The fragility of freedom

Democracy seems to over step its own generosity when those who have benefited from its freedom for perhaps too long, criticise it expressing distrust and even aversion. Such critics could never have experienced repression.

11th September, 2001. The eighth commemoration. Yet we still hear the incredible complot theories. Despite the deaths, despite the incoherence of such a mad and insensitive hypothesis. Among the thousands who worked in the Twin Towers there were over 87 nationalities probably representing all existing religions.
Monuments of democracy. The ideal target for the mad who consider freedom to be a threat to their senseless cause.

Why ever would the U.S administration stab itself in the heart so brutally to gain a totally unnecessary pretext, first to liberate Afghanistan from tyrannical, Islamic fundamentalists? If anything the West had already left this far too late. Had they responded when Commander Massoud, then the Defence Minister of Afghanistan, asked for European help, explaining the danger and his conviction that the fight against the Taliban was not a national confrontation, it was part of an international war, a monstrously deformed jihad, perhaps history would have been vastly different.

The consequences of such inertia...

If Nato had helped Massoud and his moudjahidin to prevent the Taliban from seizing Kabul and total control of Afghanistan, thus depriving them of their first major victory, they would probably have been discouraged, disarmed and disbanded. This, also when most of the afghan population was still united against them.
By virtually allowing them their first, real success, they were ready to take on the entire world, starting with the World Trade Centre itself.

They knew Massoud had been to Europe to try to persuade the authorities of the necessity to help the Afghans. This was also why he was assassinated at that time, two days before the Twin Towers were hit.

Massoud was a much loved and respected Afghan leader, for good reasons. Had the West (Europe) heeded his call, maybe he would still be alive today to help realise his dream for Afghanistan. Maybe the World Trade Centre would still grace New York and the thousands of various nationalities would still be employed there. The Buddhas of Bamyan, Afghanistan's fabulous 6th century historical monuments, the largest of their kind in the world, would still be intact.
And despite whatever sentiments his father may have had by allowing Saddam Hussein to continue his murderous reign after the Kuwaiti war, perhaps George W. Bush would never have felt the urgent need, rightly or wrongly, to 'liberate' Iraq.

The vicious and odious post election backlash in both countries by Islamic extremists bent on indiscriminately punishing the civilians for choosing democracy, is also part of the tidal wave provoked by the Taliban's 'success' in Afghanistan, and the subsequent 'successes' of al-Qaida elsewhere. The enemy is the same, and so is the war.

It's a war to defend democracy. Because when democracy is in danger anywhere, in principle it's in danger everywhere.

Naturally its defence must also be engaged by those who claim to be democratically elected. They too must ensure that the principles which their people and others are defending at such great cost, are also fully adhered to and respected administratively, without any toleration of doubt.

Regardless of all sentiment however, regardless of political and religious considerations, perhaps it's best to treat history, the infinite, intricate web of circumstances, of causes and effects, with philosophy. For it constantly underlines that however gloriously positive or tragically negative the consequences, there's always a reason for everything.

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Text © Mirino (PW). Image with thanks to Google. September, 2009