Nation Yasema Kenya Ilifanya Makosa Kutangaza Msimamo Haraka

Before we fight, show us the money

By KWAMCHETSI MAKOKHA

One of the most foolish statements issued by the Government last week was that committing Kenya to fight on the US side in the war on terrorism.

There has even been talk – from the Foreign Minister, no less – about Kenyan forces being "on high alert". Admittedly, it is the right thing to say, but perhaps it need not have been given at all.

Nairobi should know better than to go opening its trap and voicing statements of a general and empty nature like that. Kenya may have fallen victim to a terrorist attack before – in 1998 when an attempt to bomb the US embassy ended up crushing Ufundi House, damaging Cooperative House and killing more than 200 Kenyans. But it was not our war. This, too, is not our war.

No one listens too keenly to Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui, and on account of that, his prediction at the end of the Cold War that Islamic fundamentalism would provide a challenge to Western-style capitalism is proving true. Now, just like in the Cold War days, Kenya just happens to be caught in between.

Those good old days are back, and if it is not evident, read US President George W. Bush's lips.

The battle lines were drawn the day the US President declared to the world: "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."

It seems a harmless enough statement until one considers that Bush is talking about war, and a very prolonged one at that. Then it becomes painfully apparent that this war, like many American wars will not be fought on American soil.

Those – like our President Moi – who have been complaining about being abandoned since the Cold War ended can smile a little.

Americans may love war, but they like to fight it far away from their homeland. And this one will be no different. If they are going to fight, and fight they will, they will do so very far away from home, and far away from where the majority of their citizens have serious economic interests.

American interests in the Middle East, in Asia and the Eurasia militate against turning any of those places into a theatre of war. Europe is America's ally. There are two choice places left for a long-drawn war – South America and, yes, Africa.

That is the war Kenya is enthusiastic to join. The enthusiasm comes at a terrible time. A time when the US has – through the Western media – been creating the impression that a combination of our national laxity, incompetence and corruption have made it possible for Osama Bin Laden and other agents of murder to pass through our borders and visit death and destruction on US citizens and property here and in neighbouring countries.

Okay, we are incompetent and corrupt and all those terrible things, but Kenya is a poor and well-meaning state that would not dream of abetting anything in the scale of the murder and bloodletting the terrorists are being accused of. Yet, as Bush says, we must choose a side to fight. The side we fight on is not predetermined. And for Kenya, it is a chance to exercise its sovereignty and put its national interests first.

It is time to choose sides with a measure of cowardice, selfishness, and all the stalling and hesitation permissible under the circumstances.

The reason for the hesitation is because no nation, except those that have an interest in this war, have stated where exactly they stand. And when they have, a price has been named.

These views may seem callous to the Americans who, experiencing this bloodletting on homeground, must feel a terrible vengeful bloodlust, but there is nothing sensitive about agreeing to kill anyone in revenge.

Blessings in disguise

So Kenya wants to actively join the war on terrorism? Fine.

It only needs to borrow a leaf from others who are weighing into this conflict. Take Pakistan for example. Before the attacks on the World Trade Centre, Pakistan was a pariah nation. The US had slapped economic sanctions against Islamabad for conducting nuclear tests in 1998 and then organising a coup d'etat in 1999.

In fact, Pakistan had become so unimportant that George Bush did not bother to know that it had just gone through a coup and acquired Gen Pervez Musharraf as President.

Today, Pakistan is the most important US ally. And America is paying the price of that alliance.

Pakistan may owe $36 billion in foreign debt, but it has the Taliban regime next door. Now the US has promised that country help and has already signed a rescheduling of $396 million in debt. Of course, it lifted major economic sanctions imposed for Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests and no one – not even the loudest liberals – said a word in protest.

Pakistan will get a long-term loan facility from the International Monetary Fund when negotiations open next month. Right now, Pakistan has no moral qualms about people having died or its having helped the Taliban into power. It is pursuing the national interest.

For allowing the US to threaten the Taliban from its territory, Pakistan is able to solve a lot of its economic problems.

Translated into Africaspeak, it basically means that you can rig elections, detain political dissenters and flush democracy down the toilet and no one will notice if you are on the right side. You might ignore a constitution that says you must step down from leadership. It is a dream world.

Yes, Africa will be the battleground for this war between the terrorists and the superpowers. There will be a lot of US experts at customs, at airports and sea ports, and in return for that, the Americans will kindly stay out of local politics and economic mismanagement. The loans tap will flow eternally.

The tinpot dictator who has no suspected terrorists passing through his territory will become an important ally the US cannot dispense with. Today, when Gen Musharraf has a nightmare, the White House will have cerebral malaria.

Welcome to the cold war years.

Kenya and Djibouti have reportedly offered the US logistical support. We have a port and many American troops here. They have always been here.

Sorry, was Kenya having trouble with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank? Before Kenya starts putting its troops on high or low alert, the citizens must first see the money.

kwamchetsi@nation.co.ke

*Mr Makokha is Deputy Features Editor of the 'Daily Nation'.

By ANDREW NGWIRI

On Tuesday night, some wags joked that arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden could at this very moment be swaggering from one house to another in Kibera's Laini Saba suburb chuckling quietly to himself after successfully carrying out perhaps the most heinous, most horrendous, most extraordinarily gruesome act of carnage of his bloody career.

Another with a morbid sense of humour opined that the man was ensconced in some private members' club in Kampala, watching busuti dancers and sipping a cold, soft drink after a job well-done.

Those chaps believe it couldn't be anyone but Osama. They feel they know him well. In 1998 he engineered the deaths of more than 250 Kenyans, Tanzanians and Americans in simultaneous bomb explosions in the US embassies of the two East African countries.

But if it is he, indeed, who choreographed the three almost simultaneous civilian plane crashes into the symbols of American industrial and military might killing possibly tens of thousands of people in less than an hour, then he should have been sipping champagne and lapping caviare.

After all, he had just struck into the heartland of the world's only super-power, humiliating the giant by destroying the twin symbols of its power - its economic and military might - while a fourth plane is said to have crashed on its way to destroy the symbol of the American political might, the presidential retreat at Camp David.

By doing so, the mastermind behind the plane atrocities has assured himself of a place in the history books, where he might even edge out Adolf Hitler in the annals of infamy.

But what the mastermind may not have reckoned with is that his triumph may turn out to be pyrrhic at best, for there is sure to be a swift, equally deadly rejoinder by the United States, which means that the extent of the triumph, even in symbolic terms, will not be easy to quantify.

For inevitably, there will be retaliation which may even escalate into war. And unless wiser counsel prevails, Israel will be in the thick of it, and woe betide the world if some fool decides to try and dismantle the land of the Jews.

These are extremely fearsome thoughts in every respect, for if there is a war, it might be one that will make the Gulf War seem like a Sunday school picnic and Saddam Hussein like Father Christmas.

Perish the thought, but if it turns out that tens of thousands of Americans have died in the terrorist attacks, this might, indeed, be the end of the world as we know it.

Tuesday's attacks were acts of great audacity, meticulous planning, cold-blooded precision and such elementary simplicity that they can only be regarded as the works of genius. Prepared for hi-tech terrorism Most people cannot fathom a mind-set that would plot the destruction of thousands of mainly innocent people at a go for geopolitical, or any other reasons. Most people cannot understand either how the United States could be so careless as to allow terrorists to run riot brandishing knives and creating mayhem.

But then it was inevitable that the Americans would be taken unawares because, though they are usually on high alert, they are mostly prepared for hi-tech terrorist attacks, not people wielding knives. They are ready for terrorists hijacking trans-continental airliners - not internal flights.

They are, probably, most at home anticipating the devastation that can be wrought by a deranged terrorist getting hold of a nuclear or biological weapon, but not what a bunch of fanatical kamikaze fatalists can do in one swift impact.

It is downright puzzling how terror can become the most lethal weapon mankind has ever devised, more terrifying than the nuclear bomb, more horrifying in its possibilities and magnitude, for it strikes where it is least expected, and more futile in its end results, except in the sheer number of body bags.

Terror of this nature cannot succeed because of its finality: so many thousands killed at a go, thousands of others will spring up to take their place. No country has ever been brought down to its knees by terror and none will be, for the resilience of the human spirit is a wonder to behold.

The story of the grieving mothers, wives, children sisters, brothers and husbands in America has not been told yet. Many will pour ashes on their heads and wear sack-cloth. The keening will be great, loud and long in this great country. America will mourn and lament, until anger sets in. And then there will be the consequences.

It is not pleasant to contemplate what might happen if someone does not put a gentle, restraining hand on President George W. Bush and the hawks in Congress.

His initial reaction might be, even at this very moment of grief, to strike back swiftly, in blind rage, throwing caution and precision to the wind. Already he has indicated that American might will not spare either the perpetrators of this grievous outrage or those who harbour them.

This is a signal that there will massive retaliation by the Americans on some target, the only question being the identity of that target.

And yet that is the way it must be, for it would be lethal for the US to show any sign of hesitation, for those might be interpreted as cowardice. And it is in the nature of sneaking cowards to detect that trait in their victims if they so much as blink momentarily.

*Mr Ngwiri is the Opinion Pages Editor, 'Daily Nation'

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Its now official that the US army can shoot down US plane, full of US citizens, in US air space. What a foolish idea. And what is US Media doing? Printing flags Intead of telling their goverment to change its foreign polieces which was a major contrubitor of what happened in September 11th 2001

Tatizo siyo Osama Bin Laden, bali tatizo ni Amerika. Osama na wote wanaodhaniwa kuwa maghaidi wakifa leo tatizo la ughaidi haliwezi kwisha duniani. Ughaidi ni matunda ya sera mbaya.Huwezi kuumaliza ughaidi bila kumaliza sera mbaya.Kila mtu anaweza kuwa ghaidi kulingana na mahali alipo na hasa kama anahisi kunyimwa haki zake za msingi.

Amerika wana vita vya mafuta na waarabu.Hakuna dini hapo. Ni mafuta.Wasitudanganye kwamba wanapigwa vita vya kidini.Wamalize vita vyao huko Amerika na Uarabuni.Wasiingize dunia kwenye mzozo ambao wanaweza kuumaliza wenyewe.Hatuwataki Waamerika watusaidie kuutetea Ukristo.wasiutumie ukristo kulinda maslahi yao.

Walokufa Amerika hawana hatia? Wana hatia kama walikubaliana na sera za serikali yao kuwanyanyasa wengine.Mimi ni Mkristo mwananchi wa Tanzania na sikubaliani na sera za serikali yetu kuwanyanyasa waislamu kwa sababu ya dini yao.Wakati umefika wananchi wa Amerika kupinga kwa nguvu zote sera za serikali yao.Wasipofanya hivyo wana hatia.

Kwa nini mnawaogopa amerika? Sera zao ni mbaya na hamtaki kuwaambia wajirekebishe.Tatizo siyo walikufa wangapi,bali mauaji yataisha lini.Sera za Amerika ni mbaya,na hakuna anayewakemea. Amerika ilikosea kwa kiburi, waliowaua wakakosea, na sasa Amerika inataka kukosea tena.Makosa yataendelea mpaka lini?

Maadui wa Amerika siyo waislamu kama wanavyotaka tuamini.Mungu hapendezwi na kiburi cha amerika.Wanasema ni vita ya waovu juu ya wema.Wanakosea.Waamerika siyo wema kama wanavyofikiri.Kama ni dini, ukristo hauhitaji kutetewa na Amerika

Amerika ilijitengenezea maadui zake yenyewe kwa sera zake mbovu za kutaka kuitawala dunia ya Mungu bila idhini ya Muumbaji.Sasa wanaitaka dunia iwasaidie kupambana na maadui zao.Lazima wakubali kuwa wao siyo bora kuliko wanadamu wengine.Wajirekebishe kila upande, na hakuna atakayewadhuru.

Paka ni mnyama wa kufugwa, na hana madhara kwa mwanadamu.Lakini mwanadamu akimpiga paka kwa sababu yoyote na awe amefunga mlango, paka anageuka chui na kuwa madhara kwa mwanadamu.Amerika imewapiga wengi duniani kwa sababu wanazozijua wao,na sasa inakuwa vigumu kujua ni nani aliyegeuka kuwa chui na kusababisha madhara makubwa namna hii kwa Waamerika.

Hakuna SUPER POWER duniani.Ikiwa watu wanaweza kutumia visu kuziteka nyara ndege za Amerika na kuzitumia kama mabomu kuwalipua waamerika, basi tumefikia mahali pa kujiuliza kama tunahitaji silaha zote kali tulizojiwekea kujilinda.Wote tuko sawa. Tuliwaogopa bure kumbe kisu tu kinatosha.Sera za kuwanyanyasa wengine hazitalisaidia taifa lolote duniani.Sijui kama Mkapa anayasikia haya.

Mkapa alisema atatumia nguvu za dola kuwaweka sawa wale anaowanyanyasa. Kama ni nguvu za dola Amerika ni zaidi ya TZ mara mia moja.Tunasubiri tuone atafika wapi na nguvu za dola.Haki kwa kila mtu ndiyo silaha kwa sasa.Bila haki, Nguvu za dola ni Bure.Waliouawa Zanzibar ni watu, ndugu zao wapo,wanaoendelea kupigwa marungu ya Polisi ni watu,na wanaowekwa ndani na kuteswa bure ni watu.Yakiwafika shingoni sijui watafanya nini.Tunao muda kuyarekebishe yasitufikishe pabaya

Siungi mkono mauaji hasa ya raia wasio na hatia,au ya watu wasiohusika na mzozo wenyewe kama mabomu yaliyolipuliwa Nairobi na Dar,Lakini inapofikia kwamba wauaji ni watu walio tayari kufa, ni vizuri kujiuliza kile kinachowafikisha katika maamuzi ya namna hiyo, ili juhudi zifanywe kuepusha maafa kwa watu wasio na hatia.

Inashangaza kuona kwamba hakuna kiongozi Afrika aliyepeleka misaada ya chakula na nguo huko Amerika.Ni wanadamu.Wakati huu wa maafa wanahitaji kila msaada. Mablanketi, kandambili, na watu wa kusaidia kuwatoa wale ambao bado wameshikiliwa kwenye mabaki ya kuta zilizowaangukia.Sote ni wanadamu tunahitajiana mmoja kwa mwingine.

Wakati Mabomu yalipolipuka Nairobi na Dar,walisema Waafrika hawajajiandaa vya kutosha kutoa usaidizi wakati wa majanga.Sasa ni wazi kwamba hakuna anayeweza kujigamba kwamba yuko tayari kupambana na majanga .Polisi na wazima moto wa Amerika waliowahi kufika kwenye tukio walikufa wote. Zaidi ya 400.

Kama ni vita Amerika imeshindwa vibaya.Sasa wabadili sera zao ambazo zimechangia zaidi kusababisha haya. Kusema watalipiza kisasi hawawezi.Waliokufa ni wengi zaidi ya kulipiza kisasi. Kuchukua ndege na kuangusha mabomu Iraq au pengine popote haitasaidia. Na mbaya zaidi wote wataonekana wendawazimu.Wakubali kushindwa na wabadili sera zao sasa na siyo baadaye.
Habari Zaidi Kuhusu Amerika

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