The future in a military shell

How is this 8216;8216;intelligence gap8217;8217; to be bridged? A few parables might help.

Palestinians moved to Lebanon and Syria in 1970 after the black September crackdown on them in Jordan under the leadership of Col Zia-ul-Haq. The resident editor of The Statesman sent me to Southern Lebanon and Syria. It was 1972, a year before the Yom Kippur war.

In those days, Damascus had two hotels 8212; Semiramis and Omayyad. I checked in at Semiramis. An athletic young man, a blonde in a blue shirt, would drive me past Mt Hermon to villages like Habbariya from where the Fatah lobbed rockets on the villages of northern Galilee. The idea was to convince me of the Palestinian resolve despite the ouster from Jordan.

One evening I heard sounds of Hindi or Hindustani from the direction of the bar. I introduced myself to Zahid, Akram, Salim, pilots for the Pakistan Air Force training Syrians in flying MiGs! All this information came out gradually, over several drinks, as we discovered we had common interests. Just when we were about to leave for dinner, Zahid asked me where I lived. Their jaws dropped when they realised I was an Indian journalist. The dinner was cancelled. I never saw them again.

Just imagine! Here I was with Pakistani pilots, training Syrians over Golan on the eve of the war after which the Arabs quadrupled prices of oil and Marks and Spencers in London had signs in Arabic to lure the petro dollar rich Sheikhs! I was a journalist and did not disguise my identity as I would have had I worked for our intelligence agencies. Obviously, my name and general demeanour dispelled what ever suspicions military men on sensitive missions are supposed to nurture.

Americans did not have a clue about Shia Islam when Ayatullah Khomeini ousted the Shah. I happened to be in Qom where Ayatullah Montazeri was trying to match economic policies to the Shariah. Khomeini had appointed Montazeri as his designated successor 8212; naib Vali Fakih. It is another matter that Montazeri was ousted in a secret coup.

Dr Amjad Ansari, an Indian, was personal physician to the cleric. A family friend, he held me by the hand and escorted me past a series of security guards until I was in Montazeri8217;s presence. Montazeri knew a great deal about India, particularly about schools of Islamic learning in India. The correspondent of the New York Times in New Delhi rubbed his eyes with disbelief on the sort of access I had in Iran. Neither he nor his foreign editor knew a word about the Shias.

I was invited to explain the Iranian revolution to the readers of the NYT in an article. That was the first time the US media published an article explaining the revolution. It is the energy of America, the investments it makes in intellectual life, that today you cannot study Shiaism without reaching out to institutes of higher learning specialising in the subject.

But my point is: People like myself are scattered across the globe. What they know is part of the global reservoir of information provided you treat them with as much respect as you expect from them. You cannot fabricate a civilisational divide and expect information as you would from friends.

And now that you are launching the last putsch towards Najaf, do you know the consequences? Najaf is to Muslims, particularly Shias, what the Golden Temple is to the Sikhs. Centuries have not been able to heal the hurt of Somnath or St Sofia. The hurt of Najaf will be deep. The entire Shia world will be recruiting ground for terrorists.

If this is the trajectory you are embarked on, a hundred intelligence agencies cannot get you the intelligence you want. The way you propose to fight this perpetual war on terror will result in militarily secure shells in which the Olympic games will be held. Happily the American people will not let you go that far. The land of Lincoln and Jefferson cannot be dismantled because of the fear of an unquantifiable power located in a cave you cannot locate.