Uncle Sam may soon lose interest in fireworks

'Osama Bin Laden, Wanted Dead or Alive', the President of the greatest and most powerful nation on the earth pronounces his writ in no uncertain terms . Bush assigns the task to Pakistanis, their old gulf and cold war allies.
Strangely, Laden too is an old ally of Pakistan and CIA. Pakistanis issue their own ultimatum to Taliban. In turn, the Taliban puts forth its impossible conditions to hand over Laden. The charade continues.
 

In the mean time, the CNN reporters based in Afghanistan are doing a great job for Taliban. The Afghans seem to be an invincible race. They cannot be defeated because they have nothing to lose. They value their pride more than their lives. They have very little material comforts. Most of them live in mud houses. There are no twin towers in Kabul whose collapse will deal a devastating blow to the economy or the morale of  Afghan people.

Afghanistan may not even be brought to its knee by aerial bombardments. There is nothing worth being bombarded in that land. The US forces cannot flatten the hills into plains unless they use their nukes.

There also is the PR issue that has to be taken into account. It will be a PR disaster for the US to be seen as a super power killing barefoot, and hungry poor Muslims with its state of the art war machine. All sympathy for the US action will vanish the moment CNN starts reporting its stories from the front lines.

And as the first body bag with a dead US soldier arrives in Washington, the memories of Vietnam will hit the Americans like a sledgehammer.

These theme must be playing in the minds of those who have been watching the CNN religiously. A few more days or months and you will know that the white Americans who have been taking their anger out on hapless Sikhs and Muslims will have their tail hidden between their legs standing with placards in front of the White House denouncing the US leadership for its misadventure in Afghanistan.

This theme will also be playing in the minds of Bush and Powell. The experts in Pentagon know Afghanistan is not Iraq. It cannot be air bombed into submission. In fact the US is already in a retreat mode. The Americans are buying masks to save themselves from the biological warfare. They are worried about the collapse of their economy. US Airlines are cutting down on jobs in thousands. In just one week, a single hit has jolted the American economy to the extent that extreme emergency measures have been necessitated.

A barefoot Afghan soldier with his outdated weapons suddenly seems better prepared for war than all those US marines marching smartly in their army fatigues, with the best of the equipment and paraphernalia on their person, and letters of support from the UN in their pockets.

If the strategists in Washington have visualized the stark realities concurrent with this scenario, the world may be spared the fireworks. The US will at best go for a face saving strike against some targets.

They may even start bombing Iraq again, the perennial whipping boy and punching bag of the mighty US Military, under some excuse or another.

And as we sum up the situation, we know that the US is exposed as the softest underbelly of the world. The strength of Islamic terrorists is clearly demonstrated. The big brother is anything but invincible. The super power that was spending billions on developing star war technology, cannot tackle a handful of terrorists.
 

In the eyes of lay persons, Laden is no more a criminal. He is the David fighting the Goliath. The saber rattling, self serving, self seeking, consumerist white Americans, who have all along maintained their lifestyles at the cost of the have nots of the world, should have realized by now that the nature does not favor the giants and has its own ways of cutting them to size.

This is why we call life a tragedy, that occasionally takes the hue of a comedy when it comes to Americans.