Dabum, Kodiak and I guess just about everyone else, I think I do get it. It's not about failed policies in Viet Nam; that doesn't happen until we convince ourselves once again that we can win a limited war on foreign soil with firepower when the people support the other side. We haven't gone there yet. It's not about whether we should use killing to win our objectives either; anyone who thinks we should not use lethal force to combat lethal force may get credit in some afterlife but not here, not now and not from me. It's about how you fight and WIN PEACE, not war. This thing we are doing is not war and to call it that clouds the issues. It's not war when you can wipe out whole countries and most of the people in them with hardly any casualties. We can certainly win any "war" with these militarily and technically backwards middle eastern countries.
If you want to win the peace then you have to set out rules and follow them. The rules have to be rules that meet standards of fairness and justice for all, not just the ones with the big stick. If you think you can kill your way to peace in a conflict of religions and cultures, you are not just wrong from a moral point of view, you are wrong from every point of view. True, you can win the wars, but you will never have peace and the comparatively little (yes, I said little) problems we are having now will turn into problems that will likely be of such magnitude that we would give almost anything to get back to where we are now.
It's so easy to say just kill the bad guys and if that doesn't work kill them again. The problem is that if you kill the wrong people then you're the bad guy and, using your own logic, you should be killed. If you kill enough of the wrong people, or appear to have, there will be plenty to take on the task of killing you or yours. What has that done for you or them? Let's let go of the "our team," and the "we'll show them" feel good attitudes. Let's think beyond the first, second and third tiers of this issue and let's think like Truman, not like Stalin.
Look at the escalation in the Palestinian and Israeli problems that have resulted from the retaliatory actions of the last few years and ask where that will end. Each side certainly taught the other a lesson through retaliation and now they hate each other so much they don't even remember that they once almost reached common ground. Well, at least they can each say that they defended their "team" but before it is over they will have done so with the blood of their children, and possibly their children's children, and on and on.
For those that think we can kill our way out of this by winning the "war," I have some questions.
Here's what I KNOW; I know that people that know how to fight can single handedly terrorize whole communities for days, months and possibly years. One man with a rifle, some guts and a mean hatred or a blind cause can kill many people, especially if he is not particular about his targets. If he is more ambitious and has more assets at his disposal, he can do a lot more damage. How many men like that do you want to create? Does it matter if they exist on another continent? Can you keep them or their killing away from you and your family? Is Bin Laden and are the other terrorists criminal minds that can be removed to restore order or are they a symptom of a culture and a religion and it's interaction with the Western culture? Is the problem one of inevitable conflict or one of deep misunderstandings of cultures? Are there gaps that can be bridged? Are there commonalities that can be highlighted? Can mercy, punishment, forgiveness and respect be achieved together and if so is it wise to pursue that course? Are we totally right, partially right, or totally wrong and are they? If we use death as our primary weapon, how far do we go? Do we kill all the ones who have acted out terrorism? Do we kill all those who have aided them? Do we kill all those who approved of it? Do we kill all those who might threaten us in the future? Will that cleanse the world of terrorism and will that protect us and our way of life? Can we kill their hatred with fear? If so what price have we paid?
If your engine starts knocking you wouldn't put insulation in your hood to mute the noise in order to solve the problem. It may take away the sound of the knock but it won't fix whatever was coming loose in the engine. If we drop lots of ordinance on a few middle eastern nations and kill innocents, we won't fix the problem that led to fanatical hatred and terrorist actions against the U.S., in fact we will lend weight to those who hold such views. If you have been staying current on the issue, you have undoubtedly seen polls revealing that the moderate populace in supposedly moderate middle eastern nations supports terrorists like Bin Laden either partially or wholeheartedly. That's what's loose, Bin Laden and other terrorist organizations are just the knock. We can limp along to the repair shop but we need to get this thing fixed for the long haul, even if it's expensive and even if it takes a long time. Ed |
