The only thing that the United States has learnt from historyis that it is incapable of learning any lesson from history!

All kinds of terrorism are equally condemnable, but Islamic terrorism is global and a threat to humanity, and human civilisation, while other terrorisms are localised ones like LTTE terrorism, Irish terrorism or ULFA terrorism, which are not a threat to the rest of the world. A clear distinction should be hence made between Global Islamic terrorism and localised terrorisms.

Is President Bush opposed to terrorism per se, or only opposed to terrorism against the United States? If President Bush is opposed to terrorism per se, is it not ridiculous that he should seek the help of Pakistan, the father of Islamic terrorism and the Taliban movement, and the sponsor of Islamic terrorism in Kashmir, to root out global terrorism in the world?

Pakistan _ An Unreliable Ally

Is President Bush not aware that the Islamic terrorism against the United States on 11th September has resulted in the loss of about 6,000 lives, while Islamic terrorism against Kashmir has resulted in the loss of over 80,000 lives in the last two decades? According to President Bush, the former is horrific, while the latter is only unfortunate!

According to President Bush, Islamic terrorism against the United States calls for a global war by a world-wide coalition, as it is a crime against humanity, while the Islamic terrorism against Kashmir calls for only restraint and patience. By implication, President Bush considers that the atrocities committed in Kashmr by Islamic terrorists in the last two decades are not crimes against humanity! Are not the Kashmiris human beings?

According to President Bush, America can bomb Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Korea and Yugoslavia with impunity, but India should not cross the LOC (although Pakistani terrorists are crossing the LOC every day for the last three decades and indulging in terrorist activities in Kashmir) and destroy terrorist camps in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir. Travesty of justice indeed!

According to President Bush, the perpetrators of Islamic terrorism against the United States deserve severe and exemplary punishment, while Pakistan, the perpetrator of Islamic terrorism against Kashmir in the last two decades, deserves a massive financial bailout, lifting of sanctions imposed on it earlier, grant of IMF loans, and a `Frontline state' status, for protecting and promoting the interests of the United States! Is this not most ridiculous?

When Friends Turn Hostile

The United States had earlier supported Iraq with massive financial and military aid in its fight against Iran, and Iraq later on turned on the United States. The United States, had supported the Talibans in their fight against the then USSR, and the Talibans have now turned against the United States. The United States have now offered massive financial and military aid to Pakistan for help rendered by the latter to fight the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's network of terrorists in Afghanistan. It will not be long before Pakistan, possessing Islamic nuclear bombs, turns against the United States. The entire people of Pakistan, with a few exceptions, are now very anti-American. President Pervez Musharaff himself will be thrown out of power sooner or later by the hardline Islamic fundamentalists and Pakistani Taliban, who will then form the next government in Pakistan. This government will then declare `jihad' against the United States. India will then become a frontline state for the United States!

History will repeat itself. The only thing that the United States has learnt from history is that it is incapable of learning any lesson from history!

Mr. S. S. Bankeshwar is a freelance writer and a member of the Advisory Board of Freedom First.