equally stealthy, invisible, cunning and ruthless. This is not a

war to be fought by uniformed soldiers of the Armed Forces before the TV

cameras. This is a war to be fought by the cloak and dagger men of the

intelligence services of the world, who must be able to strike ferociously

without anyone being able to identify the hand that held the dagger. > >One

should not overestimate one's capability to smoke out bin Laden and his

followers and arrest them and to dislodge the Taliban from power. Post- Second

World War produced two terrorists with a legendary reputation for their

cunning, ferocity and stealth---Carlos alias Michel, now in jail in France, and

bin Laden. > >Carlos headed a small cell with not more than 30 members. All of

them came from well-to-do elitist middle or upper middle class families. They

thought they were waging their battle of terrorism for the rights of the

Palestinians and for the underprivileged and downtrodden people of the world.

But, coming from bourgeois families, they felt uncomfortable in the company of

the underprivileged and downtrodden. They kept them out of their closely-knit

circle. They led a luxurious life-style with a weakness for expensive cars,

women and wine. Consequently, the poor and the downtrodden, though fascinated

by Carlos, were not prepared to die for him. He had practically no popular

support base. Despite this, it took the world 29 years to neutralise him and

his cell. > >Bin Laden, on the other hand, comes from a very rich family of

Saudi Arabia with an estimated personal wealth of about US $ 300 million, a

large part of which he has either given away to the poor Pathans in Afghanistan

and in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered

Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or spent on his cause. Even though he lives in

a big house at Kandahar specially constructed for him by the Taliban very near

the house of Mulla Mohammad Omar, the Amir of the Taliban, he leads an austere

life. He is easily accessible to the poor people and eats with them and his

aides from the same plate as is the normal Pathan custom. He has thus a very

large following in the Pathan community, particularly amongst the poor people,

many of whom are prepared to die for him. > >He lives in Pathan country and

would be able to take shelter in no time ---if he has not already done so--- in

the FATA, where he is worshipped almost like God. Even the Pakistan Army and the

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) don't know the area well. Sending in

over-equipped and over-confident Marines and Green Berets to catch bin Laden

would be like sending in an army of elephants to catch a cockroach. One must

use a cockroach to catch a cockroach. > >When one reads the rhetoric coming out

of President Bush and his aides in Washington, one feels uneasy that they don't

understand the real nature of the evil confronting the world and the man in bin

Laden. No other people in the world understand the machine as well as the

Americans do and no other people in the world understand the human being as

little as the Americans do. Mr.Bush and his aides seem to be thinking that bin

Laden and the jehadi hordes must be shivering in their salwar-kameez because of

their sabre-rattling. They would be only laughing up their sleeves. > >Mr. Bush

wants the other nations of the world to co-operate with the USA in this war,

but the language which he has been using should be anything but reassuring for

the potential allies. The agencies have quoted him as saying: " We will not

only deal with those who dare attack America, but we will deal with those who

harbour them and feed them and house them." The war against them is not because

they pose a threat to humanity and the world, but because they dared to attack

the US in its territory. His objective is to weed out threats to US nationals

and interests and, thereafter, the Marines will go home. > >The fact that these

jehadi terrorists have also killed over 15,000 innocent Indians since 1989 and

hundreds of others in other countries is of no consequence to Mr.Bush. His

apparent aim is not making the world safe from terrorism, but making the US

safe from terrorism and to prevent September 11 repeats. > >Bin Laden's

operational methods are totally different from those of Carlos. Carlos operated

through his small 30-strong cell. He involved himself in each and every

terrorist operation---choosing the target of attack and the weapon to be used;

repeatedly casing the area; pre-determining lines of escape etc. He did not

believe in suicide terrorism. > >Bin Laden, on the other hand, heads a large

set-up of about 4,000, of whom only 10 per cent live in Afghanistan. The rest

are scattered in about 20 countries---Muslim and non-Muslim. Many of his cadres

have never met him or personally seen him. They worship him like one worships a

God that one had never seen. They are prepared to die for him and the cause as

determined by him. Practically, all his operations were carried out by suicide

bombers. > >Bin Laden does not get involved in the nuts and bolts functioning

of his supporters. He is not at the head of a pyramidal hierarchical structure,

giving orders and getting them obeyed. Instead, he is at the centre of a circle,

surrounded by about 12 concentric circles, each representing one of the

organisations constituting his International Islamic Front For Jehad Against

the US and Israel. He gives them total autonomy of functioning, without

interfering in the planning and execution of the operations. > >He and the

heads of these organisations based in Kandahar jointly decide their target and

which organisation will carry out the task and how. Thereafter, he leaves it to

the chosen organisation to plan and implement. > >While, in the long term, the

neutralisation of bin Laden and his hard core in Afghanistan might make their

organisations wither way, in the short and medium term they could be expected

to hit back with ferocity. > >Strengthening of protective measures in the

countries joining the USA's counter-offensive should be a priority. Uniting the

intelligence agencies of victim-States and letting them loose amongst these

cockroaches is another. > >(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet

Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical

Studies, Chennai. E-mail: corde (AT) vsnl (DOT) com ) >

>=============================================== >God grant me serenity to

accept the things I cannot change. >Courage to change the thing I can, >and the

wisdom to know the difference. >===============================================

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