In his article “A Religion of Peace” in the Times of India on December 12, 2008 Maulana Wahiduddin Khan wrote that the United States met the challenge of Communist Russia on ideological level while it made a mistake by confronting Saddam Hussein with military action. While the United States, in his words, succeeded in curbing the ‘menace’ of Communist Russia it failed to cope with Iraq.
Apparently the argument sounds convincing, but the history is not so simple as it is being made out by the Maulana. The United States did not succeed in meeting the challenge of the Communist Russia on ideological plain. In contrast it confronted the Communist challenge in many countries militarily. The death of millions of people in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and many Latin American countries stands as testimony to this fact. The truth is that the Americans did not directly confront the then Soviet Union because of its military might. Had Soviet Union been a small and weak nation it would have been attacked much earlier. So the United States chose to attack the small countries struggling to become independent with the help of Communist Russia or China. Still, in early 1960s Soviet Union and America came face to face in Cuba. The two Super Powers were almost on the verge of war in what is called the famous missile crisis. Had better sense not prevailed the earth would have witnessed the World War-III 45 years ago.
The United States should be blamed for most of the acts of terrorism in the world, not only in Iraq, but also Afghanistan, Pakistan, several African and Latin American countries. It remains a mystery as to why the Maulana was so soft towards the United States, the root cause of terrorism in the world.
In fact America has nothing to do with the collapse of godless Russian Communism. When the Russian tanks invaded Hungary, East Germany and Czechoslovakia in 1960s, the United States was nowhere in the scene because it was afraid of taking the Soviet Union head on. In contrast the Americans did not hesitate in wreaking havoc in the weak and far off Vietnam and Korea, though in these two countries too Communist Russia and China backed the anti-US struggle.
The American strategy of confronting Communism only helped consolidate this ideology in the entire Indo-China, Latin America, parts of Africa etc. At many places in 1960s and 1970s terrorism grew because of the ruthless way in which the western capitalist and imperialist forces dealt with the people’s struggle for independence. This attitude of the US pushed many of the people’s movement into the Soviet camp, even though in many cases they were not ideologically Communists.
Who is not aware of the murder and overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende by the CIA on September 11, 1973. Americans played a key role in the murder of many Latin American Presidents, such as in Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama etc. Recently one of the American leaders went on record to support the assassination of the present Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez. Thus by its actions the United States only consolidated the Communists rather than it fought them ideologically.
The Soviet Union collapsed in late 1980s because of its prolonged war in Afghanistan, with which the United States had very little to do. In the entire eight years of war in Afghanistan between 1980 and 1988 not a single American lost his life yet it takes the credit for the dismemberment of the Soviet Union. The US just gave some material help – and that too very late in the war – only because the Afghan Mujahideen stood like a rock against the Soviet expansion. Throughout the eight years struggle the Americans continued to deny that they were playing any role in the Afghan war. There was pressure on the American establishment as only a few years back, that is in mid-1975, they had made a humiliating retreat from Vietnam where they had lost 58,000 soldiers.
In contrast the United States played a very important role in throwing Afghanistan into turmoil after the Soviet withdrawal. It got killed the then Pakistani President General Zia-ul-Haq. Yet today the CIA paid historians, journalists and public opinion-makers do not get tired in saying that it was the Americans who ensured the defeat of the Communist Soviet Union.
It seems that the Maulana, like many others, has been carried away by the baseless American or say western propaganda. The truth is that the United States is the sources of most of the troubles. It has deliberately fuelled terrorism all over the world, and now, that it is facing the unpleasant music it is seeking help of other countries. The Americans must not forget the maxim: As you sow so you reap.
The sad aspect of the article is its poor grasp of history. If our scholars cannot keep a proper track of the current history how can we rely on their writings on the past.