cnyndwllr, excellent thoughts!! (BTW, are you a professional writer?) The U.S. is fortunate to have the right people in high office at this time. I really like the approach our government is taking. Powell's strategy of coalition building is the correct one, as are the "you are either against terrorism or for it" doctrine and the focus on many fronts including financial, diplomatic, intelligence, armed forces. Who would have thought that the U.S. and Pakistan would be working together closely? Pakistan was THE main backer of the Taliban. They now have a new head of intelligence (the ousted head was in with Al Queda/Taliban), and they're providing intelligence (which must be much better than ours in Afghanistan) and air fields. Many countries have joined the coalition and there have been successes in these countries in ferreting out terrorists (e.g., France, Great Britain, Egypt) which the U.S. could not have done alone. Pressure is being applied behind the scenes to get nations such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran to join us against terrorism. Efforts are underway to reinitiate the peace process between Israel/Palestine and India/Pakistan. We are becoming closer to Russia and their help in areas such as intelligence will be valuable. As President Bush said this will be a long effort. A methodical all-encompassing approach, the coalition and patience are needed to win.
Other important aspects are humanitarian aid, U.S. communications of its side of the story (e.g., through radio transmissions and leaflets) and nation building. The U.S. has already started with nation building by talking to the past king of Afghanistan and representatives of various tribes on establishment of a government after the Taliban fall. A stable government is needed so that a new, more repressive government does not fill the void. My guess is that eventually the anthrax will be traced back to Iraq. When/if this occurs, the coalition partners will be much more likely to support the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The overthrow of Hussein will also require nation building along with much humanitarian aid.
My guess is that coalition approach is infuriating the terrorists because Islamic nations have joined with the U.S. in the fight. This will likely cause the terrorists to attack governments in muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt (there was already an aborted attempt), Syria. These attacks would be the turning point. Lukewarm coalition partners such as Saudi Arabia would become staunch supporters and mete out THEIR justice to the terrorists (which will make kb and myself happy) and confiscate their assets. The point is that to successfully hunt and destroy the terrorists we NEED the coalition partners because they alone can do this most successfully within their own countries. When this occurs, the perspective of the Islamic masses will change from "the U.S. fighting Islam" to "the world fighting terrorism." It's amazing to me that a great general such as Powell, brought up within military ranks, is also such a great statesman! |
