Whose war is it anyway?

I have never been involved in preaching, condoning, preparing, supporting or been part of any activity that can even remotely be termed as Terrorism. On the contrary, I have never broken laws of the land that I have lived in. Yet, and I am not alone in this situation that I share with millions of others around the world, I am a suspect. I am a suspect because of where I was born. I am a suspect because I am a Muslim. I am a suspect because I have an Arabic name and the same is true for my parents. I am perceived a threat to the public safety and I am sure some people in some 'agencies' would have read this post long before you and from now on you could also be on the watch list. They may have been doing so at the same time I was tipping the keys on my keyboard. I know its possible. My question is, what have I ever done to deserve this status. But more importantly, do I deserve this spacial status? Can I do something, anything to shed this ?
Apparently not.
The fact is, we are parts of a war not of our choosing but a war we have ended up in due to a combination of reasons.
Our position on the world map. Pakistan lies between India, China, Afghanistan and Iran. interestingly, if someone was to bet on what goes on in a single part of the world that could dramatically influence the future of the human civilization, you need not look any further. Specially once you take the other neighbors into account. Just a short hop across the gulf are ever 'involved' Arabs and the Israel. And being Muslim we end up being a part in that crisis as well. How convenient.
Our history. After nearly 800 years of Muslim (not Islamic) rule of (both in parts and whole) the combined Indian Sub-continent Muslims are still not a majority in the region. While it makes for a compelling argument if you are trying to prove Islam is not spread by sword, and the truth is the people following different religions did succeed in getting along for centuries with relative ease. Now though we are told to believe by both sides of the War on terror that it cant be done. Then comes the interesting period in our combined history when the European colonial masters, convinced of their own cultural and religious superiority, not only took on a missionary movement across the subcontinent and all other colonies worldwide but also exploited the local people and resources with utter contempt. In these times, anything that could provide the local third class citizens in their own lands with a sense of identity and unity was purged or corrupted as to hinder any united anti-colonial movements. This policy triggered the defensive and extremely conservative ideologies across Asia and Africa. Faced with a prospect of losing their religious identity, people clang sought to cling to a para-nationalistic ideology that promised to regain the lost pride and status that was once afforded to the Muslims. various Religeo-political movements in the Indian sub-continent and North Africa (especially Egypt) were fueled in most part due to the colonialism. The days of direct colonialism may be long over but the reminiscent of the exploitive and authoritative regimes litter the governments from Pakistan to Morocco.
Our political circumstances. All major flash points regardless of the location have deep political problems at root married with the fact that at least one party is Muslim. Islam is not shy of its Political and Social aspect that expects its followers to stand up for whats right and fight the wrong in the strongest possible way. The perception of right and wrong may differ from one waring faction to another but the basic idea is the same. In fact the ideology is the same to what the West in general and the Americans in particular base and justify their wars with. Upholding right and combating wrong. At least publicly. They are also bound to do so by their own self perceived moral high ground. The only difference between the two ideologies is that one is a political view point of a democratically elected government and the other is the decision reached by those who have witnessed grave acts of injustice in their own backyards and seeing no hope of justice through peaceful and democratic means even after a continuous suffrage spreading over decades, decide to take the matter into their own hands. These groups are increasingly disenchanted by their own so called representatives, most of whom are actively sponsored and/or backed by the western government. When the masses perceive some entity to be their enemy and the select elite who actually enjoy total control over resources and outlets of dissent. The more violent the struggle for their rights, higher the collateral damage, wider the recruiting base for such wars and lower the general trust and confidence in each other and hope of co-existence. People in these third world countries may not be able to rise up to change their own dictators but they do make note of all those flag bearers of democracy and human rights that help prolong their misery by accepting and supporting these tyrants.
The media. You sigh and shrug the tattered arguments accusing the media of bias but the fact is, it is biased. Biased not in favor of some imaginary Jewish secret society that lives by sucking blood of innocent Palestinian infants but biased in their own favor. Misery sells and misery of an American or a European with a buying power of 50,000$ a year sells much better than that of a Bangladeshi fisherman or a sub-Saharan African family living on less than a dollar a day. An Israeli settler suffering with shock is a bigger news than the 16 members of a Palestinian family annihilated by a single air strike. These shameful world perspectives and filtering glasses are doing more damage and indoctrinating more young Muslim men than those idiots that give Friday sermons encouraging to slaughter the infidels wherever they are found.
The lack of education. A combination of factors has lead to a wast majority of people in these lands having received little or no formal education. With media outlets being either state control or foreign media that is often suspicious and/or hostile to the national ideals, there is a huge lack of factual information. The History lessons at most of the schools could hardly be based on facts. On the contrary they end up galvanizing the distant glorious past, blaming the foreigners of all the ills while overlooking their own corruption, failures and bad judgments. The result is often in shape of nations far connected to ground realities. In Pakistan for example, more than half the population is illiterate. 80 million people who are dependant on others for information. These 'others', more often than not end up preaching their own perversive agendas and points of views.
Establishment and lack of democratic representation. With more than 40 years under military rule out of 60 years of independence from Britain, there isn't any political system in place that could provide the ordinary man with a say in his own matters. As a result the bureaucratic machinery set in place to rule a colony and not to serve a nation has gotten stronger to the point of invincibility. With intermarriages and relationships among the Military and civil bureaucracy, the industrialists and the Feudal, Pakistan's are decisions are made by an elite that is representative of less than 2% of its population. With the Judiciary being part of this evil cartel, chances of relief in courts are slim, even for out of favor Judges as seen recently. One cannot believe the scale of the problem unless you have experienced it your self by either being the victim or beneficiary of this system. These people cannot possibly be fired, are not prosecuted for their crimes and if very seldom they are, get out free. The general opinion being if you can get away with it, you can do anything you want.
Our demography. According to some UN statistics, more than 70% of Pakistanis are under the age of 30. That adds up to millions of mainly ill informed, unemployed, angry young Muslims with ready access to violent means thanx to the Afghan war against the Russians when they were trained, armed and indoctrinated by none other than the west to fight for the religion against the infidels, without any hope of justice being delivered by peaceful democratic means.
The current Afghan war is similar to the last one in the way how the ordinary afghan has suffered. This has led to the spillage of grief and eventually suffering to the Pakistan side of the Hindu-kush. With ever more increasing and ever so violent attacks in the previously peaceful (relatively) larger cities of Lahore , Karachi and the Twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are fueling similar sentiments among the more populous parts of the country. There is no doubt the War on terror has now reached the streets of Lahore and Islamabad.
But my question remains, Who's war is it any way. Is it still your war if you don't start it and cannot end it? Is it still your war if you cannot win it even if your opponent looses it because If its my war, which side am I on? Do I get to pick a side or is the decision already being made for me? As a young Muslim, do I have any chance of escaping this war? Can I be a non party? Can one be a non party to a massacre? For a civilized society with its moral values, is there something such as a being neutral to a crime? Should one not intervene to stop a murder? If there is no crime ,why are innocent people loosing lives? How will this end? Will this end?
These are the questions I am not sure I can answer all and be a non-party. I am any sure of one thing, when You are Your own opponent, You lose.

If you can help me reach a decision, I am waiting. Is it my War? Is it your war?