If I were a tank, men would bite dogs

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by Anwaar Hussain

dogbite.jpg

There are main battle tanks, there are fish tanks and there are simple water tanks. Then there are ‘Think Tanks’.

Odd as it may seem, Think Tanks are tanks that think. And just as when a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news, their ‘thinking’, whenever they do that, makes it straight to the main stream media. Ours, on the other hand, remains confined to free google blogspots.

So when in a recent study, the Oxford Research Group Think Tank said the “war on terror” has been a disaster, it was a man biting the dog but when we poor bloggers cried ourselves hoarse to, “bring out the nails to hammer into the coffin of the Empire dream because the Empire seekers tried to defeat with brawn what should have been conquered with brain”, it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank warns against attacking Iran it was a man biting the dog but when we said, “America’s invasion of Iran may finally prove to be that last straw on the camel’s back in the unraveling of that great country a la the Soviet break-up post Afghanistan invasion” and that “it is not wise to deliberately alienate 1.3 billion Muslims and act as lackey for the miniscule Zionists who are the only ones to benefit from the Iran misadventure while the Americans will foot the bill and take the brunt of Muslims’ wrath” it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank asks for major changes to West’s military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan because the two places had become jihadist training grounds, it was a man biting the dog but when we said, ” from Sudan to Pakistan and beyond, the ranks of America haters now stand swollen like never before. The recruiters for suicide brigades now drool non-stop with glee at the long cues of raging applicants outside their murky caves”, it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank said,” every aspect of the so-called war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan has been counterproductive” it was a man biting the dog but when we said,” for the time being however, riding on the wings of terra, the Americans are being sleep marched into history’s hall of shame. But when they do finally wake up, they are sure to ask themselves, in a deafening global chorus of error, error, error, the fateful question, ‘What have we done?’ ” it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank said that “From the loss of civilian life through to mass detentions without trial, in short, it has been a disaster,” it was a man biting the dog but when we said way back in March,” post-invasion excess deaths in occupied Iraq now totals 1 million” and, ” when Bush hastily declared mission accomplished, he stated that “Saddam’s torture chambers are closed.” He did not tell the world that he had already opened his own…the first one at Bagram” it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank talked of secret detentions and renditions, it was a man biting the dog, but when we said, “America’s torture trail at the present weaves across the globe. America has now become the biggest patron of torture by proxy in the history of planet earth” it was dog biting the man.

When the Tank said,” Western countries simply have to face up to the dangerous mistakes of the past six years and recognize the need for new policies” it was a man biting the dog but when we said,” That this bloody US occupation practically guarantees that Americans and their sidekicks will continue to be targets of violence wherever and whenever possible and that the soon-to-come Iran misadventure is most likely to swell the ranks of these very ‘terrorists’ like never before” it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank said,” Going to war with Iran will make matters far worse, playing directly into the hands of extreme elements and adding greatly to the violence across the region” it was a man biting the dog but when we said that there is a,” likelihood of hundreds of thousands of Taliban types who will come screaming banshee-like down the surrounding mountains to take revenge on unfortunate American troops bogged down in Iran” it was a dog biting the man.

When the Tank wants the West to take heed, the main stream media sits up and takes notice because it is a man biting a dog but when we shrieked from the rooftops for years that America has to realize, “that many other empires have had their day in the sun as superpowers before which others trembled. But today their crumbling ruins stand witnesses in mute silence to the fact that none were sovereign over the kingdoms of men for infinite times. All came to sad, inglorious ends” it was a dog biting the man.

If I were a Tank, every time I would think, men would bite dogs.

Copyrights : Anwaar Hussain



Comments

12 Responses to “If I were a tank, men would bite dogs”

  1. anticant on October 8th, 2007 6:32 pm

    Think Tanks are only as good as the brains inside them. These are usually mediocre.

  2. Jane on October 8th, 2007 7:00 pm

    Well, stated as usual. I’m now in Kuwait, about to go to Fallugha and Al Asad. let’s hope the “think Tank” in Bush’s brain doesn’t attack Iran until I get back to Berkeley — or never would be good.

    Jane

  3. Jason Miller on October 8th, 2007 7:34 pm

    Hi Anwaar,

    Another fine piece! I offer you my thanks….

    http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=360

    Best,

    J

  4. dt1 on October 8th, 2007 9:51 pm

    I know of nothing good that ever came out of a “think tank”…The very word brings to mind the ghola-spawning vats of Herbert’s Dune books.
    No one assails these treasonous,warmongering Neocon bastards quite as well as you do,Anwaar.
    Glad to see your pen as sharp as ever,my friend.
    Respectfuly Yours;
    CH

  5. Rowan on October 8th, 2007 10:31 pm

    Hi Anwaar,

    I have republished your article at Uncommon Thought and at CJO’s Avenger.

    http://www.uncommonthought.com....._a_tan.php

    http://www.bestcyrano.org/avenger212/?m=20071008

    Thank you for your insights and perspective.

    Regards,
    Rowan

  6. Alice on October 9th, 2007 12:23 am

    Anwaar–

    Thanks for forwarding your essay–it’s now posted at:
    http://baltimorechronicle.com/.....sain.shtml

    Agree with you 100% re: our ‘mainstream media’; just today one of our readers was bitterly complaining that the entire Sunday issue of the Washington Post read like it was engendered by (Republican-leaning) think tanks. We received a letter from a reader in Hawaii today–also just posted:

    Mainstream Media No Longer Mainstream

    Editor:

    Hello, just found your web site yesterday. I was struck by your observation that the mainstream media is increasingly out of touch not just with America but the world community. The mainstream media is no longer “mainstream.” It hasn’t kept up with changing times. Seems to me the so-called alternative media have become the new mainstream media.

    Aloha,

    Glad to publish you again! Indeed, we have an uphill battle, but we have to push back hard against what looks to be a juggernaut toward another war. It’s like an infectious disease…..

    P.S.=Be sure to read the “Technology Gap” story circulated via our newslist today.

  7. jj on October 9th, 2007 2:33 am

    every time we vote or pay taxes and tell ourselves we’re participating in something good or important we’re taking our eye off the ball.

    And when we buy something we don’t need or live in a house that doesn’t need to be so comfortable it shows that we’re not ready to do what would be necessary to put an end to this non-sense, we feel we’d be fools to give this up knowing that the others won’t. So we take the bribes offered by the powers that be. And people starve and suffer where we can’t see them.

    It’s not that there’s nothing we can do, it’s that we’re not willing to risk a lot in a cause that will probably lose. And it will lose because we won’t take the risk.

    No wonder the pharmaceutical companies are doing so well.

  8. Jonathan Stephenson on October 9th, 2007 10:22 am

    It seems that US Citizens are just talk, and the powers that be are well aware of this, my posting your great writing Anwaar along with articles from around the world all it has done is shortened my list of e-mail recipients, even my own family, who knows the truth, is now cutting me off! We really have become the nation of the 3 monkey’s, the ones with the hands over their eyes, over their ears, and over their mouths, possibly the stupidist and lasiest people on earth! My nation now disgusts me, I only wish it did the same to other US Citizens en masse!

  9. Hanna on October 9th, 2007 9:21 pm

    Hi Anwaar !

    Sorry not to have gotten to this earlier! As usual…..this is a wonderful, hard-hitting piece leading the reader through the only sane and objective thought processes, with the only sane conclusion. Which is why American readers will never fathom it. You have no idea, how degraded the US citizenry has become. It has been a decades long process, and today they will accept any degradation without questioning it, because they have been indoctrinated from the cradle to accept authority without question. Doesn’t matter how laughable the orders and regulations are….there a certain buzz words used, which triggers enculturated reactions. I sent around a copy of Citizens for Legitimate Government yesterday, in which the subject was that the USA was fuming mad, that Iran was meddling in Iraq! I found it absolutely hilarious for the US to accuse ANYBODY of meddling in Iraq, and pointed out, that if this had distribution outside the US it would trigger an avalanche of cartoons and jokes - it was absolutely insane and beyond comprehension that the USA would make such an ass of themselves. Needless to say - nobody picked up on it….what does that tell you! And the people I sent it to are what I call “enlightened” - see the level of brain function? And that was just a small thing - imagine……..actually, I should have said “the mindset”!

    I have watched and studied the level of intellectual functionality, ability to constructive and deductive thought, pride, self-confidence for a while now - it is virtually non-existent in the broader masses. SO if you base your conclusions on the Americans rising up, or even feeling any national/individual remorse - well it will never happen in our lifetime, nor in our childrens’.

    TT’s conclusion that policies and brutality have increased volunteers and swollen the ranks of “terists” - ask yourself, they (US admin. thugs and loons) cannot possibly ALL be of mental deficits. What does their starting a “war on terra” tell you? Start a war on a concept? Hadley’s averring: We create reality! Do you think that came out of nowhere! I have concluded, that in order to have an ongoing “war on terra”, they need to create terrorists around the globe, so they have a war to fight. And isn’t it swimmingly ideal, that they start it on over a billion of the world’s people, spread in many countries - having already claimed that they have a right to attack ANY country harbouring, sheltering, aiding and abetting terrorists…..that surely broadens the battlefield very conveniently. They have thereby reserved their rights to attack any country in the world. Where do they get the feet on the ground? They have mercenaries hired from even the most obscure countries in the world. Who knows how big their “armies” really are. Americans surely haven’t a clue.

    They need control of the world’s oil and gas resources….not necessarily to extract them, but to control them, thereby controlling the market and the prices on energy - they need to control the development of countries like China, India, etc. They will continue their wars, doesn’t matter what they leave in their tracks - they told us already, that the wars will be generational….why don’t we believe them? I’m not sure how they are going to continue to finance this madness, but I feel in my gut, that they would never have started this unless, they had a plan for this also. Will promises of compensation foment civil unrest in other countries, and then extract “protection money” from the governments in countries, they have started civil unrest in?

    I don’t know Anwaar - but these groups of people are completely devoid of any morals or scruples. I’d be very surprised if their onslaught on humanity and the world will collapse……the evil I have read and witnessed show no indication, that this is a haphazard operation. It is right on track - and they don’t care if they sound stupid and arrogant in their lies and propaganda - they must be dead sure they are on track!

    And I used to be an optimist and believe in a core of goodness in all people

    Hanna

  10. Irfan Mirza on October 9th, 2007 9:22 pm

    I like your expression and admire your approach. May you keep on writing with the same zeal, we the readers benefit from your stimulating lines.

    Pakistan

  11. Anwaar on October 9th, 2007 9:37 pm

    Thank you all for commenting. Hanna’s comment, enlightening as it is, is particularly distressing.

    Here is an excerpt of the subject report from Yahoo News. The link is;

    http://tinyurl.com/363w5g

    LONDON (AFP) - The US-led “war on terror” has been a “disaster” and Washington and its allies must change their policy in Iraq and Afghanistan to defeat Al-Qaeda, an independent global security think tank said Monday.

    The Oxford Research Group (ORG) said in a report that Western strategy since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States had failed to extinguish the threat from Islamist extremism and even fuelled it.

    “Every aspect of the war on terror has been counterproductive in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the loss of civilian life through mass detentions without trial. In short, it has been a disaster,” report author Paul Rogers said.

    “Western countries simply have to face up to the dangerous mistakes of the past six years and recognise the need for new policies.”

    Rogers, professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford, northern England, also warned that any military action against Iran over the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear programme would further aggravate the situation.

    “Going to war with Iran will make matters far worse, playing directly into the hands of extreme elements and adding greatly to the violence across the region,” he added.

    “Whatever the problems with Iran, war should be avoided at all costs — the mistakes already made will be completely overshadowed by the consequences of a war with Iran.”

    Chief among the report’s criticisms is that the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was a “grievous mistake”, which had created a combat training zone for extremist elements linked to or inspired by Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.

    The report, “Towards Sustainable Security: Alternative Approaches to the War on Terror”, said the situation was comparable to the rise of the mujahedin that rose against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

    On Afghanistan, the ORG said ousting the hardline Taliban from power in late 2001 had been of “direct value” to Al-Qaeda and militia sympathetic to its violent Islamist ideology were now re-invigorated, it added.

    In addition, mass detentions of suspected extremists, torture, prisoner abuse and the “extraordinary rendition” of suspects for questioning in third countries outside US legal jurisdiction was a useful propaganda weapon.

    Rogers said the United States and its allies needed to better understand the roots of the Al-Qaeda movement and its support base and systematically undercut it through policy changes at every level.

    But he said even if that were successful, it would still take at least a decade to make up for mistakes so far.

    Among the ORG’s recommendations are the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq and an increase in diplomacy, including with Syria and Iran; greater civil aid to Afghanistan, a scaling down of military action and talks with militia.

    “Extraordinary rendition”, detention without trial and prisoner abuse should stop immediately; countries should commit to advancing the stalled Middle East peace process, because of its central role in anti-Western sentiment, it said.

  12. Michelle on October 10th, 2007 1:59 am

    Nice job, Anwaar, but alas, all one ever has reading yours and others’ articles are, for the most part, those of a like mind. Difficult to bring attention to matters to the rest of the world, eh? But, one keeps writing in order to feel less helpless.

    Concerning Hanna’s and Jonathan Stephenson’s comments, I can understand your dismay. But is it really such a mystery as to how we’ve come to live in such a world as ours? There is no cure for change in the masses if their level of understanding or awareness is of a low vibration.

    Hanna, you mentioned that the TTs say they create reality….this is true; and they’ve done it by the most thorough methods, spanning decades, maybe centuries. The posts I’ve highlighted below are testimony to that. However, if the Powers That Be can create their own version of reality, why can’t those of enlightened thinking do the same? Of course, this would take deep and often painful internal probing [something like jj alludes to above] for where we hold similar flaws in ourselves. No, we are not as “evil” as those in power, but in one way or another we have all helped to create this upside-down reality. I’ve said the following so many times, I’m blue in the face with it: “When has mankind ever changed except through extreme pain and discomfort?” I believe we have reached that level of pain and discomfort and only from here can we as a planet of peoples begin to change our reality. I thought the following quote says much for this:

    “It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community - a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth.”

    - Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist teacher

    Anyway, here are links to my posts today; they explain much as to how we arrived at this sad state in our world.

    Yours in the Light,
    Michelle

    Note from Michelle: How did we as a nation of peoples fall so far? Please go to today’s posting at the following and read on:

    Re: Militarism/Nationalism/Patriotism
    « Reply #39 & 40 on Today [10/09/07] at 12:40am »
    Wednesday, September 26, 2007
    A Culture of Violence - by Stephen Lendman
    Parts 1 & 2 of 2
    Go To:
    http://airdance.proboards50.co.....amp;page=3

    Note from Michelle: And what type of leader has our culture of violence given us? Please go to today’s post and read more at:

    Re: The Immoral Presidency of George W. Bush
    « Reply #53 on Today [10/09/07]at 12:55am »
    Commentary: Bush fulfills H.L. Mencken’s prophecy
    By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers
    Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007
    Go To:
    http://airdance.proboards50.co.....amp;page=4

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Anwaar’s articles appear simultaneously here at Truth Spring and at Soul Vibes in The Pakistan Tribune.


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