The War on Terror

Some phrases have a tendency to catch the imagination. War is one of them. The politicians have a tendency to capitulate on such catch phrases. There is a War on corruption and the votes starts to flow and you are a hero. There is a war against climate change and the popularity begins to soar and you are a hero. So this war is real good. There is no war, and yet there is a war and hence there is a genuine scope for being immortalized as a hero. Ok, if not immortalized, popular to sail through the next popularity contest, be it election or selection in beauty contest.

But there is an inherent feature of war. War is an equalizer. You do not go to war against unequal. There is a certain equality in the warring parties. I do not go for war against Govt of India. I rebel against them. That is where even if I claim that I am going for a war against the Govt, the Govt dismisses it as a law and order problem, sends in police, who explain and make me straight while I get some difficulty walking for rest of my life. Hope the picture is clear. And for the intelligent beings who take writings literally, without a pinch of salt, this is an example and I am not and never was at war with my govt. And hence or otherwise, I walk straight.

If the govt accepts that I am at war with them, they accept that the govt and I are equal. We just have opposing views and difference is only in the level of resources and capability to deploy. The govt may still win but it was legitimized my cause.

The war on terror is also one such overhyped mistake. When US Prez Bush declared a war on terror, he legitimized the Islamists that they and the US were equals, being in different camps and hence they too can make rules. They have the right of deploying their resources as per the rules that they make. When their terrorists were bombing around, they had to sync and explain their thoughts from the prism of Govt's. This was a law and order problem. Now it is not. It is a deployment problem. So when I am your citizen, you may say no one can carry knifes longer than 6 inches. and I may defy you and have to explain. Once I am in war, who you are to tell me anything. I dont even have to justify myself or rest of the world. I am at war and only weaker. My cause is justified. I am not an outlaw. I am just less resourceful than you. I have different arsenal. So I will use them as I like.

I think other governments post this have joined war on terror, war on naxals etc in their respective countries. It is in best interest of the govt not to declare war no matter how fancy it sounds and to keep the out laws, outlaws. If there is a war, the losing side always has the sympathy for fighting against the mighty and in case of win, has a demolishing effect as in the fight between David and Goliath.