A Saga of Hypocrisy-Part I: The Middle East and the West

A Saga of Hypocrisy-Part I: The Middle East and the West

Ever since the discovery of vast reserves of crude oil in the Middle East, it has become a hotspot for intervention, conflict, and complex geopolitics. The Western Powers, such as UK, France, and especially the US, along with the not-so-western Russia, have been ceaselessly embroiled in Middle Eastern affairs for more than a century today.

In the immediate years following the end of the Second World War, the major colonial powers of  UK and France found themselves unable to sustain their colonial ambitions, having drained all their resources and finances in the war. And so began the hasty withdrawal of the British and French from their numerous colonies and protectorates and the creation of numerous independent states. Such was the case in the Middle East as well, where the British and French both had their respective territories. However, despite there being almost no ethnic and cultural diversity in the region, a quagmire of several little sovereign states was what remained, with straight lines drawn as 'boundaries'. The criterion? Whether the territories had been ruled by the British or the French, with Saudi Arabia being an exception, a result of a deal made by the British to a local warlord in return for his aid in defeating Ottoman Turkey.

Subsequently, all the conflicts between the various states of the Middle East are a result of the irresponsible, but deliberate, actions of the British and the French. But these conflicts were aggravated by the intervention of the US and the USSR (followed by the Russian Federation), turning the region into a proxy battleground for the two most powerful political and military powers of this world. I shall proceed to explore the various issues prevalent in the Middle East today, and highlight the complicity of the Western superpowers in the systematic destruction of the Middle East.

1. Syria-

In Syria, a civil war has been raging since 2011. This violent and protracted conflict has many belligerents involved, mainly the government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-primarily a group of Kurdish and Arab militias, such as the Kurdish People's Protection Forces (YPG)-the Free Syrian Army (FSA)-a loose coalition of various forces of dissidents from the Syrian Army-and terrorist groups such as the ISIS, and al-Qaeda affiliates such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The roots of this conflict lie in the peaceful 'Arab Spring' protests against the authoritarian Bashar al-Assad, demanding democracy. The protesters took up arms on facing exceptional police and military brutality, leading to open conflict. This has been one of the most protracted and violent conflicts in recent history, with around 367,965-560,000 casualties. 

The main reason for the unprecedented brutality of the Syrian conflict is the fact that the two global rival superpowers, USA and Russia, and the two regional rival superpowers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have their own direct vested interests in the region. When a region becomes a battleground for a proxy war between global or regional rivals, the severity of the conflict increases exponentially. The US has supported and trained rebel forces since the beginning of the conflict, which compelled Russia to intervene, backing the government, to protect its interests in the Middle East. While most Middle Eastern countries are aligned to the West, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, and Israel, Russia has only two major allies, i.e. Syria and Iran. 

The Assad regime has been implicated in numerous human rights violations in the conflict, due to its deliberate targeting of civilians and non-military targets, and its repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians. Therefore, Russian support for Bashar al-Assad is obviously unjustifiable, and has repeatedly been condemned by the international community, and unsurprisingly, by the US. However, when Nikki Haley speaks of human rights in the Security Council, or an American diplomat or Trump himself speaks of 'world peace', 'human rights', 'international law', 'democracy' etc, one cannot help but remember the extensive civilian casualties inflicted in Syria due to airstrikes by the US-led coalition, or the repetitive support for autocrats by the US where it deemed fit (Pinochet in Chile, the monarchy in Saudi Arabia, Abdel Fateh al-Sisi in Egypt, and countless others), or the endless violations of international law and human rights by the US (Guantanamo Bay, the apparent 'War on Terror', the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the imposition of sanctions on Iran by the US and its withdrawal from the JCPOA, and so on and so forth). The 7000+ civilian casualties of US airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in 2017 are not to be forgotten while condemning Russia's bombing of Allepo. 

The primary reason for the hundreds of thousands of dead, the thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the cities and villages that now lie in ruins, is that USA and Russia have turned this country into a battleground for their own endless power struggle, making sure that their respective puppets are always up and fighting. If they get thrown down, they are picked up again and pushed back into the ring. Failure is not an option. But nobody enlightened the Syrians sitting at home, right in between the charging behemoths. 

2. Terrorism-

Terrorism has plagued the Middle East for decades. The ISIS has a significant foothold in Iraq and Syria, while al-Qaeda and its various offshoots are present in Syria, Yemen, and various North African countries. Hamas is active in the Gaza Strip, while Hezbollah is active in Yemen, Lebanon, and Palestine. All these are Islamic extremist organisations, and the Western Powers and their allies can be held directly responsible for their existence today. 

During the Soviet-Afghan War, the US actively funded and supported the mujahideen who were fighting against the Soviets and the Afghan Communist Government. They were successful in effectively ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, with chaos ensuing in the country, that can be seen even today. After the withdrawal of the Soviets, these mujahideen fighters continued their jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Bosnia, and Chechnya, among others. They now organised themselves into distinct groups, initially the Taliban and al-Qaeda. As the Taliban expanded operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, so did the al-Qaeda, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and North Africa. A fallout between Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaeda commander in Iraq, led to Zarqawi's split from al-Qaeda, to form the Islamic State of Iraq, later to become the notorious ISIS. 

But what can we infer from this? Only that this was a situation created by the West that spiralled out of control due to the myopic and irresponsible handling of the situation. While the US gave millions of dollars to the mujahideen through Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), it failed to realise the consequences of its actions in the long-term, blindly doing whatever could be done to hinder Soviet interests. The fighters that made up al-Qaeda were trained by the ISI under the auspices of the CIA. The CIA clearly did not realise the consequences of abruptly cutting off support to the mujahideen in 1989, and the fact that the Islamists may have ambitions other than merely establishing an Islamist regime in Afghanistan. 

Israel, the lapdog of the US, can indirectly be held responsible for the existence of Hamas and Hezbollah. Its indelicate actions in Lebanon and Palestine gave a motive to the frustrated populations of the occupied territories, to take up arms against the occupiers, as well as compelling these organisations, along with al-Qaeda and ISIS, to take up an actively anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist agenda, effectively labelling all Jews as enemies of Islam, due to Israel's reckless actions. 

And the 'War on Terror' has undoubtedly done more harm than good. True, it has helped fight al-Qaeda, Osama bin-Laden has been killed, but at what cost? Afghanistan lies in ruins, devastated by the endless conflict between the government, the Taliban, and American forces present there. Iraq lies in ruins, Syria's territories formerly occupied by ISIS lie in ruins, Yemen lies in ruins, Libya lies in ruins, along with Somalia and much of North Africa. The strategy followed by the US in combatting its adversaries is exceptionally unsustainable. Wherever the US spots a hostile presence, the US comes, the US sees, the US conquers, and finally, the US leaves. Without any uneasiness for what it leaves behind. So what does it leave behind? It leaves behind unstable governments, ruined cities, starving populations, and a power vacuum for any extremist group to fill. In Iraq, when Saddam Hussein was in power, the al-Qaeda had a minimal, insignificant presence. After the Gulf War (2003) and the removal of Saddam Hussein, there existed a wholly unstable government, with ISIS and al-Qaeda swarming in Iraq in a trice, like flies on a corpse. We can see, even today, the presence of the ISIS in Iraq, and its spillover in Syria. 

And let's not forget the double standards of the US when it comes to 'human rights'. Sure, we all know about the gruesome and countless human rights violations by terrorists. But what of those by the Americans? In the aftermath of the 9/11, the CIA and the US army began aggressively picking up individuals from all over the world, from Iraq to Pakistan to the US itself. Individuals who were detained on the basis of 'suspicion' regarding their collaboration with al-Qaeda. No evidence was produced, no trials took place. They were all rounded up in the notorious Guantanamo Bay, a US military base in Cuba, and in 'Black Sites' in confidential locations all over the globe. This detention which denies the detainees a fair trial and legal representation, and even contact with their families constitutes human rights violation. What followed was even worse. Prisoners were (and still are) tortured physically and psychologically, and their religious beliefs mocked. There have been instances of electrocution, waterboarding, solitary confinement in the absence of light in constricted areas, beatings, mock executions, and countless other forms of torture, constituting not only of human rights violations, but also of war crimes and international law violations. 

Therefore, it would be entirely justified to say that the actions of the US in the course of its so-called 'War on Terror' are a form of terrorism in itself. After all, terrorism is not just an extremist wearing a bomb vest, but any action that involves the use of physical force to impose one's will on another.