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Last week I invoked Walter Cronkite. Now, lo and behold, Drudge has a story about him.
Walt is right...we are on the brink of WWIII, and a turning point for the US, and the world. The problem with these situations in the past is, there is no easy way out. Terrorism has reached a critical mass similar to National Socialism in 1930s Germany, and the US/Japanese trade standoff of the 1930s. The face of terrorism is no longer the PLO or IRA, that is, a motley group intent on a highly focused, highly local issue. Al Qaeda is more than Islam, more than Israel/Palestine, more than Western hegemony. Al Qaeda is all about power, oil, money, and land. Herein lies the conflict: the Western nations are all about power, oil, money, and land.
Al Qaeda recruits its front-line the same way the Nazis and Japanese did. One takes young males with certain problems (crushing poverty and/or clinical lack of self-worth) and convinces them that they are actually part of the "chosen." This doesn't work with everyone, but enough young males, given the first reinforced, constant, positive encouragement in their lives, will surrender their personal identity and submit to the group. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he said in his speech: "...you mustn't act yourself, you must obey, you must give in, you must submit to this overwhelming need to obey." Islam, in Arabic, means "submission." It means submission to the will of God, but it's as easy as National Socialism to subvert and use as a foundation to brainwash uneducated (or overeducated) male youths.
So, we have the non-arab nations entrenched in the world at large, and al Qaeda trying to unentrench everyone so they can step in. The US and the UK are the largest targets right now due to the countries' high profile. However, Bali wasn't about Indonesia, it was about Australia in the same way that the US was hit through its embassies in Africa and the USS Cole off of Yemen. Continental EEC is next, followed by Japan/S.Korea/Taiwan. The current world powers are targeted not because of pro-Iraq/Israel/Islam or anti-Iraq/Israel/Islam, but because of power, oil, money, and land.
I'm not going to cry over spilled milk and say the non-Islamic world deserves it. If there were legitimate beefs, then yes, but al Qaeda is no more about disenfranchised muslims any more than Nazi Germany was about WWI war reparations. If anything, our guilt is that we have allowed a pool of ready soldiers to be formed when we could have helped educate, feed, and improve their quality of life. And in that, we are all guilty, anyone in the last 20 years who has ridden in a petroleum-burning vehicle, or has bought or used any clothing, electronic, or food product not produced within the borders of one's own home nation.
The crappy thing is, what do we do about it? If we could have stopped Hitler from marching into Austria, let alone Poland, we would have prevented over 20 million deaths. But we couldn't politically take that step then any more than we could have stopped the WTC attack by implementing in early 2001 the security precautions we accept today. Politics, gridlock, and the "conscience" of the press will not allow it. Roosevelt tried again and again to bring America into the war, and was defeated again and again by Congress and the press, until the Japanese finally took out most of our Navy. Bush, in this very narrow sense, is Roosevelt, history repeating itself.
And, in a moral light that seems almost twisted, perhaps it needs to happen this way to preserve our own souls. As much as the writing may be on the wall, we can't compromise our own principles. Hitler again: "The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it." We have already crossed a line with our "enemy combatant" Taliban detainees. Now, in any future conflict, American and any other world soldier will be denied the Geneva Convention due to American precedent. Similarly, we cannot unilaterally invade a blustery sovereign state without crossing another line. No one is going to use the pre-emptive "Bush Doctrine" as precedent to invade America, but India into Pakistan? China into Taiwan? North Korea into South Korea?
So, in my painful opinion, we have to let Iraq be. And the consequences will be this:
Hitler marched into Austria "to unite German with German." Iraq is the gateway to WWIII in the same way Austria was to WWII. The only government in Iraq is Hussein, who has routinely murdered any Iraqi who has a whiff of political viability. Al Qaeda will save the world the problem and will assassinate Hussein in a very messy, bloody, and public fashion, leaving Iraq a vacuum open to an "Islamic" take-over. "To unite Arab with Arab." Al Qaeda will then have a functioning nuclear program and a whole country full of bio/chemical/dirty nuke weapons, nicely hidden, with some wobbly missiles to boot. WWIII will be short and decisive, and 20 million will probably be about the figure.
Walt is right...we are on the brink of WWIII, and a turning point for the US, and the world. The problem with these situations in the past is, there is no easy way out. Terrorism has reached a critical mass similar to National Socialism in 1930s Germany, and the US/Japanese trade standoff of the 1930s. The face of terrorism is no longer the PLO or IRA, that is, a motley group intent on a highly focused, highly local issue. Al Qaeda is more than Islam, more than Israel/Palestine, more than Western hegemony. Al Qaeda is all about power, oil, money, and land. Herein lies the conflict: the Western nations are all about power, oil, money, and land.
Al Qaeda recruits its front-line the same way the Nazis and Japanese did. One takes young males with certain problems (crushing poverty and/or clinical lack of self-worth) and convinces them that they are actually part of the "chosen." This doesn't work with everyone, but enough young males, given the first reinforced, constant, positive encouragement in their lives, will surrender their personal identity and submit to the group. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he said in his speech: "...you mustn't act yourself, you must obey, you must give in, you must submit to this overwhelming need to obey." Islam, in Arabic, means "submission." It means submission to the will of God, but it's as easy as National Socialism to subvert and use as a foundation to brainwash uneducated (or overeducated) male youths.
So, we have the non-arab nations entrenched in the world at large, and al Qaeda trying to unentrench everyone so they can step in. The US and the UK are the largest targets right now due to the countries' high profile. However, Bali wasn't about Indonesia, it was about Australia in the same way that the US was hit through its embassies in Africa and the USS Cole off of Yemen. Continental EEC is next, followed by Japan/S.Korea/Taiwan. The current world powers are targeted not because of pro-Iraq/Israel/Islam or anti-Iraq/Israel/Islam, but because of power, oil, money, and land.
I'm not going to cry over spilled milk and say the non-Islamic world deserves it. If there were legitimate beefs, then yes, but al Qaeda is no more about disenfranchised muslims any more than Nazi Germany was about WWI war reparations. If anything, our guilt is that we have allowed a pool of ready soldiers to be formed when we could have helped educate, feed, and improve their quality of life. And in that, we are all guilty, anyone in the last 20 years who has ridden in a petroleum-burning vehicle, or has bought or used any clothing, electronic, or food product not produced within the borders of one's own home nation.
The crappy thing is, what do we do about it? If we could have stopped Hitler from marching into Austria, let alone Poland, we would have prevented over 20 million deaths. But we couldn't politically take that step then any more than we could have stopped the WTC attack by implementing in early 2001 the security precautions we accept today. Politics, gridlock, and the "conscience" of the press will not allow it. Roosevelt tried again and again to bring America into the war, and was defeated again and again by Congress and the press, until the Japanese finally took out most of our Navy. Bush, in this very narrow sense, is Roosevelt, history repeating itself.
And, in a moral light that seems almost twisted, perhaps it needs to happen this way to preserve our own souls. As much as the writing may be on the wall, we can't compromise our own principles. Hitler again: "The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it." We have already crossed a line with our "enemy combatant" Taliban detainees. Now, in any future conflict, American and any other world soldier will be denied the Geneva Convention due to American precedent. Similarly, we cannot unilaterally invade a blustery sovereign state without crossing another line. No one is going to use the pre-emptive "Bush Doctrine" as precedent to invade America, but India into Pakistan? China into Taiwan? North Korea into South Korea?
So, in my painful opinion, we have to let Iraq be. And the consequences will be this:
Hitler marched into Austria "to unite German with German." Iraq is the gateway to WWIII in the same way Austria was to WWII. The only government in Iraq is Hussein, who has routinely murdered any Iraqi who has a whiff of political viability. Al Qaeda will save the world the problem and will assassinate Hussein in a very messy, bloody, and public fashion, leaving Iraq a vacuum open to an "Islamic" take-over. "To unite Arab with Arab." Al Qaeda will then have a functioning nuclear program and a whole country full of bio/chemical/dirty nuke weapons, nicely hidden, with some wobbly missiles to boot. WWIII will be short and decisive, and 20 million will probably be about the figure.
