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If Indeed This is a New Kind of War, Let the Innocents Live
By Altaf Husain
05/11/2001
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, we have heard the constant refrain that in responding to the attackers, the U.S. and the coalition members would be embarking on a "new kind of war". The death toll keeps rising, having passed 5,000 and in some really depressing way, we can be sure that we may never know how many people really perished that bright Tuesday morning. We have heard of some exact figures from companies like Cantor Fitzgerald who say they cannot account for 700 of their employees. Other companies and major firms have also submitted their lists of employees. But what no one will ever talk about are the numbers of blue collar workers - like the janitorial staff, among whom (for sure) were newly arrived immigrants, some without the requisite paperwork to live and work legally in the United States. So nearly eight weeks after the attacks, we are sure that many innocent lives were lost, some we know about…others we may never know about.
On October 7, 2001, we ushered in the inevitable U.S. response to the attacks, namely an undeclared war on Afghanistan. Now almost a month later, we have witnessed the decimation of much of the already devastated infrastructure of Afghanistan. In the weeks preceding the bombings of Afghanistan, the U.S. mobilized troops, tanks and war-time technologies claiming to be preparing for a new kind of war. According to the White House, as of October 1, 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom amassed a build-up of 29,000 military personnel, 349 military aircraft, 1 Amphibious Ready Group, and 2 Carrier Battle Groups currently deployed in the war theater. We are supposed to be going after "the evil ones" President Bush repeatedly assured us and the attacks would be targeted so as to "smoke out" the "evil ones" from their caves.
But if this is indeed a new kind of war, then we have to rethink the strategies that our government is using to formulate its response. Without exaggeration, it is becoming increasingly clear from eyewitness accounts of Afghan civilians, international aid workers, and United Nations personnel that the new kind of war is not actually all that new. The U.S.-led coalition has done nothing more than to resort to using conventional wartime strategies.
We can be sure that innocent Afghans will lose - and have already lost - their lives on many fronts. First, there are the victims of the "collateral damage". Afghan men, women, and children, with no connection to the war have been killed, maimed or injured by the not-so smart "smart bombs", which were meant to root out "the evil ones." A widespread report last week documented the death of an entire Afghan family of six - father and five children - in the blink of an eye when a 500lb bomb fell on their mud hut. In our entrenched blindness to loss of life and our even more entrenched arrogance, much of the Western media have reported this incident adding the clause that "it cannot be independently verified."
Second, there are the victims of valor - volunteer aid workers from Afghanistan and around the world who have been killed or injured in the process of distributing food, clothing and medicine to the fleeing refugees. A Red Cross building was hit twice. Most of the food and medicine that is being stored in such buildings is not being accessed because the workers fear for their lives or bombs have already destroyed the stored supplies.
Third, there are the victims of starvation, and disease. Even before the October 7 attacks on Afghanistan, the world was witnessing a humanitarian crisis of untold proportions in this war-torn country. After almost 22 years of war and strife, millions of Afghans have been living as refugees in bordering nations such as Iran and Pakistan. Those who remained in Afghanistan suffered no better fate as continuing drought and an almost non-existent economy dealt a severe blow to the people's ability to provide for their own well-being. In our less than altruistic attempt to help the Afghans, the U.S. dropped food packets which by perhaps the most ill-conceived "coincidence" were the same color as the cluster bombs. With hundreds of un-detonated bombs on the ground, notwithstanding the already existing thousands of active landmines, the people of Afghanistan are all certain that they will die even if they simply walk around in search of food or medicine.
So the question we are left to ask ourselves is whether this really is a new kind of war? If so, what is so new about it? The attacks on September 11 killed, maimed, and injured over 5,000 innocent people. The U.S.-led response will result in more than 5,000 lives being lost in Afghanistan from any of the three categories of casualties outlined above.
As the bombings drag on, women, children and the elderly in Afghanistan will be the real victims through death, starvation and disease. We will have to implore our government to re-think this new kind of war. No one will disagree that the war on terrorism must continue and with a sense of urgency. Yet, none of us can justify the mounting death toll of innocent civilians in Afghanistan. Now in it's fifth week, the attack on Afghanistan has yielded no reported progress either in terms of capturing or destroying the main target…the "evil doer". On the other hand, innocent Afghans continue to pay the price for attacks on the U.S., which they were neither aware of nor condoned - let alone helped to plan.
Suggestions from various well-meaning factions that the U.S. stop the bombing during Ramadan have been flatly rejected by the Bush administration. In reality, it makes little difference to the innocent Afghani people if the U.S. stops bombing during Ramadan if the implication is that after the day of
'eid ul Fitr the bombings will resume. The real goal for all of us should be to call for the new kind of war to be fought with new strategies that are reflective of the current milieu. Individuals, not even of Afghan origin, have attacked the U.S. and now the entire nation of Afghanistan pays the price. There are international instruments of law that can and should be availed in our pursuit of the individuals who attacked us. The real, lasting relief to the innocents of Afghanistan will be to hear that the world community has decided to invest time, energy, and finances to help rebuild their war-torn country. What an
'eid present that would be!
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