More Anwaar Hussain
I've posted several of Anwaar Hussain's op-ed pieces in the past, and I must tell you I find him to be a very interesting man. Here's the standard bio affixed to each of his articles:
Anwaar Hussain is a former Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter pilot. With a Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, he now resides in United Arab Emirates. He has published a series of articles in Defense Journal, South Asia Tribune and a host of other web portals. Other than international affairs, Anwaar Hussain has written extensively on the religious and political issues that plague Pakistan.
And here's his most current effort in the Pakistani Pak Tribune:
Let us turn to a survey that has been done of 100 leading American foreign policy analysts. Released by the journal Foreign Affairs on June 14th, the report is entitled "The Terrorism Index".
...Despite the U.S. President's claim that he is winning the War on Terra, some 86 percent of these specialists believe otherwise. They think that the world has grown more, not less, dangerous, and that the main reasons are war in Iraq, the detention of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, U.S. policy toward Iran and American energy policy.
Almost 80 percent of the analysts say that a widespread rejection of radical Islamic ideology is crucial if terrorism is to be eradicated, but that this goal requires "a much higher emphasis on non-military tools." Across the board, they rated Washington's diplomatic efforts as appalling, with a median score of 1.8 out of 10. The Department of Homeland Security was rated for effectiveness at only 2.9 out of 10.
...In plain English, what these experts are saying is that after five years of the War on Terra, the world is much more insecure than it ever was, and that the war itself is a ringing failure. Period.
...What the experts did not say, was said by the Washington-based Pew Research Center's poll of almost 17,000 people from Britain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United States. The Foreign Affairs Journal report comes on the heels of this Pew poll, and the combined reading puts to rest any doubt that one may have regarding the complete collapse of the War on Terra.
According to the global poll, conducted between March and May, Pew found that President George Bush's six years in office have so battered the image of the United States that people worldwide see Washington as a bigger threat to world peace than Tehran. This despite the fact that throughout the period the poll was conducted, the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, intensified by hard-line comments from its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was repeatedly in the news.
...For the first time in the past five years, two influential reports are simultaneously speaking straight and to the point. No six-of-one-and-half-a-dozen-of-another language. The message is clear: The Texan's War on Terra is a miserable disaster.
However, there is a silver lining for the man from Crawford in the Pew poll. Majorities in two countries, India and Nigeria, have expressed confidence in him.
With a third reelection impossible for Bush, and the world wishing to begin its own "War on Terra" against him and his gang, Bush had better begin weighing his chances for the top slot in one of these countries (hint: Nigeria has proven oil reserves of 36 billion barrels). [Emphasis added]
How odd it is that these two reports have not really received any attention by the American press. Could it be that this would be considered poor form during an election year? Or is it that the conclusions of those reports are so obvious that the press just assumes everyone here knows about them. Well, if the latter, color me embarrassed. I didn't know just how deeply disasterous the current regime has been, although I certainly suspected it.
And how amazing Mr. Hussain is. Well-done snark in one's first language is tough enough. He has managed to succeed in his second (or third) language.
Clearly Watching America is one of the real gold mines for information on the internets.
Anwaar Hussain is a former Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter pilot. With a Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, he now resides in United Arab Emirates. He has published a series of articles in Defense Journal, South Asia Tribune and a host of other web portals. Other than international affairs, Anwaar Hussain has written extensively on the religious and political issues that plague Pakistan.
And here's his most current effort in the Pakistani Pak Tribune:
Let us turn to a survey that has been done of 100 leading American foreign policy analysts. Released by the journal Foreign Affairs on June 14th, the report is entitled "The Terrorism Index".
...Despite the U.S. President's claim that he is winning the War on Terra, some 86 percent of these specialists believe otherwise. They think that the world has grown more, not less, dangerous, and that the main reasons are war in Iraq, the detention of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, U.S. policy toward Iran and American energy policy.
Almost 80 percent of the analysts say that a widespread rejection of radical Islamic ideology is crucial if terrorism is to be eradicated, but that this goal requires "a much higher emphasis on non-military tools." Across the board, they rated Washington's diplomatic efforts as appalling, with a median score of 1.8 out of 10. The Department of Homeland Security was rated for effectiveness at only 2.9 out of 10.
...In plain English, what these experts are saying is that after five years of the War on Terra, the world is much more insecure than it ever was, and that the war itself is a ringing failure. Period.
...What the experts did not say, was said by the Washington-based Pew Research Center's poll of almost 17,000 people from Britain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United States. The Foreign Affairs Journal report comes on the heels of this Pew poll, and the combined reading puts to rest any doubt that one may have regarding the complete collapse of the War on Terra.
According to the global poll, conducted between March and May, Pew found that President George Bush's six years in office have so battered the image of the United States that people worldwide see Washington as a bigger threat to world peace than Tehran. This despite the fact that throughout the period the poll was conducted, the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, intensified by hard-line comments from its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was repeatedly in the news.
...For the first time in the past five years, two influential reports are simultaneously speaking straight and to the point. No six-of-one-and-half-a-dozen-of-another language. The message is clear: The Texan's War on Terra is a miserable disaster.
However, there is a silver lining for the man from Crawford in the Pew poll. Majorities in two countries, India and Nigeria, have expressed confidence in him.
With a third reelection impossible for Bush, and the world wishing to begin its own "War on Terra" against him and his gang, Bush had better begin weighing his chances for the top slot in one of these countries (hint: Nigeria has proven oil reserves of 36 billion barrels). [Emphasis added]
How odd it is that these two reports have not really received any attention by the American press. Could it be that this would be considered poor form during an election year? Or is it that the conclusions of those reports are so obvious that the press just assumes everyone here knows about them. Well, if the latter, color me embarrassed. I didn't know just how deeply disasterous the current regime has been, although I certainly suspected it.
And how amazing Mr. Hussain is. Well-done snark in one's first language is tough enough. He has managed to succeed in his second (or third) language.
Clearly Watching America is one of the real gold mines for information on the internets.
posted by Diane at 7:48 AM
1 Comments:
A wonderful column. I have only one quibble - I don't think the War on Terror was ever meant to be real. It was 1) an excuse to eliminate civil liberties at home, 2) a way to intimidate the media and other politicians to quash political dissent, and 3) to funnel money to Bush admin cronies.
That Bush in particular could dress up in uniforms and strut around like a bantam rooster, bullying all in sight, was icing on the cake for them.
Post a Comment
<< Home