Rape vs Seduction

On August 15 Iraqis endured a record forty-two ‘terrorist’ attacks within a span of a few hours. On that day, the deadliest of the year, nearly a hundred innocent people lost their lives and three times as many were seriously wounded. As I read the news story, a simple question crops up in my mind. In the eight years since they invaded Iraq, what mission have the all-powerful Americans accomplished? Several hundred American soldiers and mercenaries who flew in to shoot have returned home in coffins. Several thousand Iraqis including women and children have been carried to their graves long before their time. Thousands of buildings have been razed to the ground. A once strong oil business is limping. The Americans are said to have burned over $250 billion.

The objective of this holy war, as announced George W Bush, was to make Iraq safe for democracy. If this was indeed the objective, the eight-year adventure has been a disaster. Iraq is no safer in 2011 than in 2003. Certainly not for democracy.

The story of Afghanistan is no different. There is the additional complication there of a sulking Pakistan, the most reluctant but key ally in America’s so-called war on terrorism.

If the American objective in going to war is to create jobs in the US by promoting their arms and ancillary industries, let me pat them on their back for a job well done. They need a place far away from home for the fireworks. Iraq is as good as any. When they get bored with one stage, they can move the show to another stage. Libya and Syria appear to beckon. There will, of course, be some collateral damage; but that is inevitable whether you build a dam or drop a bomb. This shouldn’t hold anyone back because human fodder is plentiful.

If, however, the true American objective is to grow democracy and uphold the dignity of human lives, war appears to be as inappropriate a tool as a butcher’s knife in a neurosurgeon’s hands.

But why criticise the Americans? If we look at ourselves in the mirror, we see the same animal, although on a much smaller scale. When we have power, we want to use coercion to get things done. Just like animals. It doesn’t matter whether we are individuals, organisations, or countries. We learn nothing from history. We believe our use of force is just; it’s different from the way all those other foolish countries, companies, and individuals use power to suppress dissent and to carry on their agenda.

Of course brute power works. Rape is the best example of this win-lose approach to the use of one’s raw power. The trouble is that it is inherently unjust. Therefore one also has to be constantly prepared for retaliation. One doesn’t know when and how it comes. But it will come. Isn’t seduction a much better option even when one has the power to force oneself on others? The flip side is that it takes long. It can test your patience. You may have to think out of the box. It is tough. But isn’t a win-win solution superior to a win-lose solution in the long run?