Arindam Chaudhuri is Delhi franchise holder for i1 Super Series
Whose Land Is It Anyways...
Author journalist John Lee Anderson tells me one of the most jolting stories of our times; the story of Ali from Iraq. While looking for a story in the battle zone, Anderson came across the young man in Baghdad. Ali had turned into a serial killer to take vengeance for his brother who had been slaughtered by ultras of his own sect a few weeks before. Ali had taken the solemn vow on the Holy Koran that he would slaughter 10 men of that militia for each of his deceased brother’s fingers.
When Anderson bumped into him, Ali had already settled a quarter of his account. But of the 25 he killed, not all were militiamen. Quite a few of them were their innocent kin too. After every slaughter, Ali used to sever off one or the other of his victims organs – noses, ears, toes, eyeballs – and bury it near his brother’s grave. Their mother used to offer Fateha on the grave and shout out the name of the person killed to his buried son. Ali told Anderson that he was no longer afraid and felt closer to his creator. In Ali’s labyrinth of a heart, he was sure that he was following God's will.
So are you enough jolted? Well, take this. Ali, the serial killer, was clandestinely collaborating with the American soldiers too. He used to lure fighters to the firing range of the US soldiers where they were either captured or killed.
The US soldiers who were paying him didn’t have the faintest of idea as to what they were actually doing: hiring a serial killer. Needless to say, they were unaware of the after-effects too.
The story of occupation has no romanticism. Even if it has, it vanishes when the conflict becomes up, close and personal.
“Ali’s story is severe, perhaps, but is not a one-off case. Retribution is a notion that is universal, yes, the intensity might change. In fact, vengeance is one of the keys in understanding conflict itself. Once the slaughter commences, it becomes extremely tricky to stop, for each drop of blood that is shed demands one more to even the score,” laments Anderson.
Iraq, Anderson believes, will continue to gyrate in this concentric circle in the time to come. But he is not the lone man pessimistic about an occupied land. There are others too. Atiq Rahimi looks every tad the French in terms of his idea of fashion and erudition. Rahimi, as it becomes obvious, appreciates the pleasures. He is a thinker and a food-lover. And to continue with his two loves undisturbed, he also happens to carry both French and Afghan citizenship. But scratch him a bit and you will find a man lost in identity. "When I'm in Afghanistan, I become French. In France, I'm Afghan." When Rahimi laments this, one cannot help but wonder on the ways of the world.
Ask him what he thinks future holds for his homeland, Rahimi sheds off his French garb and turns a realist. “I don’t see the end in the near future. There’s a problem with the strategy itself. Protective military operations in Afghanistan will not cut much teeth."
David Finkel, the author of the much celebrated book on Iraq, The Good Soldiers, tries to focus on the men who go for war than the war itself.
Finkel, who marched to Baghdad, embedded with the 2-16 – a battalion with an average age of 19 – during the reinforcement in 2007, brings forth the private conflict of the soldiers he interviews or sees. By divulging their trepidation, self-doubt and the conflict of the soul that most of these youngsters go through when they are asked to follow orders and do some of the horrific things in a war, Finkel actually exhumes the human inside them. He lets the world see a group of soldiers that time and again dither erratically from full conviction in what they are doing to a total loss of conviction in their assignment. The romanticised picture of the American GI flying to Baghdad for his duty and “protecting the world” falls flat as it becomes obvious that these are common adolescent Americans being asked to undergo odd circumstances on an every day basis.
“Unlike other novels and reportages that have come out from the combat so far, this is the first novel to actually attempt and tell the tale of the soldiers themselves. The 2-16 is deployed not in the safe environments of the Green Zone but on the fringes of the town in one of the most treacherous areas possible. The story I tell is of the corporeal and emotional toll the conflict takes on the 2-16 and their kin back in the US. The Good Soldiers records the ordeal suffered by soldiers terrified to leave their base because of the unvarying peril of meeting unreceptive rebels or being the next casualty of an improvised explosive device, the next basis for their commanding officer to call a wife or mother with dreadful news,” he explains.
After listening to Finkel, it becomes extremely difficult to brand Iraq saga into a straight forward, black and white, good versus evil story. In fact, it is the story of the difficult choices people are often asked to make. It is the story about people trying to choose the slighter of many evils at any time feasible.
Noted Palestinian writer and poet Ahdaf Soueif tells the story of the greatest injustice of them all, the denial of the homeland to the Palestinians. She also observes that a just resolution of the conflict will lessen tensions in numerous other parts of the globe. But she too appears to be pessimistic about the peace process.
Soueif does not believe Israel is sincerely looking forward to peace with the Palestinians. "It suits Israel and the elites to have this eternal 'peace process', this pretence of seeking peace," she explains.
But she indeed is optimistic about a change in the American perspective which is connected to Israel with the umbilical cord. There is a increasing pro-Palestinian opinion among young Americans, predominantly among young East Coast and West Coast Jewish Americans. This, Soueif insists, is exclusive of the staunchly pro-Palestinian Americans. “So things are shifting. If that voice became more widespread then there is no basis why America couldn't be a sincere negotiator. AIPAC and other Zionist groups will see an eventual fall. The groups like ‘J Street’ have made a dent. However, the floodgate will take time to open,” quips Soueif.
Until then, Soueif says, people will continue to see US and Israel as Siamese twins.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
'Thorns to Competition' - You can order your copy online from here
IIPM Mumbai Campus
Whose Land Is It Anyways...
Author journalist John Lee Anderson tells me one of the most jolting stories of our times; the story of Ali from Iraq. While looking for a story in the battle zone, Anderson came across the young man in Baghdad. Ali had turned into a serial killer to take vengeance for his brother who had been slaughtered by ultras of his own sect a few weeks before. Ali had taken the solemn vow on the Holy Koran that he would slaughter 10 men of that militia for each of his deceased brother’s fingers.
When Anderson bumped into him, Ali had already settled a quarter of his account. But of the 25 he killed, not all were militiamen. Quite a few of them were their innocent kin too. After every slaughter, Ali used to sever off one or the other of his victims organs – noses, ears, toes, eyeballs – and bury it near his brother’s grave. Their mother used to offer Fateha on the grave and shout out the name of the person killed to his buried son. Ali told Anderson that he was no longer afraid and felt closer to his creator. In Ali’s labyrinth of a heart, he was sure that he was following God's will.
So are you enough jolted? Well, take this. Ali, the serial killer, was clandestinely collaborating with the American soldiers too. He used to lure fighters to the firing range of the US soldiers where they were either captured or killed.
The US soldiers who were paying him didn’t have the faintest of idea as to what they were actually doing: hiring a serial killer. Needless to say, they were unaware of the after-effects too.
The story of occupation has no romanticism. Even if it has, it vanishes when the conflict becomes up, close and personal.
“Ali’s story is severe, perhaps, but is not a one-off case. Retribution is a notion that is universal, yes, the intensity might change. In fact, vengeance is one of the keys in understanding conflict itself. Once the slaughter commences, it becomes extremely tricky to stop, for each drop of blood that is shed demands one more to even the score,” laments Anderson.
Iraq, Anderson believes, will continue to gyrate in this concentric circle in the time to come. But he is not the lone man pessimistic about an occupied land. There are others too. Atiq Rahimi looks every tad the French in terms of his idea of fashion and erudition. Rahimi, as it becomes obvious, appreciates the pleasures. He is a thinker and a food-lover. And to continue with his two loves undisturbed, he also happens to carry both French and Afghan citizenship. But scratch him a bit and you will find a man lost in identity. "When I'm in Afghanistan, I become French. In France, I'm Afghan." When Rahimi laments this, one cannot help but wonder on the ways of the world.
Ask him what he thinks future holds for his homeland, Rahimi sheds off his French garb and turns a realist. “I don’t see the end in the near future. There’s a problem with the strategy itself. Protective military operations in Afghanistan will not cut much teeth."
David Finkel, the author of the much celebrated book on Iraq, The Good Soldiers, tries to focus on the men who go for war than the war itself.
Finkel, who marched to Baghdad, embedded with the 2-16 – a battalion with an average age of 19 – during the reinforcement in 2007, brings forth the private conflict of the soldiers he interviews or sees. By divulging their trepidation, self-doubt and the conflict of the soul that most of these youngsters go through when they are asked to follow orders and do some of the horrific things in a war, Finkel actually exhumes the human inside them. He lets the world see a group of soldiers that time and again dither erratically from full conviction in what they are doing to a total loss of conviction in their assignment. The romanticised picture of the American GI flying to Baghdad for his duty and “protecting the world” falls flat as it becomes obvious that these are common adolescent Americans being asked to undergo odd circumstances on an every day basis.
“Unlike other novels and reportages that have come out from the combat so far, this is the first novel to actually attempt and tell the tale of the soldiers themselves. The 2-16 is deployed not in the safe environments of the Green Zone but on the fringes of the town in one of the most treacherous areas possible. The story I tell is of the corporeal and emotional toll the conflict takes on the 2-16 and their kin back in the US. The Good Soldiers records the ordeal suffered by soldiers terrified to leave their base because of the unvarying peril of meeting unreceptive rebels or being the next casualty of an improvised explosive device, the next basis for their commanding officer to call a wife or mother with dreadful news,” he explains.
After listening to Finkel, it becomes extremely difficult to brand Iraq saga into a straight forward, black and white, good versus evil story. In fact, it is the story of the difficult choices people are often asked to make. It is the story about people trying to choose the slighter of many evils at any time feasible.
Noted Palestinian writer and poet Ahdaf Soueif tells the story of the greatest injustice of them all, the denial of the homeland to the Palestinians. She also observes that a just resolution of the conflict will lessen tensions in numerous other parts of the globe. But she too appears to be pessimistic about the peace process.
Soueif does not believe Israel is sincerely looking forward to peace with the Palestinians. "It suits Israel and the elites to have this eternal 'peace process', this pretence of seeking peace," she explains.
But she indeed is optimistic about a change in the American perspective which is connected to Israel with the umbilical cord. There is a increasing pro-Palestinian opinion among young Americans, predominantly among young East Coast and West Coast Jewish Americans. This, Soueif insists, is exclusive of the staunchly pro-Palestinian Americans. “So things are shifting. If that voice became more widespread then there is no basis why America couldn't be a sincere negotiator. AIPAC and other Zionist groups will see an eventual fall. The groups like ‘J Street’ have made a dent. However, the floodgate will take time to open,” quips Soueif.
Until then, Soueif says, people will continue to see US and Israel as Siamese twins.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
'Thorns to Competition' - You can order your copy online from here
IIPM Mumbai Campus
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