“Also, with the dream America everyone carries round in his head, America the Beautiful, Langston Hughes’s country that never existed but needed to exist –with that, like everyone else, I was thoroughly in love. But ask the rest of the world what America meant and with one voice the rest of the world answered back. Might, it means Might. A power so great that it shapes our daily lives even though it barely knows we exist, it couldn’t point to us on a map. America is no finger-snapping bopster. It’s a fist.”
- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath her Feet
We react differently to the news of death. Were rejoice when the baddy vanquished, cry when heroes die, swear revenge when innocent are killed. But, let’s face it, if the killing or death -even of the innocent- happens in a far off land to people with names we can’t pronounce we don’t give two hoots. We read about it, think about how horrible it is and move on. Ignorance is bliss, the pleasures of apathy and so on and so forth.
"They call it "bug splat", the splotch of blood, bones, and viscera that marks the site of a successful drone strike. To those manning the consoles in Nevada, it signifies "suspected militants" who have just been "neutralised"; to those on the ground, in most cases, it represents a family that has been shattered, a home destroyed." writes Muhammad Idrees Ahmad in his article Fighting Back against the CIA drone war. Imagine the helplessness, the anger, the need for vengeance when a drone attacks a village. Its amazing that someone sitting in Nevada can destroy a village near Rawalpindi, but what is even more mind blowing is: that someone in tribal Pakistan will never know who destroyed his house. This videogamization of war has real consequences.
More than anything else drone attacks have been an major issue for the Pakistanis. It kills innocent civilians, it is extra judicial in nature, it violates Pakistan’s national sovereignty and a whole range of complains that help feed the national paranoia and conspiracy theories already abundant in Pakistan. Drone attacks are not worth it. For those who view the world through the bifocality of cost benefit analysis let just say the cost outweigh the benefits.
This aggressiveness has become the public face of America. The face that the common man with common problem in Pakistan sees. When the mighty American “fist” swings it's their jaws that receive the blow. No wonder the American image is this bad. No one sees the aid money -most of it is lost in the many pockets in line between Washington and Islamabad, and then between Islamabad and the provinces. The US troop withdrawal has begun. Fear is abound in Pakistan that has inherited a war and millions of displaced and desperate people. And while it’s easy for America to pack their bags and check out it’s the Pakistanis that have to live in the mess.
And this time it’s different from the 1990’s. The geopolitical reality of the region has changed. The last time a superpower power left Afghanistan, Pakistan helped the Taliban fill the vacuum and bring stability, at what ever the cost, to the region. But after 10 years of war, and 60 years of political mismanagement and corruption Pakistans economy is hanging by the branch. Anytime the international partners and aid agencies pull the rug, Pakistan will have a real trouble in its hand. The war has left Pakistan broke, unstable and weak; nation building in Afghanistan has failed and with America itching to get on the plane back home Pakistani have been left to wonder was it really worth it? For them USA is the double faced one. The friend that acts like a foe, a friend that disrespects its national sovereignty. An ally.. ya right!!
No one knows if OBL was hidden by Pakistan or it was an intelligence failure; whatever it was its messed up the US-Pakistan relation. And if people are serious about mending the relationship, using drones that kill civilians is not the wisest way to go.
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