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U.S. is still a plaything of ISI spy service (issue #517) |
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War on terror to fail if U.S. relies on Pakistan (issue #518) |
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Human Rights Watch perpetuating ethnic strife? (issue #519) |
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Loya Jirga won't succeed without fair representation (issue #516) |
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Against all odds: Roy Mackenzie (1918-2002) (issue #516) |
U.S. is still a plaything of ISI spy service
(Issue #517)
By Dr. Nasri Haqshenas
Upon the Soviet defeat and subsequent pull-out from Afghanistan, Islamabad prepared to take on the role of Moscow, taking steps to fulfill its hegemonic designs in our country. However, when the Mujahideen government of 1992 took an independent route, and the Pakistani InterService Intelligence spy agency's scheme was undermined, Islamabad activated its contingency plan and the rocketing of Kabul began.
Pakistan's barbarity and its atrocities in Afghanistan were in play when in 1993 the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed. This event shook the White House, and investigations by the U.S. government and even CNN found Islamabad to be the culprit. However, the I.S.I. allayed U.S. ire by extraditing Ramzi Yusef, the bombing mastermind.
Since the U.S. held evidence linking the I.S.I.'s desired protégé in Afghanistan to international terrorism, Washington pressured Islamabad into changing its tactics and bringing a new face to I.S.I. activities. It was on this issue that the two sides, after much debate and discussion, agreed to welcome the Taliban onto the scene. And on the evening of 11 October 1994, a new tragedy was about to begin in Afghanistan, when the Taliban began its mission from Spin Boldak. Soon thereafter, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates -- the only countries to ever officially recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's government -- began nurturing and leading the Taliban in its savage quest. And according to many, even the
U.S. Congress, the U.S. government [under the Clinton administration], or some of its agencies, gave a helping hand.
In the following years, Afghanistan's pain and agony at the hands of the Taliban and its Pakistani masters reached new levels in human suffering. Yet, except for paper tiger statements and resolutions, nary an effective action was taken by the White House, the United Nations, and the loud but impotent "human rights" organizations. The Afghan people's cry for help in battling the Taliban, its Pakistani masters, and terrorists like Osama bin Laden fell on deaf ears. It seemed, and it was, that the humanity of the world had died. And as Pakistan's interference and military invasion increased, bringing with it an influx of Arab and international terrorists to the Taliban's ranks, so too did covert U.S. backing of Islamabad's Afghan policy in the hopes of realizing I.S.I. promises to secure Afghanistan for pipelines and entry into Central Asia. It did not matter that this accord between the U.S. and Pakistan cost the lives of thousands of Afghans, the ruination of hundreds of thousands of Afghan lives, and the near total destruction of Afghanistan.
What happened when two U.S. embassies were bombed in Africa by the same ilk fighting against the people of Afghanistan? The U.S. Congress demanded that the Clinton administration reveal its links to Pakistan and the I.S.I. Nothing was revealed. And the U.S. Department of State refused further inquiries. The Clinton administration sought to appease the American people by launching rockets against abandoned Taliban and terrorist sites and mountains in Afghanistan.
Despite hopes, the election of George W. Bush failed to redirect U.S. policy vis-à-vis Pakistan, terrorism, and the ongoing war in Afghanistan imposed by Islamabad and the likes of Osama bin Laden. In fact, reports of increased U.S. assistance to Pakistan led Islamabad to send greater numbers of Pakistan Army regulars, special forces, and paramilitary forces into Afghanistan, take full charge of air and ground battles, and make evident its scheme to, in effect, control the country [eds: case in point, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's statement in 2001 regarding Pakistan's obligation to help the Taliban because of ethnic factors].
The events of 11 September 2001, however, shook the very core of the American nation. Mr. Bush named Osama bin Laden as the culprit. This raised hopes that Washington was now enlightened, to even a small degree, and that it would take appropriate action against Osama's genuine guardians and the epicenter of international terrorism, which was and still continues to be Pakistan. Again, these hopes were dashed when the White House went on to ask Pakistan for its cooperation in the "war on terror."
Sensing the new atmosphere, Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf signaled his readiness to disassociate with terrorism, while concurrently, he rallied thousands of Pakistani extremists on the streets against the new U.S.-led effort. Effigies of
Mr. Bush and U.S. flags were torched, and the U.S. was maligned to the fullest extent. The extremists' rallies and the
I.S.I.'s continued support of the Taliban and its Arab terrorist partners failed to dissuade the U.S. from its longstanding friendship with Pakistan -- perhaps now a fundamental tenet of the State Department -- and Washington promised millions of dollars of support to Musharraf.
As U.S. bombing of Taliban strongholds, terrorist camps, and Al Qaida bases began, most of these murderers and barbarians fled -- with advance knowledge of U.S. sorties -- to their true home base, Pakistan, where they found help and support from the I.S.I. and the Pakistani Army. The U.S. was fully aware of this, yet except for leaks and press reports, they pretended otherwise.
Furthermore, in early November 2001, when Afghanistan's national resistance force [eds: the United Front, erroneously known as the "Northern Alliance"] laid siege on Kunduz city, northern headquarters of the Taliban and Al Qaida, it was reported -- and later verified and confirmed by both Afghan and international sources -- that the U.S. allowed Pakistan to airlift approximately ten thousand Pakistani extremists and Arab terrorists to Pakistan. Some reports even stated that U.S. aircraft were used in these nighttime operations. Even now it is a mystery as to why the U.S. allowed the salvation of thousands of terrorists, and perhaps even directly participated in the affair.
The I.S.I. deceived U.S. agencies at every turn, taking advantage of U.S. optimism, ignorance, and flawed and weak policies vis-à-vis Pakistan. Islamabad took steps to preserve its Taliban and terrorist protégés for future assignments. The regrouping of these terrorists in Pakistan, however, is no secret, and neither is Pakistani and Saudi desire to rehabilitate and support them.
The Interior and Foreign ministries of Afghanistan's interim government has on many occasions warned the U.S. and the world about these dangers. As in the past, however, the U.S. continues to follow the Pakistani line without the slightest deviation. In perhaps its first action after regrouping, Al Qaida displayed its restored capacity for terror by kidnapping and murdering journalist Daniel Pearl. This was, in fact, a violent alarm bell confirming that terrorism and its strongholds still exist in Pakistan, and foretelling of future terrorist atrocities throughout the world, including the United States.
As usual, a few raised eyebrows in the U.S. government simply led to Washington's asking for assistance from Pakistan. And accordingly, Musharraf voiced Islamabad's opposition to terrorism. To cool down U.S. tempers, and continue the façade of cooperation in the anti-terror war, Pakistan first laid blame indirectly on India, and when that failed, Islamabad temporarily arrested two individuals for questioning. Islamabad declared that extremist religious organizations will be closed down, terrorist-breeding seminaries will be shut, and the Pakistani Army will crackdown on all dissidents.
Mr. Bush praised Mushrraf's new initiatives and invited him to Washington for formal laudation. During Musharraf's visit this February, Mr. Bush referred to Pakistan as a key ally and key partner, and eulogized the Pakistani dictator for his efforts and helpfulness in the U.S. anti-terror campaign.
Musharraf then went to the U.S. Congress, describing his desire to "restore" democracy in Pakistan, and promising to hold elections this November. The Pakistani dictator was even awarded with $600 million in aid.
Continued in our next issue...
War on terror to fail if U.S. relies on Pakistan
(Issue #518)
Conclusion of "U.S. is still a plaything of ISI spy service" from our previous issue.
By Dr. Nasri Haqshenas
Until [Pakistani dictator] Pervez Musharraf collected $600 million from the United States, Pakistan hid the truth about the murder of [American journalist] Daniel Pearl, instead providing false hope and assurances about the reporter's survival. While Al Qaida was by then dispersed and the terrorist outfit's atrocities had subsided in Afghanistan, Pakistan's InterServices Intelligence spy agency slowly and steadily funneled arms and fighters to Osama bin Laden's organization to begin a new assault on our country. When Musharraf returned to Pakistan, Mr. Pearl's slaying was revealed, and Al Qaida's newly acquired mobility and capacity took shape -- accounts of which are now in the news.
Where does this lead to?
The United States has now undertaken a long-term fight against terrorism after having wasted valuable time, opportunities, and more favorable conditions. Earlier in the fight, had Washington paid greater and effective attention to terrorism's wellhead and source of propagation -- Pakistan -- and not repeated its 1980s mistake of relying on Islamabad or kowtowing to the I.S.I., the war on terror would not drag on for so long, and Al Qaida would already have been nearly, if not completely, uprooted. The murderers and terrorists Washington is now after are subservient to the I.S.I., having been nurtured and instructed by the Pakistan Army. But, Islamabad's adept falsifiers misled U.S. policymakers and have prevented Washington from fully reaching its goal.
The I.S.I. has always opposed and worked to sabotage Afghanistan's stability, sovereignty, national integrity, and the formation of a representative government. As it now continues on this sinister path, the I.S.I. is also benefiting and making huge sums of money from the continued existence and activities of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaida. As such, the I.S.I. does not wish to see an end to strife and suffering in Afghanistan, and an end to the flow of U.S. dollars [eds: for example, funds spent on Afghan refugees in Pakistan] and other gains to Pakistan. For this reason, Osama now resides far from U.S. sight, hidden in some corner of Pakistan; Al Qaida continues to function; Taliban leaders are immune from casualties, while innocent lives are lost; and extremists stream in from Pakistan to Afghanistan to further devastate and demolish Afghan lives and livelihoods, thus sustaining Pakistani war mongers and Islamabad's terrorist agenda.
The recent episodes in Khost and Gardez, and the renewed activities of Al Qaida and the Taliban are, without doubt and with all certainty, products of continued Pakistani patronage. Who else but the I.S.I. has the wherewithal and interest to arm and train hundreds if not thousands of Arabs and other foreign terrorists, introduce or reintroduce them to Afghanistan, and instruct and encourage them to kill and destroy? Who else but Pakistani terror-patrons are capable of facilitating the transport and transfer of these murderers and terrorists to Karachi and Peshawar and finally into our country? And what foreign country but Pakistan is able to pass or bypass the forbidding mountains and no man's land between it and Afghanistan to supply its client terrorists with heavy weapons and anti-aircraft missiles to use against Afghan and U.S. forces?
Indeed! This truth is brighter than the sun itself. Yet, the United States either remains ignorant, or it knows full well but chooses to act naïve or uninformed. In any case, if the U.S. government does not take this matter seriously and it fails to drastically and completely revise its relationship with Pakistan, then Islamabad will continue to create political and military trouble and unrest in both Afghanistan and the region, thus cutting the knees off of U.S. policymakers and undermining any related U.S. aspirations.
If Washington truly wants to save America and the world from the blight of terrorism, it must eradicate this plague at the root and settle the score with its founders and supporters. Otherwise, this malignant cancer will spread far beyond the region, and across the oceans [eds: as we have witnessed on 11 September 2001, and as predicted by Ahmad Shah Masood (rahmatullah alaih - God's blessings upon him), Afghanistan's national resistance leader and martyred hero].
With the false and foolhardy belief that the bombing and rocketing of a few mountains and valleys have finished off the terrorists, the U.S. need only give the I.S.I. a month to send a fresh and deadlier batch of extremists and terrorists to renew the fight.
Let us also hope that the Interim Authority will take positive steps in light of these realities, and, without reservation, inform the U.S., the international community, international organizations, and the people of Afghanistan about ongoing events and continued threats. To otherwise hide or justify the concealment of this issue is of grave danger to Afghanistan's national interests, peace, stability, and sovereignty, at present and in the future.
Secrecy and silence by the Foreign Ministry, in the first years of the Mujahideen government, with regard to foreign interference had damaging consequences. These unsound policies led a sizeable number of our compatriots to doubt and suspicion, resulting in their intentional or unintentional deference to foreign interference and their defense of foreign invaders. Among them were even some high-ranking members of the Interim Authority, who blamed Afghanistan's mujahideen and resistance forces -- in effect, the people and nation of Afghanistan -- instead of the I.S.I. and Al Qaida for the many years of carnage and destruction.
However, the bloodshed and tragedy in Afghanistan was not a civil war [eds: so long mislabeled as such by Pakistani, Arab, and Western journalists, pundits, and politicians], and neither was it incidental nor an ethnic conflict. Rather, the war in Afghanistan by the Taliban and Al Qaida was a deep, wide-reaching, hegemonic, evil, and well-planned foreign-imposed conspiracy formulated and executed by the I.S.I. Until this bitter fact is acknowledged and subsequently countered on an international scale, then foreign terrorists will once again spread across Afghanistan, preventing the country's growth and rehabilitation. As for the U.S., it means a humiliating and deadly defeat in its much touted war against terrorism.
Human Rights Watch perpetuating ethnic strife?
(Issue #519)
By Mariam Ataazai
The credit to committing many atrocities against the people of Afghanistan can be given to the Pakistani created Taliban. The Taliban have left their most significant mark in the divide they have created amongst the Afghan people. They created an environment in which one's ethnicity, religion, language, and gender determined whether or not one could survive in the Taliban-imposed society.
Sadly, we know that much of the ethnic cleansing that occurred, and the destruction of Afghan historical and religious sites, was done at the behest of foreign elements -- mainly, Arabs associated with Osama bin Laden, and Pakistan's InterServices Intelligence agency -- supporting the Taliban regime. Amnesty International documented eye-witness reports of the ethnic cleansing committed by the Taliban in January 2001 against the residents of Yakawlang. They documented that Arab and Pakistani elements committed the most savage of the acts against the civilians. Not only did these foreign elements misuse Islam in their campaign of population control but they also misused an honored part of Afghan heritage, the Pashtoon culture, to legitimize their crimes and further create a rift amongst the Afghan people as a whole.
Having stated what made the Taliban evil, it is distressing to read reports, specifically by Human Rights Watch, of incidents committed in the north against Pashtoon residents. Human Rights Watch states that it has compiled 150 accounts of anti-Pashtoon violence in northern Afghanistan that implicates "the ethnic Uzbek Junbish Party," "the ethnic Tajik Jamiat-I-Islami Party" and the "ethnic Hazara Hizb-I-Wahdat Party" in the offenses against Pashtoon civilians "for the sins of the Taliban." Not only is this report heart-breaking in its narrative of continued misery and war but it also implies that the people of Afghanistan are unable to live together without continuing the cycle of ethnic strife that the Taliban perfected into an art.
However, before accepting the assessment of the situation in northern Afghanistan made by Human Rights Watch, we must explore the methods by which they gathered their research and the conclusions they wish to present to the world.
Peter Bouckaert and Saman Zia-Zarifi of Human Rights Watch stated that for Pashtoons in the north "it is payback time." According to the duo, the Pashtoons are paying for the sins of the Taliban, simply because most of the Taliban leadership were also ethnic Pashtoons.
For a human rights group to present such decided conclusions is unusual. For example, Amnesty International releases statements to the press that:
1. Give different eyewitness accounts of the same occurrence or crime in order to better corroborate a story.
2. Call for immediate notice to be taken by the international community regarding human rights abuses committed by a regime or group.
The recent Human Rights Watch report, however, presents isolated instances of different crimes committed against Pashtoon civilians by armed "commanders" of Uzbek, Tajik or Hazara origin. This does not negate the truth of the reports but their argument falls well short of an indictment of a widespread campaign of anti-Pashtoon sentiment sweeping the north. To include the accounts of other aid agencies and NGO's in the area would provide a better context to understand the nature of these crimes and whether they reflect the general attitude of the non-Pashtoon population toward their Pashtoon neighbors. The report is slanted because all of the accounts are exclusively from Pashtoon sources rather than from more impartial and diverse sources.
While this study may support their assumption that the U.S.-backed "abusive" northern "warlords" to achieve their own objectives in Afghanistan, it belies the fact that the Afghan people resisted -- since 1995 -- the Taliban aggression because their survival was at stake. Given the track record of the Taliban regime and its policy for ethnic cleansing in the north, Afghan troops had more reason to fight alongside the U.S. than to serve as hired ground forces alone.
The focus of their study is the U.S. alliance with Afghan coalition forces rather than a careful corroboration of reports of violence. This is questionable. Rather than address the international community in general regarding the seriousness of these crimes, Human Rights Watch singles out the U.S. and "its allies" as the ones who "put these abusive warlords back in power." This organization seems more focused on exposing alleged political agendas rather than pursuing its primary objective, documenting the sufferings of people. It is ironic that these same human rights organizations rely on the financial support of special interest groups with their own political agendas.
There are undoubtedly some Uzbek, Tajik and Hazara men who are willing and able to commit crimes against civilians as documented by Human Rights Watch, just as Pashtoon members of the Taliban had done during these many years. However, these offenders are a very small minority amongst a predominantly law-abiding military force, as has been well documented by mainstream media.
The first step to national reconciliation is forgiveness. We cannot hold our brothers and sisters of any particular ethnic group accountable for a regime, especially one that is foreign-imposed and as repressive as the Taliban, because of their shared ethnicity. It may be that within this space between humility and forgiveness, we will reconcile our differences in order to give birth to a healthy and all-inclusive national identity.
Afghan-Americans must come together not only to condemn abuses committed against any of our people -- be it Pashtoon, Tajik, Uzbek or Hazara -- but also to articulate our priorities as a nation rather than as individual ethnic groups. As there are Afghans in Afghanistan who have been able to make this step, it is necessary that those of us abroad do the same. In a March 10 report by Reuters from Gardez, Hajji Muhammad Ibrahim Omari, an adviser to Paktia governor Taj Mohammad Wardak, said, "Afghanistan requires the services of a unified force, not of irresponsible individuals." We should allow for twenty-three years of war to become a closed chapter of our national experience and not the perpetuated miseries of a divided and contentious group of people -- division and strife caused either by foreign interference or domestic ignorance.
Loya Jirga won't succeed without fair representation
(Issue #516)
By Dr. Daud Aziz
There has been much talk about the Loya Jirga. I think it is high time that all of us -- particularly the intellectuals, the wise, and the bright young men and women in our communities -- seriously discuss and debate the whole question of the appropriateness of the Loya Jirga [eds: Grand National Assembly] at the present time and in the current circumstances.
Any student of Afghan history knows well that, with the possible exception of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the image of the Loya Jirga has been tarnished by nepotism, self-interest, self-promotion, and gross fabrication. Due to these faults and other shortcomings, the outcomes were unfair and unjust.
Justifiably, we should all be reasonably skeptical about the proposed emergency session of this traditional congregation until we see some actual proposals -- put into action -- and guidelines -- followed to the letter -- about the organization and logistics -- aimed at insuring fair representation, and preventing a repeat of previous defects -- to be provided by the Loya Jirga committee appointed in Kabul. And still further, there are concerns that the Loya Jirga may disadvantage other, more pressing matters.
For example, there is the question of timing. Is this the right time? The allotted six month term seems does not provide the Interim Authority sufficient time to address -- possibly even in part -- the monumental job they must perform. First and foremost, Afghanistan must be made secure -- internally and at the borders. The reconstruction of infrastructure should, at the minimum, be commenced. And the millions of refugees should be, if at least partially, repatriated. After taking these and other steps critical to Afghanistan's sustained recovery, should we then focus on some sort of democratic process for forming a permanent and representative system of government.
There are other dangers, as well. The enormous task of disarming the general population, primarily targeting those with a recent or past history of abuse, should also precede the Loya Jirga. Unfairness in the Loya Jirga, whether real or perceived, especially when millions are armed, carries the substantial risk of bloodshed. The start of economic development and other rebuilding efforts will provide a tangible and viable alternative of making a living for Afghanistan's fighters -- both those who served in our heroic and successful national resistance and others who have genuinely recanted and disavowed from service in warlord militias and other detrimental gun-related vocations. This takes time, attention, and capital. With these issues tackled, the Loya Jirga itself has many hurdles to cross.
The Loya Jirga is part of our proud heritage. It is not outdated nor impractical in a country that is now, largely due to years of foreign interference, socially fragmented, economically devastated, and without a real mechanism for communication. However, it is only logical to question how the 1,000 or more (I doubt more than 2,000) representatives, as proposed by Chairman Hamid Karzai to form the Loya Jirga, going to get in touch with their roughly 25 million constituents to accurately and fairly assess the people's needs and their wishes? After all, to know the will of the constituency is a fundamental task and primary duty of a legitimate representative. And then there are issues with the demographics of the representatives.
We should be extremely vigilant in guaranteeing that the Loya Jirga is not used to provide cover for some kind of -- possibly ethno-centric -- power struggle and then to legitimize its result. If the aim is to use the Loya Jirga as a cover to shift political power in an non-democratic, non-representative, and illegitimate way, then end product is destined only to harm Afghanistan.
Unless we see convincing evidence that there will be fair representation in the Loya Jirga or any jirga, then we should question the motivation of the people behind it. Since we presently lack an accurate census -- an accurate census being another item that should be at the top of government priorities -- the demographic map of the United Nations should be used as a guide for the current process and any kind of power sharing efforts before the implementation of a nationwide and U.N.-monitored census. A Loya Jirga that is as fair as possible at this time will most likely result in a structure similar to that of the interim government.
Those who are enthusiastically pushing the idea of a Loya Jirga in the immediate future should realize that unless the best interest of Afghanistan is kept in mind and fairness and justice is exercised, the Loya Jirga will not succeed. In fact, it will most likely drag Afghanistan toward internal conflict. What is wrong with waiting until the people of Afghanistan are halfway fed and clothed, and can communicate, travel, and not threatened by a gun, before we impose on them a Loya Jirga? Let us first solve the problems endangering the very lives of Afghans and the stability of the country. Thereafter, there will be ample time for legitimate, democratic ways for power sharing efforts and even power shifts.
Against all odds: Roy Mackenzie (1918-2002)
(Issue #516)
By Richard Mackenzie
As I sit in my study in the small hours of the morning in Silver Spring, Maryland, writing a eulogy to the greatest man I've ever known, I try to focus my thoughts and concentrate on the scattered piles of notes all around me.
It's not easy -- in part because of the pain -- but also because there is so much to condense about the spectacular life of my father, Roy Mackenzie.
A child of abject poverty, Roy Mackenzie pulled himself up not with bootlaces but with grit and courage. Roy Mackenzie walked tall in fact and in spirit. A fine writer and critically-acclaimed author, he was also an ardent Rugby League fan. A former radio announcer and award-winning actor, he also was an accomplished carpenter and house builder. A liturgical assistant in his Church, he also understood and embraced the beliefs of Islam and Aboriginal faiths.
This was Roy Mackenzie, occasionally an enigma, always the quintessential Australian. Like some of the fine wines he could extol, he was an original who got even better with age.
He was born Roy Douglas Mackenzie on the 8th of August, 1918. His father, a soldier, went missing in World War One. His mother, Olive, and his grandmother, Florence, supported them by sewing garments which they hauled by horse and sulky from their home in Moorooka to Alan and Starke in Brisbane.
Roy was eight years old when his mother died, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother. He was 13 when he was struck by rheumatic fever. Bed-ridden by the debilitating disease, he was forced to leave school -- and was left with heart problems that would disqualify him when he later tried to enlist during World War Two -- and haunt him for the rest of his life.
Missing critical years of school, young Roy simply decided he would educate himself. With a passion for the English language, he surrounded himself with books, which he devoured.
In his late teens, he began wrestling with his invalidism, finally breaking out into the outside world by joining an amateur theatre company -- where he developed a lifelong passion for Shakespeare. He got his first job as a drum maker and then became a radio announcer with a country station. Years later he would tell of his most memorable moment there. It was the day he slept through his alarm clock at his boarding house room -- on a morning he was to fire up the station and host the breakfast program. He grabbed his clothes in a bundle and ran in his pajamas through town to the station. He got a record playing and all was going well -- until he took off his pajama pants. That was when he heard a mighty scream at the studio door. The cleaning lady had arrived at precisely the wrong moment.
He graduated to Brisbane radio and was an announcer and copywriter at 4BH and 4BC. He went on to become the Public Relations Officer for Hoyts Theaters.
At the Regent Theater he met and fell in love with a young secretary named Meg Goodwin. Roy and Meg Mackenzie were married on the 23rd of December, 1944.
He continued his part-time work with "live" theatre, winning awards as both an actor and as a director. One of his more successful roles was as the villain in "A Murder Has Been Arranged." He left such a mark on one member of the audience that when she later saw him on a crowded Brisbane street, the woman shouted frantically, "There he is. There's the murderer." As shocked onlookers stared, Roy says he hurried away and tried not to look back.
He was in his late 20s when he wrote and published his first book -- a "penny Western" called "The Gunman of Red Ravine."
Roy and Meg had their first child on April 2, 1946. Decades later, Roy would say he wished times had been more advanced then. Unlike today, no father was allowed anywhere near the delivery room. Dismissed and sent home by the nurses, he heard details of his son's birth by calling the hospital from a public phone.
It was also at that time that he made friends with a young man who would become his closest lifelong mate, Tom Fitzwalter.
Roy and Meg and their son moved to Thorneside in 1950 where their daughter, Mary, was born on December 11, 1951 with Tom as her godfather. Roy in turn would be godfather to Tom's youngest daughter, Jillian.
Roy and Meg had a second daughter, Veronica, on September 6, 1954.
Roy was now working in advertising and public relations for City Electric Light, which became SEAQ and a string of other titles. But no career in bureaucracy could hold Roy Mackenzie back. He wanted a dream home for his family -- so he decided to teach himself carpentry and build one himself. He did it on week-ends on a plot he bought overlooking Waterloo Bay. The dream ended when the land leading down to the water was sub-divided and the view from his house became an outdoor "loo" a few feet away.
He wrote a delightful children's story, The King of Mizamazoo, which was not only an enchanting tale but also a dramatic environmental lesson long before later generations decided to save the planet. It was released as a record and played often on Australian radio.
Roy, Meg and their children moved to Gaythorne in February, 1958 where he turned a rambling old Queensland house into a home and built a back yard garden that would resemble paradise -- a feat he would repeat when he and Meg moved to Tewantin 28 years later.
The people he most admired in life were, not surprisingly, "battlers" -- those who had pulled themselves up and fought great odds. One such man was Queensland aviator Bert Hinkler, the first person to fly solo from England to Australia.
In fact, Roy Mackenzie thought Bert Hinkler would make a good subject for an ABC radio biography program of the day and wanted to write it. So he went to the library to check out a book on Hinkler. When he found that none had been written, he decided to write one himself. It took him several years of international research and getting up before dawn every day to pen a few paragraphs or pages in longhand before setting out on his bicycle to ride more than two miles to catch the train for an hour-long trip to his "day job."
The book was published to critical acclaim in 1962. Roy's writing was called inspiring, vivid, intensely human and absorbing. The Sydney Morning Herald called it "an important contribution to the history of Australian aviation." A British book critic said, "Only Hinkler himself could have described even more vividly the hours he spent cramped in a tiny cockpit…" To this day, it is the definitive work on Hinkler's life.
He later wrote features for The Australian and Brisbane newspapers -- and a dramatic history of the order of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit who survived capture by Japanese forces in New Guinea and who founded Holy Spirit Hospital in Brisbane.
Not satisfied with his understanding of the language he loved, however, the man who dropped out of school at 13 enrolled at Queensland University in his 60s to study the impenetrable subject of Anglo Saxon English. On an academic scale of 7.0, he scored a distinction with 6.7.
He was, of course, the man his in-laws called when there they needed help. If he wasn't replacing towering stumps at a house in Red Hill, he was cutting back years of undergrowth at another relative's home. Later, they called when one great-aunt or another passed away. Ask his children to tell you the story of The Tea Cup and the Mystery Death. How that story made him laugh.
Whatever the chore, there was a generation in the family that solved many a dilemma with a simple phrase, "Just call Mac."
As we face the agony and despair of life without Roy Mackenzie, we cannot physically "Just call Mac" -- who would give us such great advice and quickly solve what ails us. But we can call on his eternal spirit. His memory and his ever-present love are there for the asking. They will never leave us.
This is the man who remembered his childhood experience of writing to a pen pal in England, posting the letter, which then took six weeks to reach its destination. Doing the math, he said at best he got a reply back from his pen pal in three months. He told this story in the early '90s after he discovered and embraced the joys of the Internet and e-mail that zapped around the globe in seconds or less.
Long before it was vogue, he discovered the benefit and joy of exercise and good health. He conquered a grueling Canadian Air Force regimen known as 5BX. He walked every morning and gave up cigarettes decades before it was the thing to do. But his determination could also drive you batty. When working out one morning before work, he had severe chest pains after walking over a high railway crossing. Rather than stop and ask for help, he walked back up over the big bridge and back home, telling his family he would go to the office a little late that day. In fact, he'd just had his first heart attack.
He would face Job-like ills in the years to come, having heart surgery, brain surgery and too many other close encounters with death to recall. He simply rolled with the punches.
He visited his son in the United States in the early 1970s, finding excitement in Civil War history, New Orleans jazz and the Mississippi River.
His escapes at home were less exotic. Each Saturday afternoon, two nondescript men in shorts and singlets would join the patrons at the Alderly Alms Hotel for a few drinks and a friendly chat. No one passing by them could have had the slightest idea that they were acclaimed writer Roy Mackenzie and his longtime friend, senior bank executive Tom Fitzwalter.
He was a pillar of his church -- first at All Saints, then at Saint Matthews, serving it in every task from newsletter editor to Church Warden.
In Tewantin, Roy and Meg found the dream home they had long deserved.
He lost his dear friend, Tom Fitzwalter, and spoke at his funeral on January 6, 2000. He wrote an e-mail that morning recalling his love for the man.
Life continued to throw more challenges at Roy's embattled body, but he stood tall and strong. The Sunshine Coast Daily ran a feature and a photo of Roy Mackenzie and his son when I came from Afghanistan to visit him -- and say good-bye -- in November. Of course, no one looking at the picture could believe how terribly ill my dad was.
Even as his body, and finally his mind were slipping away, he struggled to read one last book in his life -- the Muslim Holy Book The Koran. Intrigued by the belief and determination of Ahmed Shah Massoud, an Afghan who battled against all odds for more than 25 years to free his nation, he wanted to get to the kernel of the man and the faith that drove him. As distant and exotic as the topic was to a man living on the glorious coastline of Queensland, Australia, it should come as no surprise to anyone who knew Roy Mackenzie.
He thought Massoud -- who was assassinated by Osama bin Laden terrorists two days before the attack on America -- was a great example for humanity. Roy Mackenzie could recognize a kindred spirit when he found one. This we know for sure.
As long as we are in this world, we will never know what it was that made Roy smile so gently and so sweetly the moment he took his last breath at 3:45 a.m. on February 26, 2002. He'll tell us at another time in another place.
As we say "farewell" to Roy Mackenzie's human remains, we must remember the most important part of him that can never die -- his eternal soul. Which should be our lasting inspiration.
Thank you to so many Afghans who have written, called and who came to Roy Mackenzie's memorial service -- and especially for the prayers you offered for his soul..
Editor's Note: A large delegation of Afghans joined Richard Mackenzie and his family this Saturday to mourn the loss of Richard's father, Australian author Roy D. Mackenzie in Queensland, Australia on Feb. 26. In the service, held at Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Rev. Frances G. Kazista spoke of the difficulty of mourning a loss separated by thousands of miles. Richard Mackenzie is well known to Afghans at home and abroad for his extensive reporting and many documentary films on the Jihad and recent events. He wrote the above eulogy for his beloved father.
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