Trump's foreign policy and miscalculations toward Iran
- Iranian culture and Shia resistance: Historical background
- World War II precedents and America's challenges
Justice Katju's conclusion: War or diplomacy?
Justice Markandey Katju explains why Trump's strategy against Iran could fail, the historical and cultural basis of Shia resistance, and the future of the US-Iran conflict.
Trump did not realize whom he is attacking
By Justice Markandey Katju
US President Trump thinks that by bombing Iran and killing the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khameini he has won a great victory, and Iran will soon capitulate
Evidently Trump and his advisers did not realize whom they were dealing with. Iran is not Venezuela, whose President was handcuffed, blindfolded, and carted off to the USA to face a kangaroo trial with impunity, and without the Venezuelan people's opposition.
Iranians are mostly Shias, who believe that martyrdom is the supreme crowning meritorious act a man can perform, like Imam Husain did in Karbala.
शिया लोग विचित्र जंतु होते हैं I वह आत्म समर्पण करने के बजाये वीर गति प्राप्त करना बेहतर मानते हैं, जैसा कि हज़रत इमाम हुसैन ने कर्बला में किया
( i.e. Shias are strange creatures. They prefer death over surrender, like Imam Husain in Karbala.
In this sense, they follow the dictum of the Bhagawat Gita, in which, in chapter 2, shloka 34 Lord Krishna tells Arjun :
सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्ति मरणाद् अतिरिच्यते "
"Sambhaavitasya cha akeerti maranaad atirichyate "
i.e.
" For a self-respecting man, death is preferable to dishonour "
Lord Krishna to Arjun, Gita, Chapter 2, shloka 34
Ayatollah Khomeini, despite knowing that he may be killed, remained in Iran. But that modern Yazid, Netanyahu, is reported to have fled from Israel
How does one fight with people who are not afraid of death? America, with all its powerful weapons and enormous wealth, realized this in the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh said '' The Americans may kill 10 of our fighters, while we kill only one of theirs, yet we will win ''.
In the Mahabharat war, the Kauravas had a much bigger army than the Pandavas ( just as the Americans have a much more powerful military than the Iranians in the present conflict ). Yet the Pandavas won, because they had Lord Krishna ( i.e. righteousness ) on their side.
Lord Krishna represents a noble, righteous cause, and in my opinion, the Iranians are like the Pandavas, fighting for a noble, righteous cause. Hence, they are sure to win.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
